John W. Coulter

CoulterJohn W. Coulter (1859 – 1933), a carpenter and trustee of the church, and his wife Ella Pettyjohn (1857 – 1948) whom he married circa 1886, were sponsors of one of the two windows on the South Wall of the M. P. Church . They became members of the Milton M. P. Church in 1887. The Coulters do not appear to have had children; other than being mentioned in the Milford Chronicle as the owners of an automobile, the Coulters led quiet lives devoted to the church.

John was descended from one of the oldest families to have settled in southern Delaware; the first Coulter, James Jr., migrated to Delaware in the early 18th century from Ulster County, in present-day Northern Ireland. Further back, his ancestors were Scots. It is likely that the Coulters who fought as soldiers in Oliver Cromwell’s army may have been granted land in Ireland as a reward for their service in suppressing an Irish revolt in the 17th century.

Ella is a descendant of James Pettyjohn, born in Devonshire, England who migrated to the Virginia colony in the 17th century. His son John would migrate to Delaware from Virginia in the early 18th century.