Bios: Wiggins, Coulter, Indiana Co. Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by L. Raymond raymond@brokersys.com USGENWEB NOTICE: Printing this file by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites, requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A contemporary biographical article of Judge Coulter Wiggins (1913) Coulter Wiggins, of Blairsville, Indiana county, a lawyer of almost fifty years' standing and during a great part of that time engaged in practice at Blairsville, is a native of Indiana county, born Jan. 24, 1840, in White Township. His grandfather, Thomas Wiggins, was a large land owner and farmer of White Township, where he was among the early settlers. He owned a tract of over four hundred acres upon which he made some improvements, and died there while in the prime of life, leaving a wife and five young children. His widow Elizabeth (Lytle), who was a native of Princeton, NJ, died in what is now Cherryhill township. The five children, all now deceased, were: Samuel, Robert, Andrew, John (who died young) and Margaret. Robert Wiggins, son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Lytle) Wiggins, was born on the farm in White township, Indiana county, and was but eight years old when his father died. His opportunities for an education were therefore limited. He lived on the homestead farm until he reached manhood, and became a possessor of part of that property, a tract of 160 acres on which he made extensive improvements and where he continued to engage in general farming the remainder of his life. He died on his farm in June, 1890, at the age of eighty, and is buried in Greenwood Cemetery, at Indiana. His church connection was with the United Presbyterians. In politics he was originally a Whig, later a Republican. Robert Wiggins married Elizabeth Coulter, who was born in Rayne township, Indiana county, daughter of James Coulter, and died on the farm June 25, 1855, at the age of thirty-seven years. She is buried in Greenwood cemetery. She was the mother of the following children: Malinda C., who died in young womanhood; Coulter; Jane Elizabeth who married Dr. W. B. Kroesen, and resided at Etna, Allegheny county, Pa, where she died; Ellen, who married Henry Keller, of Indiana; Margaretta, who married Henry Bryan, of White township; and Jemima, who married Frank Detwiller and (second) Martin F. Jamison, and resides in Indiana. For his second wife Robert Wiggins married Mrs. Lydia Flude, who died when about eighty years old, on the farm, leaving one son, James W.; he resides on the homestead in White Township. Coulter Wiggins, only son of Robert and Elizabeth (Coulter) Wiggins, began his education in the local schools of White township and later attended the Indiana Academy. After leaving school he took up the study of law in the office of A. W. Taylor, of Indiana, and was admitted to practice at the Indiana county bar in 1864. He remained in the office of Mr. Taylor for another year after being admitted to practice. In 1865 he received appointment as clerk in the War Department at Washington, D.C., where he spent two years, but on account of his health he resigned and went to Minnesota, where he practiced his profession five years, principally at Redwood Falls. Meantime he became quite active in public life there, and served one term as district attorney and one term as Probate judge. Returning to his native county, Judge Wiggins carried on the practice oflaw at Indiana, in the office of J. N. Banks, continuing there until 1890, atwhich time he located in Blairsville. Here he has found his field of work, and has performed other important public service as attorney for the borough. His office is on Market Street. Judge Wiggins is noted for his modesty, but his efficiency and probity have brought him to the front, and he is popular as well as respected. In politics he is a staunch Republican. While in the borough in Indiana he was a member of the school board and served as secretary of that body for nine years. He is an active member of the Presbyterian Church, and while in Redwood Falls, Minn., held the office of elder, to which he has also been chosen since returning to his home county, serving in both Indiana and Blairsville; he has also been a Sunday school teacher and superintendent of the Sunday school. Mr. Wiggins was married Aug. 17, 1869, in Redwood Falls, Minn. to Adelaide Craigen, who was born in Hampshire county, W. Va., daughter of Jacob I. Craigen, and died at Blairsville, Oct. 8, 1908; she is buried in Greenwood cemetery, Indiana. Mrs. Wiggins was a member of the Presbyterian Church. She was the mother of children as follows: Hubert Paxton, who resides at Homestead, Pa, one that died in infancy; Robert Harrison, residing in Blairsville (he married Blanche Keyes); and Elsa Beatrice, who married Frederick Pfaff and resides at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.Stewart, Prof. J. T. Indiana County Pennsylvania: Her People Past and Present. Chicago: J.H. Beers and Co, 1913.