BIO:  PHILIP RANKIN KOONS, M. D., Cumberland County, Pennsylvania
   
  Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Joe Patterson
  OCRed by Judy Banja

  Copyright 2004.  All rights reserved.
  http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
  http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/
  _____________________________________________________________

  >From Biographical Annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania,
  Chicago: The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905, pages 705-706
  _____________________________________________________________

  NOTE: Use this web address to access other bios:
  http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/zeamer/

  
    PHILIP RANKIN KOONS, M. D., so well and favorably known in Mechanicsburg,
  is one of the leading medical practitioners of Cumberland county. The birth
  of Dr. Koons took place on his father's farm near Shippensburg, Pa., and he
  is a son of Jacob and Jane (Grier) Koons, both deceased.
    
    The early founders of the Koons family came to Pennsylvania from Germany
  and settled in Lancaster county, where Isaac Koons, the grandfather of Dr.
  Koons, was born, and there he reared a large family and lived to old age. His
  children who lived to rear families of their own were: Isaac; Philip; Adam,
  who moved to Indiana; George and John, who followed him to the same State;
  David and Jacob, who died in Pennsylvania; and two daughters who married men
  by the names of Black and Duke.
    
    Jacob Koons, of the above family, was born in 1803, in Cumberland county,
  followed farming all his life, and died at
    
    706  CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
    
  Churchtown in 1885. His five children were as follows: Isaac Grier, a
  farmer of Hampden township, Cumberland county; Elizabeth, who died at the age
  of seven years; Josiah Grier, a farmer near Mechanicsburg; Margaret, wife of
  John A. Means; and Philip Rankin, of this sketch. In politics, Jacob Koons
  was a lifelong Democrat. He was one of the leading members and liberal
  supporters of the Presbyterian Church, and was a man who was always held in
  high esteem.
    
    Dr. Koons was reared on the old home farm near Shippensburg, where his
  summers were spent in farm work and his winters in the public schools. At an
  early age he became a student at the Academia Academy at Tuscarora, Juniata
  county, where he remained a year, subsequently spending three years at the
  Alexander Classical Institute at Columbia, where he was graduated. The young
  man completed his education by one year's attendance at the normal school at
  Millersville.
    
    Dr. Koons then returned to Cumberland county and passed the succeeding two
  years in teaching school at Oakville, later becoming one of the teachers at
  the Grammar school at Newville. In 1876 he began the study of medicine at
  Carlisle, with Dr. Keiffer, and in 1877 entered Jefferson Medical College,
  Philadelphia. Here he was graduated in March, 1879, the president of his
  class and bearing off the highest honors. The young physician then returned
  to Cumberland county and took up a country practice which he continued until
  1886, when he located at Mechanicsburg, where he has since resided.  
    
    On Oct. 16, 1879, Dr. Koons was united in marriage with Ninna Robertson
  Brewster, of Newville, a daughter of James R. and Nancy (Stewart) Brewster,
  who were natives of Franklin county. The Brewsters are among the oldest
  families of the Cumberland Valley,
    
    Dr. Koons attributes his success to persistent application and a
  determination to succeed. His practice is one of the largest in this part of
  the county, and his friends include not only his patients but many
  professional brethren and the majority of those with whom he comes in daily
  contact. He is a member of the County and State Medical Societies, also of
  the American Medical Association.