Charles
Alvin Coulter, the genial and accommodating postmaster of LaSalle, Illinois,
has been a lifelong resident of this city, having been ushered into life
here June 15, 1859. He is a son of Robert K. and Mary E. (Allinder) Coulter,
well known substantial citizens of this city. The father was born September
22, 1822, in Indiana county, Pennsylvania, where he was educated and learned
the trade of painter. When twenty years of age he began work as a journeyman
painter and later contracted work and painted many steamboats at Brownsville
and Pittsburg. In 1857 he came to LaSalle and opened a shop, soon acquiring
the reputation of being a first-class house painter and decorator. He was
married in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, to Miss Mary E. Allinder, in 1851. Six
children were born to them, namely: William G., Emily J., Charles A., John
A. and two that are deceased.
Charles A. Coulter attended, the
public schools of LaSalle, finishing with a course in the high school. As
his father was a painter and decorator of ability, it was not strange that
the son should show a decided aptitude for the work and make it his
vocation. For seventeen years he was the junior member of the firm of R. K.
Coulter & Son, general painters and decorators. Mr. Coulter was married in
1887 to Miss Lucy J. Brown, daughter of N. R. Brown, one of the oldest
citizens of Peru, Illinois. Charles A. Coulter has been prominently
identified with the Republicans of LaSalle county since early youth and has
contributed much toward the success of that party in his district. For seven
years and a half he was a member of the city council, but resigned in 1894
in order that he might take his wife to Colorado, hoping the change would
prove beneficial to her health. This hope was a delusive one and she passed
away in October, 1896, and was laid to rest in that state beside an infant
son, Donald. With two little ones, Lucy M. and Robert G., left to his
fatherly care, he returned to his native city and once more took up the
duties of life. On May 4 of the following year, 1897, he was commissioned
postmaster of LaSalle and has filled the office most acceptably since. He is
a Knight Templar Mason and stands high in the councils of that body, being
the present worshipful master of Acacia Lodge, No. 67, A. F. & A. M., of
which he served as the same officer in the years 1886-7 and '8.
Extracted 19 Dec 2018 by Norma Hass from Biographical and Genealogical Record of LaSalle County, Illinois, published in 1900, volume 2, pages 590-591.
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