STANDARD ATLAS
OF
SCOTT COUNTY, ILLINOIS
1903
Geo. A. Ogle & Co.Publishers & Engravers
134 Van Buren St.
Chicago
Transcribed by Larry Fearneyhough
Page 111
Someone has wisely said: "What is worth doing is worth doing well." This seems to have been the life motto of R. H. Coultas, the son of George and Eliza Coultas, who was born April 11, 1848. He is the third son and his parents settled upon the farm Mr. Coultas now owns in 1837. The first house built by the elder Coultas was a round (unhewed) log affair, with a stick chimney plastered with mud. This was the home for a few years and then he was able to construct a hewed log house, with frame kitchen, which, in its day, was considered a very fine country residence. Mrs. Coultas mother of our subject, has often related to her children the many adventures encountered with wolves (which were very troublesome to young stock). Wild game was plentiful; geese, ducks, pigeons, turkey and prairie chicken seemed everywhere to abound. This is now a thing of the past.
When R. H. Coultas was twenty-one years old - in the spring of 1869 - he commenced farming for himself and was very successful. He was a practical young man of advanced ideas and good judgment; did what he did thoroughly and well - neglecting not even the slightest detail, and from what he had sown gathered abundant harvests. In other words, he prospered even beyond the sanguine hopes of his friends and admirers.
December 16, 1869,was married to Miss Hannah J. Tankersley, daughter of G. V. and Martha Tankersley. They have reared an intelligent, industrious family - two sons and six daughters - and to each of them they have imparted the secret of their success in life. The principles of honesty, virtue and industry have been forcibly brought home to them, and the children are today among the honored sons and daughters of the county.
Mr. Coultas still resides on the old homestead - a splendid 190-acre farm - about three miles east of Winchester. Just here is a feature that doesn't enter into the lives of all men. Mr. Coultas purchased and improved his present farm with borrowed money, and the persons extending him accommodation along this line never required a mortgage, and, in but few instances, security of any sort.
R. H. Coultas is one of the solid men of the county and his word he regards as good as his bond. He believes, firmly, that diligence and promptness have their own reward. If one is prompt in his attention to all busines matters, as well as in his work, success is certain to crown his efforts, is the manner in which Mr. Coultas reasons life's problem. Mr. and Mrs. Coultas are practically of the same age, being born in the same year, and what they have accomplished has been done by labor and economy, and in the belief that they who learn to do things right and in order will labor to a profit. They further believe that those who make valuable improvements - add to the ornamentation of the country - without hope of financial reward, will in turn reap as they have sown - a harvest of good luck.
At the very base of Mr. Coultas' nature lies the trite maxim: "All good things merit reward," and he feels that inasmuch as nature is honest the reward will be paid. He has lived in Scott county better than a half century. He is known to the people, and the people know that his life has been a beautiful examplification of the motto: "What is worth doing, is worth doing well."