COULTER Surame
Descendants of Alexander Coulter, Sr.
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Prepared and last modified by Jeff Lewis Bott on September 28, 2008
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To have a better understanding about the purpose of this website and what you can expect to find, please read everything in the CONTENTS section further down on this page!
Contents
Introduction
Greetings,
My name is Jeff Lewis Bott. I have been researching my COULTER lineage
as a hobby since about 1985. My mother, Mattie Coulter Bott and my brother
Jerry F. Bott, both now deceased, a cousin, Doris Coulter Hetzler, now
deceased and many other relatives too numerous to list have inspired me
to research and share the information with the thousands of COULTER
descendants. The COULTER database contains only a small subset of my total database containing over 37,000 people.
I have another COULTER website on Rootsweb with the following URL:
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=coulterbybott.
Currently, I also have the following additional websites operational:
"Descendants of Silas Baker": the website address is http://freepages.family.rootsweb.com/~jeffbott/BAKER/INDEX.HTML.
"Descendants of Gebhard Bott": the website address is http://freepages.family.rootsweb.com/~jeffbott/BOTT/INDEX.HTML.
"Descendants of Abner Kirk": the website address is http://freepages.family.rootsweb.com/~jeffbott/KIRK/INDEX.HTML.
"Descendants of John McDougal": the website address is http://freepages.family.rootsweb.com/~jeffbott/McDOUGAL/INDEX.HTML.
"Descendants of James McMurry": the website address is http://freepages.family.rootsweb.com/~jeffbott/McMURRY/INDEX.HTML.
Another website that I currently have operational is for Sand Flat Cemetery near Tyler in Smith County, Texas. It is a rather unique genealogy study for everyone buried in that cemetery. The website address is http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~jeffbott/INDEX.HTML.
ALEXANDER COULTER, SR.
Our earliest known Coulter lineage can be traced back to Alexander Coulter whom we estimate was born about 1740. We do not know if he was an immigrant or if perhaps his parents were the first immigrants. Research is ongoing by many genealogists to solve this puzzle. Alexander Coulter first appeared Feb. 13, 1765 in Rowan County, North Carolina as a witness to a deed made from Thos. Cook, tailor, to Wm. McConnell, innholder. He was also a witness on a deed in Mecklenburg County July 1768, when Wm. Byers purchased land on Bullock Creek, later recorded in Tryon County 1769.
Tradition says he was Scotch-Irish, and at that time, a young man ready to try his fortune on the western frontier of N. C. About his fortune, we know not, but he did buy and sell several tracts of land in Tryon and Rutherford Counties. Alexander Coulter did participate in the Revolutionary War in some form or fashion. Several of his female descendants have qualified for membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution.
In 1771, Alexander Coulter married Mrs. Mary Moore born about 1740 and the widow of William Moore. Alexander and Mary's marriage is evident in the court minutes of Old Tryon County, N. C. as given in the biography of Wm. Moore in this book. Mary had three small children when they married. Mary and Alexander Coulter had three sons and one daughter born in Rutherford County (now Polk County) on Green River near or in the direction of White Oak Fort. He sold his last tract of land in Rutherford County in 1794 and appeared in Knox County, Tennessee buying land soon after. His deed in Knox County is witnessed by Alexander Coulter (Jr.), who would have just turned twenty-one years of age. The last reference we have to Alexander Coulter (Sr.) is in Roane County, Tennessee 1807, when he sold "land I now liveth on." He probably moved down to Bledsoe County, Tennessee with his sons.
The children of Mary and Alexander Coulter (Sr.) are as follows:
James Coulter, b 4-1-1772, d 1849 Arkansas, m Catherine Tunnell 7-6-1792;
Alexander Coulter (Jr.), b. 8-16-1775, d 3-28-1853 Walker County Georgia, m
Margaret McReynolds Jan. 1804 Roane County Tennessee
Thomas Coulter, b 10-20-1777, d 1826 Bledsoe County Tennessee, m Louisa (Lucy) Johnston 1-27-1800 Knox County Tennessee
Elizabeth Coulter, b 1781 listed in the Bible of Alexander Coulter (Jr.), but nothing known about her
Delilah Coulter, b 5-1-1786, d 3-19-1860 Bledsoe County Tennessee, m Jonathan Pope about 1808, not listed in Bible but said to be a daughter.
If you are a descendant of Alexander Coulter, Sr. and would like to exchange information, please send an
email to me at sandflatcemetery@gmail.com.
