Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2023
Henrietta B. Allen was born in 1838 in Boone County, Indiana. Her parents were John Boswell Allen (1806-1893) and Jane Dillard Allen (1809-1885). Henrietta’s grandparents were John Allen, Sr. (1769-1837) and Elizabeth Boswell Allen (1768-1820), and James Dillard (1777-1852) and Jane Elizabeth English Dillard (1781-1814).
Henrietta B. Allen married Helmrich (Henry) David Jones Koons, who was born April 15, 1831, in Philadelphia, now Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
H.D.J. Koons’s parents were Philip T.B. Koons (1804-1836) and Frances B. Jones (1811-1891). (When Philip died in 1836, Frances married Robert Kennedy on Aug. 1, 1837, in Milwaukee). H.D.J. Koons’s grandparents were Harry Koons (1778-1859) and Mary Magdalene Trumbauer (1782-1868), and David Jones Esq. (1786-1822) and Mary Brower Jones (1791-1817).
The wedding of Henrietta B. Allen and Henry D.J. Koons was done by Rev. Samuel W. Pond. It happened on April 16, 1854, in Shakopee. In fact, it was the first marriage ceremony in the new town of Shakopee, according to Charles S. Bryant in the book The History of the Minnesota Valley in 1882.
Dave H. Eggler noted, “In 1856 Henry D. J. Koons acquired 80 acres of public land which happened to lie in ever-expanding Shakopee. He divided that into lots and in the next few years, often with Robert Kennedy, bought and sold an astonishing amount of land. But he also knew the Dakota language and became the interpreter and secretary for the U.S. Government Agent at the Upper Sioux Agency on the Minnesota frontier. He was sent on a trip in 1861 to Sioux City to investigate ‘several complaints of Indian depredations on the frontier.’”
David Hewitt Eggler is very involved in family, and a lot of information is from his family tree. His first cousin twice removed was Ada Hewitt (1884-1983). Ada was born in 1884 in Canby, Minnesota and her life spanned 99 years and a period of Minnesota history from the settler-colonist to modern times. While she never married, Ada was a Latin teacher and a caregiver to others. In 1962, Ada lived in Granite Falls where she wrote a letter in her final years in a nursing home, alert to the last.
Ada noted in a letter in 1966 that Henry D. J. Koons died at the Upper Sioux Agency in Yellow Medicine County “of pneumonia in a cold winter with very deep snow. Helmrich (Henry) David Jones Koons contracted pneumonia, never recovered, and died in February 1862.” Hewitt family stories say that the Native Americans, out of respect, brought his body down the Minnesota River to Shakopee, an unusual trip in winter.
According to Ada, Henry’s wife and two little daughters were living there too. “He was Indian interpreter and secretary for the U.S. Government agent. The long hard journey back to Shakopee for the funeral and burial was too much for his wife. She did not live long after that.”
While this family story about Henrietta B. Allen Koons may be true in spirit, but it is not accurate, according to David H. Eggler. “Henrietta bought and sold properties in 1863, sold one in 1864, and sold one to her father John B. Allen on May 4, 1865, three years after her husband’s death and just before her own death.”
On Dec. 1, 1863, she is listed in the sales records as a resident of Marion, Ohio, but by June 11, 1864, was again listed as a resident of Shakopee. Aunt Ada’s story is also inaccurate in that there was a son Henry as well as the two daughters, and there may be reason to doubt that Henrietta and the children were in Yellow Medicine rather than in Shakopee.”
“In the 1870 census Frances J Koons 14 and Martha M Koons 11 are shown living with John B. Allen and family in Shakopee. Shakopee was searched in the 1865 census for Henrietta, Frances, & Martha Mae, but they were not found.”
“On March 25, 1863, Henrietta B. Allen Koons petitioned the Probate Court of Scott County to grant her $300 from her husband’s estate for her support and $150 for support of the children Henry, Isabell, and Mattie May. These amounts were granted by the Court on April 6, 1863, to be paid by the Administrator of the Estate, John B. Allen.”
“On May 4, 1863, she petitioned the court for personal property of the deceased to the amount of $200 plus household goods. The Court ordered that she be delivered ‘all the household goods, wearing apparel and ornaments of the deceased… amounting to the sum of $191.70 and the following property…to the amount in value of $200: to wit 3 milk cows at $25; 1 two year old steer, $6; 1 two year old heifer $6; two calves $6; 46 20/60 bush wheat $34.75; 16 ½ bush corn $7.42; cash in the hands of the amount of $114.88,’” according to David H. Eggler.
Henrietta B. Allen Koons died on July 5, 1865. She was just 27 years old. She was buried at Valley Cemetery in Shakopee near her husband. The tombstone noted she was “wife of H.D.J. Koons, died July 5, 1865, aged 27 yrs.”
Henrietta and Henry ’s children were reared by Jane Dillard Allen, along with other grandchildren. They lived near Shakopee in Jackson Township. The Riggs also lived near Shakopee in Eagle Creek. Eva’s mother was also a relative of the brothers Samuel and Gideon Pond. [Her mother, Ann Eliza, was an Allen, but Eva’s father’s mother was Ruth Pond, a sister of the Pond brothers.]
Abner Riggs used to say that if young Henry Helmrich David Jones Koons had lived the U.S.-Dakota War would not have occurred. Of course, this suggestion overlooks the experiences of the Dakota who lived and died in Minnesota. One thing that is known is that Henry was involved with the Dakota, and learned their language. He liked the Indians, and they were friendly toward him. Thaóyate Dúta (1810-1863) or Little Crow, had been a friend of the Koons family.