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Erie Cemetery History Project


Eliza C. (Mulnix) Coonley (1835-1885)
Mary Coonley (1857-1864)


Eliza C. Mulnix was the daughter of John Thomas Mulnix and Jane Bridget Turk. In October of 1853 she was married to William Orville Coonley in N. Blenheim, NY.

Mary Coonley was the second child of this couple, born in 1857 in New York. She died in 1864 and was buried in Erie Cemetery.

The Coonley family resided in Polo, Ogle County, IL, and later in Erie. Mr. and Mrs. Coonley later separated and left the Erie community.

Eliza Mulnix Coonley died Feb. 24, 1885, at her residence at 810 Fourth Street, Clinton, IA, of inflammation of the bowels, according to a contemporary obituary. Mrs. Coonley's remains were taken to Erie for burial. Erie News in the Whiteside Sentinal of March 5, 1885, reported "Mrs. W.O. Coonley of Clinton, Iowa, who died recently, was buried here on Thursday of last week. She formerly resided here and was well known to the older inhabitants." Another obituary states "The children of the deceased live at Morrison, Ill., whereas they came by team to attend the funeral."

Although Mrs. Coonley is not listed in the registry of burials at Erie Cemetery, obituaries of the day state she was interred there, and an unmarked grave is located in the Coonley family plot. It can be presumed that the unmarked grave is that of Mrs. Coonley

Eliza's father, John Thomas Mulnix, was born July 14, 1807, in Delaware County, NY, and died Feb. 19, 1890, in Buffalo Township, Ogle County, IL. He was buried in Reed Cemetery in Buffalo Township.

Mr. Mulnix was married to Jane Bridget Turk in 1829 in Roxbury, Delaware County, NY. She had been born June 16, 1811, in Roxbury, Delaware County, New York. She died July 31, 1855, in Lee County, IL, and was buried in Old Martin/Gap Grove Cemetery in Palmyra Township, Lee County, IL.


William Orville Coonley was born March 24, 1834, in N. Blenheim, NY, and died Dec. 12, 1904, in Henderson, TN. He is buried in Grove Hill Cemetery in Morrison, also in an unmarked grave.

(Information from Rita M. (Coonley) Brown)