My Genealogy Hound

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 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.