Biography extracted from History of Sauk County, Wisconsin Chicago: Western Historical Company, published 1880.

Ironton:

James Cohoon, farmer, Sec. 26; P.O. Reedsburg; son of Stephen and Margaret (Cole) Cohoon; was born in the State of New York Sept. 2, 1814; while quite young went to Erie Co., Penn., with his parents, and from there to Delaware Co., Ohio. he was married March 2, 1835, to Palmyra, daughter of Victor and Mary E. (Potter) Baird. She was born in Orange Co., N. Y.; they have had twelve children- William M. (deceased); Polly A., now Mrs. William O. Horton, residing in the town of Washington; Henry L., married to Sarah Wheeler, and living in Nebraska; Permilla, deceased, was the wife of John C. Brice; Mary E., now Mrs. J. T. Pollock, of Tuckerville; Rebecca, deceased; Amanda J., deceased, was the wife of Andrew Simmons; Cornelius, married to Alice Lyons, living in the town of Ironton; Simeon B., married to Martha Mallet, and living in Nebraska; Elijah, deceased; Ethel Euphrasia, now Mrs. Fred Mois, residing at Lloyd, Wis, amd Hezekiah. In 1847, Mr. C. and family came to Dodge Co., Wis., and settled at Rubican; remained in this town about four years; then went to Illinois; stayed there about ten years, and returned to Rubican; after a farther residence in that place of two years, the family moved to Sauk Co.; and settled on Sec. 25, where they now reside; they have 60 acres of land; on coming to Sauk Co., they brought enough clothing and provisions to last them three years; not having lumber to roof their log house with, they covered it with hay; one day in the following March the hay roof took fire, and the house, with almost its entire contents, was burned; Mr. C. was sick with a fever at the time; as he did not recover early enough to make any clearing or put in any crop that year, the family has a hard struggle for existence; shortly after this, Mrs. Cohoon began to lose her eyesight, and in a few years had become perfectly blind; after several years of darkness, she recovered her eyesight; this hopeful deliverance was almost immediately followed by a misfortune no less terrible; a cancer appeared on her face; which; though partially cured, will in any event leave her fearfully disfigured; under all these afflictions Mrs. C. is cheerful and happy, in fact she is jolly; Dickens' Mark Tapley is entirely eclipsed by her; if it is her religion that sustains her, it is a pity that there are not more of the same sort in the land. Mr. and Mrs. Cohoon are members of the Christian Church.

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