SMITH COUNTY, TEXAS CONNECTION
In January of 1902 Richard Alexander Coulter and his Wife, Dicie Elisabeth, moved from Georgia to Smith County, Texas with their 7 children, leaving behind all of their relatives. Richard had just turned 54 and Dicie was not quite 45. The oldest son, William Jefferson, was born on October 1, 1880 and was already 21, but the youngest son, Mitchel Johnson, was not yet 8 years old. A daughter, Mattie Zanovia Ward, had died in 1900 only a week after giving birth to a son, Richard Zanovia Ward.
The reason for the move is open to conjecture at this point. Perhaps, Georgia was becoming too crowded for a man with 5 young sons coming along. The census records of East Texas show a steady stream of immigrants from Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama towards the end of the 19th century so it wasn't that uncommon an undertaking. However, the Coulter families had lived for 70 years in Tennessee and in Northwest Georgia near Chattanooga. The first Coulters had arrived in Northwest Georgia in the 1830's. Richard's grandfather, Alexander Coulter (born in the mid 1700's and lived in North Carolina), had moved there from Tennessee. The attraction of that part of Georgia at that time was the cheap land previously occupied by the unfortunate Cherokee nation that was being moved to Oklahoma.
Richard, the eldest of 6 sons was born on December 20, 1848 in Walker County and received his middle name, Alexander, from his grandfather and great-grandfather. He was the son of James Jefferson Coulter and Mary Sandal Harwell Coulter who lived in an area called McLemore's Cove near Cedar Grove a short distance south of Chattanooga. He must have been a joy to his family for he was strong and large and eventually grew to a height of 6 feet and 11 inches, easily towering over most men. That area of Georgia is famous for the tall pines and the tall Coulters. The calm of his childhood was abruptly interrupted though by events sweeping over the South after 1860 and the start of the War Between the States. They lived about 10 miles south of the Battle of Chickamauga where 35,000 men lost their lives on September 19-20 of 1863. The union general, Sherman, started his infamous drive toward Atlanta shortly afterwards. The Coulter families survived the battle and the rest of the war during which time wandering deserters from both armies made travel very dangerous. Richard was detained by Sherman's soldiers when they did not find as much supplies and food on the farm as they had expected. A letter from Richard's mother in 1864 to his Grandmother Harwell some 30 miles away describes the difficult times and lost friends but also the joy of another large baby boy born into the Coulter household.
Richard joined the Presbyterian Church when he was 22 years old, and 2 years later on April 3, 1873, he married the 16-year-old Dicie Elisabeth Johnson. For the next 29 years they lived and farmed in the northwest corner of Georgia and in Alabama. It appears that they moved around since they were living in Catoosa County at the time of the 1880 census, but later, a newspaper article (The Messenger) said that he lived in Etawah County, Alabama near Gadsden. Before leaving Georgia, Richard and his brothers had a photograph made of the six of them standing in a row. It was an impressive picture since even the shortest of the six was 6 feet 4 inches.
They took a train from Chattanooga to East Texas getting off at Tyler where they bought a wagon and a team of horses. They rented a farm near Winona and planted their first crop that spring. Farms in East Texas at that time were practically self-sufficient, at least in food. Vegetables and potatoes were grown for the table and cotton was grown for the cash crop. Richard's two brothers, Oscar and Woods, moved to Tyler also, but we don't know when. Oscar and his wife, Cora, are listed in the 1910 Tyler City Directory as living at 424 E. Mulberry St; he was working at the East Side Market. According to the 1913 City Directory Oscar lived at 970 N. Bois d Arc, and Woods lived at 977 N. Bois d Arc. Oscar was listed as a grocer and Woods as a butcher, both doing business at 414 N. Spring St. They did not stay in Texas but eventually returned to the Georgia Tennessee area.
Richard only lived in Texas three and 1/2 years. On September 4 of 1905, malaria struck down Richard Alexander at the age of 56. This was the same disease that had killed his father, James Jefferson Coulter, in 1885. A lengthy obituary appeared in the Lindale Messenger. His wife, Dicie Elizabeth, died only three years later on November 18, 1908 at the young age of 51. Both are buried in the Sand Flat Cemetery in Smith County.
