(McHalsky) Coulter, Thomas & Elizabeth (2x Great Grands)

As promised, I will make every effort to keep living family members from appearing on this blog without their explicit consent.  I have also removed the other side of the family off this graphic, for the sake of trying to keep it simple.

Coulter, Thomas & Elizabeth (2x Great Grandparents)

Thomas and Elizabeth (Lizzie) are Lena's parents. Thomas was born in Ireland and Elizabeth was born here in the U.S. Thomas was about 7 when he came to this country with his family. Thomas and his family likely left Ireland because of the potato famine.  While there seem to be some differences in dates online, it was about 1845-1849.  One article said it lasted six years, which would have been 1851.  Thomas arrived in 1856, so I am taking a leap here in assuming that even after the famine was "officially" over, it left many families struggling in its wake. 

I have census records for the Coulters, but there was a gold mine of information that I found in an obit posted for Thomas on Findagrave.com. This is, actually, the document that gave me the connection for Andrew and Lena getting married in Chicago, because it has Thomas' surviving children and the city they lived in. It actually provides a really nice recap of his life, complimenting the information I found on census records on Ancestry. It also provided information about a first wife who died 6 months into the marriage. 

This is where the photo of the church comes in that I alluded to in Andrew and Lena's page. The 8x10ish sized photo was found in my grandparents things and the frame was a large shadow box. It was simple in design, but large enough to draw your attention if hanging on the wall.  There was no information about the church in the photo or anywhere on the frame.  Written in pencil on the back was what appears to be a date (it's worn quite a bit with time), but it looks to have a date, August 1885. 

By process of elimination, The photo can't be about Andrew and Lena because the date is before their time. It could have something to do with John and Josephine Michalski, but there isn't an obvious date connection there. Also, the Michalski's lived in a different part of the state.  Here's where it gets interesting...Thomas married his first wife, Wilhelmina, in October of 1884. She died after "only 1/2 year of married happiness", in 1885. He married his second wife, Elizabeth, in March of 1886. All dates right in the ballpark of having some type of meaning to them. 

I reached out to the Historical Societies in Waukesha County, Wisconsin (most recently family home town) and Washington County, Wisconsin (where the Coulter's lived at that time).  Waukesha County couldn't I.D. the church, but Washington County did! They believe I have a photo of the Salem United Church of Christ in the Township of Wayne, WI. Wilhelmina is actually buried in Salem United Church of Christ's Cemetery, according to Findagrave.com. She was 17 when she died. Thomas was 34 when they wed.

Interestingly, Wilhelmina's mother is Maria Margaretha Klumb (and Elizabeth is a Klumb).  I'm not sure of the relation (if any) at this point.

I may have photos, but again, need to go through the box and albums to see what I find.   

Documents: Census records, obit for Thomas.