The surname Coonrod of the two soldiers under discussion appears to be Dutch in origin and NJ and NY had many descendents of Dutch origin, I say descendents because the two names Jabez and Francis do not appear Dutch but appear to be names used of colonial origin. I would imagine that the term dark complexion refers to swarthy faced as is normal amongst people from southern Europe (many sections of Spain, Franch, Italy etc) or from being a farmer all one´s life or, perhaps less likely, intermarriage among colonists and native american tribes. An enrollment officer in 1861 would have called a negro soldier "black" and as to "Black Irish" that is not applicable. My father whose grandfather came from county Cork, called himself black irish because of his black hair (his eyes were blue and face, pardon the expression, "ruddy") which represented the original people found in Ireland before the Danish arrived versus the red or blond haired Danish influence in Ireland. On the misused term "Black Irish" which is an endless subject like the some other recent subjects on this list, one can discuss this ad nauseum at: http://www.darkfiber.com/blackirish/ http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~hornbeck/blkdutch.htm Mike