Although none of his children or grandchildren grew tall enough to match Richard's height, some of them were large people by ordinary standards. One grandson, Dewitt Coulter, was an All-American Football player at West Point in 1945 and played professional football later. Several great great grandsons have played for Baylor and Rice Universities. About 150 persons attended a family reunion for his descendants in 1981 at the Antioch Church in Sand Flat, Texas near Tyler. "Jerry F. Bott"
Richard Alexander Coulter was born December 20, 1848 in McLemore's Cove in Walter County, Georgia. His parents were James Jefferson Coulter and Mary Sandal Harwell. He married Dicie Elizabeth Johnson on April 3, 1873 in Walker County. She was born in Walker County in 1857, and her parents were W. P. Johnson and Sophia L. Kelley. They moved to Smith County, Texas before March 20, 1902. He died September 4, 1905, and she died November 18, 1908; both are buried in the Sand Flat Cemetery of Smith County. They were cited in the Catoosa County census of 1880, the Chattanooga County census of 1900, and several times in the "Walker County (Georgia.) Messenger" on microfilm in Walker County Library.
PRIVACY ISSUES
I have many individuals both alive and desceased in my genealogy
database. For privacy reasons, I do not post birth dates and marriage
dates for living individuals on the Internet. Privacy for living individuals is a concern for most of us in modern day society. Everyone born after the year 1907 with NO known death date by me is treated as a Confidential person. Therefore, this website does not post birth dates or places, marriage dates or places or any other type of data on these individuals except a persons full name and their relationship to their family members.
I am open to comments and suggestions about privacy issues. If you have a serious problem with your name being on a public forum such as this, please read the following OPT OUT PROVISION.
OPT OUT PROVISION
This website is intended to honor our deceased loved ones and offer a platform in which their descendants can research their ancestry.
Please understand that the dates and events concerning individuals that are posted on this site are public information. NO personal information for LIVING INDIVIDUALS such as social security numbers, birth dates, marriage dates or divorce dates are included.
Since we live in a free and open society in the United States of America, I have the right of freedom of speech and freedom of the press from the First Amendment to the United States Constitution that allows me to publish public information concerning individuals from my family tree WITH NO OBLIGATION TO REMOVE ANYTHING!
That said, if there are extenuating circumstances why an individual or a group of individuals should be removed, I would be happy to examine the reasons to do so.
At any time, I will gladly correct any inaccuracies that exist if they are brought to my attention.
If you would like for me to consider removing YOUR NAME from this website, please contact me with your reasons at sandflatcemetery@gmail.com. If I decide to do so, it may take up to 30 days for the deletion process to occur.
ERRORS AND OMISSIONS
I have used my best effort to minimize factual errors for the information contained herein. However, I have found from experience that in genealogy research, absolute perfection cannot be achieved! Therefore, please use your own sources to verify and check the data that is of interest to you. If errors of any kind are found, please contact me and I will correct them.
Please use this website as a useful guide and not something that is absolute in fact. Be very aware that even the information chiseled in stone on a cemetery marker may not be correct. For example, did the person tell the stone carver the correct dates? Did the stone carver misread the information given to him, etc., etc.? You get the idea!
Mission Statement
In order to remember and honor our COULTER ancestry, this website is
designed to identify both the deceased and living descendants of
Alexander Coulter, Sr. and his wife, Mary, the widow of William Moore.
Articles, stories and obituaries of each individual shall be provided along with photographs whenever possible.
Background
Alexander Coulter, Sr. was born about 1740 and his ancestry is
currently being researched by a number of his descendants. The focus of
this project is to track his descendants and their migration across the
United States. Alexander Coulter, Sr. participated in the Revolutionary
war and having done so, entitles his descendants to become members of
either the Sons or Daughters of the American Revolution.
I am using a comprehensive computerized genealogical program that can output in HTML language for an Internet website. The program can display a wealth of information such as:
1. Every person's full name, maiden name for females, date of birth, date of marriage, date of death and date of burial
2. Name and location of the cemetery where person is buried
3. Photograph of the individual
4. Photograph of the grave marker
5. Public records that contain federal census records, birth, death, marriage and other dates
6. Obituaries for the individual
7. Stories, articles and biographical information for the individual
8. A list of each person's parents, siblings and descendants
The best way today to communicate with large numbers of people and to
share information is through an Internet website. With a website, the
COULTER descendants and all who have an interest, will have access to
more accurate records information can be shared more easily.
Helpful Hint: Be sure to click on the actual photo or the photo icons.
JUST CLICK ON EVERYTHING AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS!
I hope that you find this website useful and informative! However, it is still under construction and I am open to any and all suggestions for improvements.
The contents herein are for an individuals' personal use and MAY NOT be used for commercial gain in any form or fashion. If you have any questions, comments, additions, corrections or constructive criticism, please email me at sandflatcemetery@gmail.com.
Sincerely,
Jeff L. Bott
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