My cousin Lana and I have been working on connecting to the Taney & Cedar Co., MO Coulter's for a very long time and we believe we've finally made that connection.

I recently received the pension file for George W. Coulter who is the youngest brother of our direct ancestor Thomas A. Coulter b. 1841 in TN. The pension file is nearly 2" thick, the reason being George was investigated because he was apparently with the Confederacy as well as the Union Armies. He says he was taken against his will from his father's and made to serve with the Confederacy, when he finally "got away" he went to stay with his brother, Thomas A. Coulter, in Dade Co., MO and signed up for the Union Army with Thomas, this was Thomas' second time serving, first with Co E 6th MO Cavalry, then Co E 14th Vol. Calvalry with George.

Because of the investigation there are several affidavits & depositions from various family members and neighbors. One in particular dated Aug. 5, 1908 in which George states: "Father had a brother Thos. H. Coulter about 10 mi north of Dubuque his post office was Forsythe. He had sons named Tom, one named Will and one named Jim, I do not know where they live now." Other papers refer to cousins Thomas Coulter, William Coulter, James Coulter, all of Forsythe, Taney Co., MO. We believe this Thomas H. is Thomas Harris Coulter, unless there was another Thomas H. Coulter in Taney Co., MO, we haven't found one. One deposition states that "Flem Smith married my cousin" I haven't found anything on Flem yet but it appears he married one of Thomas H. Coulter's daughters. There's also a questionaire filled out by Mrs. Thomas Coulter, widow, dated 1908 Forsythe, Taney Co., MO, in which she states, "yes, her husband had a cousin named George W. Coulter". There are 3 Thomas Coulter's mentioned in this huge file, Thomas A. Coulter, brother; Thomas H. Coulter, uncle; Thomas A. Coulter cousin.

We know that George & Thomas' father is John J. Coulter one source being Thomas' death certificate and the other, despositions from George, Thomas and their sister Marilda T. Coulter describing family members & neighbors.

So if Thomas H. Coulter is John J. Coulter's brother it appears our John J. Coulter is another son of Brig. Gen. Thomas Coulter.

So briefly, this is what we've gathered so far:

John J. Coulter
b. abt 1809 TN
d. unk, aft 1870
Married Elizbeth Smith bef 1830 in probably TN
We don't have info on Elizabeth Smith yet, her name comes from Thomas' death certificate that Lana obtained.

Children:
1) James Lafayette Coulter
b. abt 1830 in TN
m. Olive M. Unknown

2) Benjamin Carroll Coulter
b. July 1832 in TN
m. Kate Unknown
(these two brothers went to Humboldt Co., CA abt 1852 or '53 where they lived out their lives)

3) Jane E. Coulter
b. abt 1835 in TN
d. bef 1908 MO
m. Benjamin Polson, 17 AUG 1851, Cedar Co., MO
Lived in Stockton, Cedar Co., MO

4) Mary "Polly" Coulter
b. abt 1838 in TN or MO
m. Miles M. Russell, 17 MAY 1859, Dade Co., MO
m. John Armstrong, 8 AUG 1871, Dade Co., MO
m. Lewis Redman, 31 JAN 1881, Dade Co., MO
Widowed by 1908 living in Lamar, Barton Co., MO

5) Marilda T. Coulter
b. abt 1839 in TN
m. James Washington Hobbs abt 1860
m. William F. Parks 13 MAR 1888 in Dade Co., MO
Living in Dade Co., MO in 1908

6) Thomas A. Coulter
b. 18 NOV 1841 in TN
d. 21 JAN 1916 in KS
m. Dicy Jane Faulkenberry 17 JUL 1864 in Greenfield, Dade Co., MO

7) Elizabeth Coulter
b. abt 1843 in TN or MO
m. James G. Gardner
Lived in Springfield, MO

8) George W. Coulter
b. 17 APR 1845 in Cedar Co., MO d. 15 MAR 1931 in OK
m. Amanda Mitchell
m. Elizabeth unk, divorced in 1928
m. Mattie Duncan
m. Eliza McGill

John J. Coulter married Emaline Hooten 24 NOV 1852 in Cedar Co., MO

Children:
1) Sarah Coulter b. abt 1854 in MO
2) John Coulter b. abt 1855 in MO
3) Nancy Coulter b. abt 1859 in MO
4) Martha Coulter b. abt 1860 in MO
5) Jefferson Coulter b. abt 1862 in MO
6) Emaline Coulter b. abt 1868 in MO
7) William P. Coulter b. 1870 in MO

The family can be found in 1860 Taney Co., MO census and the 1870 Cedar Co., MO census. We believe we have Mary & Thomas in 1850 living with the Allen Kennedy family in Cedar Co., MO, so far haven't found the other family members in 1850. We don't know yet of the connection to the Kennedy family or if there is one.

John J. Coulter came to MO from TN sometime before 1845 as George was born in MO. There is a John J. Coulter in Rhea Co., TN in 1830. We would love to hear from anybody who can connect to this family, as well as anyone who can prove or disprove that John J. Coulter is another son of Brig. Gen. Thomas Coulter.

Thank you for reading!