Henchin Koontz.

1 Henchin Kuntze/Cuntze

Birth: 1500/1510, Germany

Coons-Koontz Family Page

Koontz History in Germany

The earliest known ancestor of the Kuntze, Coons, Coonces that settled in Virginia is Hechin Cuntze (abt.1500)*.
He lived in Niederndorf of the Nassau-Siegen region of Germany in the early to mid 1500s.

This was in the time of Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation. The Roman Catholic influence, a part of German history for centuries, vied with Lutherans and members of the Reformed Faith for support in government. The country was also constantly at war with peoples on all sides. This was a time of shifting borders and loyalties.

Hechin's son Arnold Cuntze (abt. 1525) and his grandson Johann Cuntze (abt. 1570) remained in the region during the time of the Thirty Year War. It was a war brought on by religious differences and land hungry neighboring countries. At this time the Nassau-Siegen region fell under the control of Catholic King Ferdinand as well as Protestant influences. It fared better than other areas during the war however due to the fact that it was divided and ruled by two brothers, John Maurice and John the Younger, each on opposite sides of the conflict. Each claimed the entire region as their own and so neither really attacked the area*.

Children: Arnold (1525-)

1.1 Arnold Kuntze/Cuntze
Birth: 1525/1535

Children: Johann
Nollen
Bastigen
Heite
1.1.1 Johann Kuntze/Cuntze

Children: Gotthardt (1610-1667)

1.1.1.1 Gotthardt Kuntze/Cuntze
Birth: 1610
Death: 1667/1670, Oberfishbach, Germany
Spouse: Anna
Children: Johannes (1640-1675)
Tillman (1640-)
Jacob
Anna Maria
Ebert

1.1.1.1.1 Johannes Koontz/Cuntz/Cuntze
Birth: 1640/1645
Death: 4 May 1675, Niederndorf, Germany
Burial: 4 May 1675, Niederndorf, Germany

However, shortly afterward Germany was plunged into yet another series of wars. The French wars to the west, the Northern Wars with Sweden and the Baltic and The Turkish wars to the South. This was in addition to the internal conflicts always present.

The Thirty Year War left the Siegen region divided between the Protestants and Catholics but for the most part, at peace. Then, in 1679 with the death of John Maurice, the conflict arose again resulting in escalating violence and death*.

It was in the midst of this in 1714 that One of Johannes sons, Johannes Kuntze (1671) watched his brother, Jost Cuntze, leave for America. And, as the conflict worsened, Johannes' son, Johann Jost Kuntze (1712), who had been only a toddler when his uncle left, went to join him in America in 1737*.

Spouse: Elsa Schuster

Children: Jost/Joseph (1674-1731)

Tillman (1668-)
Johannes (1671-1714)
Birth: 22 Mar 1674, Germany
Death: 1731, Stafford, VA
Coons, Cuntze, Kuntze, etc. in America

The Coons (Cuntze) family originated in Germany and can be traced to one Henchin Cuntze about 1500. They came from Musen, in the Province of Nassau-Siegen, where Cuntz were still living around the turn of the century.
Rich iron deposits were discovered in the New World in large tracts in a region of Spotsylvania, now Orange County, Virginia. The German Governor, Alexander Spotswood, sought to develop the deposits and enrich himself, as well as ingratiate the same to the Crown.

Governor Spotswood counseled with the Baron de Graffenreid, who was in Virginia, and decided to get miners from Germany to build the facilities, extract the ore, operate furnaces, and all other employments involved in iron works. Through his influence the Baron arranged to get miners to Virginia from the Village of Musen, a mining locality since the 14th century, in Nassau-Siegen.

Dispositions were effectuated and the miners arrived in Virginia in 1714. They were settled by the Governor in Germania by April of that year and became the first German Colony to settle in Virginia. There they built cabins, a blockhouse, furnaces and dug ore for the Governor.

The Governor's methods occasioned their move, in about 1720, to Germantown, later Fauquier City, where they acquired land and began farming. Meanwhile, other German Colonists arrived in Virginia. Each group brought its religious faith and gradually those of the German Reformed Church settled in Germantown Fauquier and those of the Lutheran Faith moved eventually to Robinson's River.

The first group of miners, twelve heads of families, to reach Virginia were of the German Reformed Faith, one of which was Jacob Cuntz (Coons), uncle of "our" Joseph Coons, who emigrated to Virginia in 1737. (Working in the Governor's mining operation was an obvious way to get to the New World, but other employments for the Governor also brought many to Virginia.)
Joseph Coons was an iron worker in Germany, and through arrangements with Governor Spotswood came to Virginia, as an iron worker, in 1737.

2. Jacob Coons
Jacob, his son, and father of 3. Martin Coons, was born in Virginia. He was also a soldier of the Revolutionary War. Deed records show a John Davis sold a tract of land, 150 acres, to Jacob Coons and heirs on the 12th day of October 1796, for the sum of one hundred and sixty five pounds in gold and silver. The land was in Clark County, Kentucky, and part of a military claim.

(Clark County, Kentucky was formed in 1793. Records in Montgomery County, cut out of Clark County in1797, were destroyed in 1863, but Clark County records were preserved.)

Martin Coons was likely born in Virginia about 1775. It is not certain when his father left Virginia, but from the deed reference above he was in Kentucky, buying land in 1796.

By that time Martin was a young man and during this period met and married Mary "Polly" Lock in Jefferson,Kentucky, near present day Louisville.

Shortly thereafter they migrated to the Missouri Territory and settled in the New Madrid District, in what became known as the "bootheel" region.

By February 27, 1806 he made claim to 1100 arpents* of land situated on bayou St. John, district of New Madrid. Testimony taken March 15, 1806 revealed he had a wife and five children in 1803 and cultivated eight or nine acres. After further testimony, the Board denied his claim.

He probably continued to reside on the premises and cultivate the fields he claimed, but without ownership. When the violent earthquake occurred in 1811 it destroyed what property and work they had achieved and may have induced their departure from Missouri. They arrived some time before 1821 to make their new residence in Jackson County, Tennessee.

For unknown reasons Martin and part of his family quit Jackson County and proceeded to Illinois (Probably to get some of that cheap Government land in southern Illinois; some of the family already had.), but he later applied for a land grant through the state of Kentucky.

Martin received the grant, but before it was finalized (so one version of the story goes), embarked on a trip to Hamilton County, Illinois, down the Mississippi River from St. Louis, aboard a paddle boat. He disappeared en route and was apparently never heard from again. It is presumed he fell overboard and drown. His body was never recovered

Submitted By:
jhughes@changesurfer.com (J. Hughes)