Solomon's Story

  The Koonce Name

The name Koonce is not common in the United States.  The surname Koonce is probably a derivation of the German name Kuntz.  Kuntz, Kunz, and other similar derivations are actually shortened forms of the popular German name Conrad which means "bold, counsel".  

The descendants of Solomon Koonce were not born with that surname.  Solomon was born a slave. As was the practice of many freed slaves, Solomon requisitioned his former slave master's name as his own once he was emancipated.

Solomon's Story

   The saga of Solomon Koonce and his descendants begins in obscurity.  Little is known about Solomon's parents, not even their names.  The oral legend is that Solomon's father was born in Africa and transported here to America to be a slave.  It is not known when all this supposed to have happened.  The oral legend goes on to state that Solomon's father nearly did not make it to America.  According to the story, his father was next on the menu for the hungry sharks following the slave ship.  This was a customary tactic used by slave ship captains when food supply was running short.  Hopeless individuals were thrown overboard so that there was one less mouth to feed.  Luckily, if the story is true, land was sighted before Solomon's father thrown overboard or this story would never have had a beginning. 

    However, there is some discrepancy between the census reports and the oral legend.  According to one of the census, Solomon's father was born in North Carolina not in far away Africa.  The problem is census of those days were not entirely accurate especially in reporting data for Black people.  One thing is certain, African blood definitely runs in our blood and that African ancestor did not come here willingly.    

    Slavery is part of most African-Americans' heritage.  It was a fact of life for over four million Americans in 1860.  Instead of being ashamed of this, we take it as a badge of courage, a rite of passage of a people who survived because of stamina both physical and spiritual.  Solomon was born into this institution.  The first 19 years of his life, the formative years of his youth, is shrouded in mystery.  All we know about it is he was born in North Carolina in 1826 and that he had at least one brother named Ned. Ned was sold to a family in Arkansas.  Solomon was sold to a family in Tennessee when he was 19 years old.  That would have been around 1845. 

    The family to which Solomon was sold was named Koonce and they lived in Haywood County,Tennessee.

Solomon's Wives 

    Solomon met a woman named Amy shortly after he came to Tennessee.  No more information about Amy has been gained as of yet.  Amy bore Solomon six children.  After the Civil War, all mention of Amy disappears.  

    In 1867 Solomon married a Mrs. Cherry Jelks Cole.  Cherry brought with her a son name Jim Cole from a previous union.  Cherry boar Solomon seven  additional children. 

Solomon's Land

    According to the 1870 census, Solomon lived in a community called Johnston Grove with Cherry and his family.  After the Civil War, most Black people in the South traded in slavery for sharecropping, a minimal trade at best.  Solomon did not make that trade.  He owned his farmland valued at $350.  According to family oral history, the land was given to Solomon after he was freed from slavery.  He purchased an additional  250 acres of land in 1873 from his former slave owner, Isaac Koonce.  He paid for the land with $1,200 cash in hand.  Solomon provided for his growing family by the riches of his own land. 

  Final Years 

    In 1922, Solomon said goodbye to his companion of 55 years.  Cherry died of old age.  The year of her birth was approximately 1838 making her 84 years old when she died.  Six years later, Solomon joined her.  He had lived a full century with two years to spare.

Campbell, Jennifer. (2006). Say My Name  An African American Family History.