From Records of the Families of California Pioneers, Vol. XVII, DAR of California, p. 108-109, "Line of Sterling Taylor Coulter":

From Resources of Santa Rosa Valley and the Town of Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, California, by R. A. Thompson (Santa Rosa, 1884), p. 60-61:

About this time -- the Summer of 1853 --it began to be very evident that there was going to be a town somewhere in the neighborhood of the Santa Rosa House [the Carrillo family's old adobe]. W. P. Ball, a blacksmith, had a shop and small house on the Bolio [Oliver Beaulieu] place. A town was laid out on the land of Bolio, just where what is known as Cemetery lane intersects the Sonoma road.

This was the point of junction of the Sonoma, Bodega and Russian River roads. It was a good town site one would think, and beautifully located. Dr. J. F. Boyce and S. G. Clark built a store there; Ball built another and an inn; H. Beaver started a blacksmith shop; C. Morehouse a wagon shop, and W. B. Brush a saddle-tree factory. The town took the name of Franklin Town -- a good name -- a town of "free men." But it did not survive. Why, it is difficult to say. W. H. McClure and S. T. Coulter, present Master of the State Grange of the State of California, bought out Boyce & Clark. The Baptist Church was built. Mr. Coulter and Mr. Beaver had dwellings in Franklin Town. All this was in the year 1853. When the residents of Franklin Town heard of their having a formidable rival close at hand they smiled at the idea.

From page 90:

The Santa Rosa Grange is in a very flourishing condition. One of its charter members, S. T. Coulter, is Worshipful Master of the State Grange of California. Mr. Coulter is closely identified with the history of Santa Rosa, as has been seen by the reader. He built one of the first houses in the town, but was a farmer in the neighborhood before the town was laid out. It is a source of pride to the people of Santa Rosa that one of its founders should now be at the head of the Grange organization of the state.

In the Fall 2000 issue of The Sonoma Searcher, there is an article "McCluer and Coulter / Merchants of Franklin, California / 1853 -1854," by Raymond L. Owen, which describes a ledger and day book for a mercantile store in Franklin, which was operated by Sterling T. Coulter and Newton H. McCluer between 1853 and 1854. The documents from this mercantile store had recently been found at the Santa Rosa Junior College and were then donated to the Sonoma County Library. The article ends with an extracted, alphabetized list of customers doing business at the store. Not only does this list constitute a census for Franklin, but also the names of several members of the 1853 Cockrill-Hagans wagon train who settled in that area of Sonoma appear. I have since seen these ledgers. The day book, in a large handwriiten script, begins September 14, 1853 and lists the items which patrons bought on each visit. The McCluer and Coulter ledger, has Santa Rosa, Cal Nov 23rd 1853 written on the inside cover along with the names Nellie Jackson Coulter, P. Mary Severson, and Pearl Cockrill Grace.

From History of Sonoma County, California, by Ernest L. Finley (Press Democrat Publishing Company, Santa Rosa: 1937), p. 215:

Minutes of the board of supervisors for 1856, the year in which Santa Rosa township was formed, are missing, though they seem to have been available to early historians. That an election of some sort was held in that year is shown by an entry in the minutes for 1857, covering an action brought against the county by August Starke for $32.50, which he claimed was due for providing a room and lights at the general election on September 2, 1857. He made this notation: "The above account includes room rent in 1856 at the General Election in November." It is certain that S. T. ("Squire") Coulter, elected justice of the peace, and John Ingram, elected constable, in 1857, also held those respective offices in the preceding year, making them the first Santa Rosa township officers...
Among the earliest farmers in the township were: S. T. Coulter, James Neal, William, David and Martin Hudson, John Adams, James and Charles Hudspeth, Robert Smith, John Ingrew, J. N. Bennett, Ben Dewell, Achilles and Joseph Richardson, Peterson brothers, Wesley Matthews, and the Elliotts.

From Jeanne Miller's Sonoma County in the 19th Century, p. 44:

Franklin succumbed and its buildings were moved down the creek to the new town. Sterling Coulter went on record as disapproving of the proposed lay-out of Santa Rosa. Fourth and E Streets, he said, were both much farther out than the town would ever grow.

From Santa Rosa, a nineteenth century town, by Gaye LeBaron (Historia, Ltd., Santa Rosa: c1985), p. 166:

These unsuccessful attempts [in the 1850's] at private schools only served to intensify discussion of a public school district. A public school committee consisting of Democrat founder Alpheus W. Russell, William Wilkes, S. T. Coulter, Henry Beaver, and John Huff in 1858 set the boundaries of the new Santa Rosa district, which they named the Court House-District as a second choice.

From the Sonoma County Deed Index:

From a copy of a photo taken around 1905 of Rachel and Sterling sitting and their daughters identified from left to right: Polly, Joanna, Minnie, Nellie, Judith.
The same photograph (#7486) is in the Santa Rosa Library. Also in this library is a photograph of the Coulter house from around 1911 (#7486), a group picture of Nellie, Paul and Polly (#7481) taken in 1934, and a picture of Rachel Coulter (#7482) taken around the same time as the above picture.