Interview #
Field Worker: Maurice R. Anderson
Date:
Name: Mr. James Dulin
Residence: Paoli, Oklahoma
Date of Birth: 1837
Place of Birth: Henry County, Georgia
Father: Sugar Dulin, born in North Carolina
Mother: Tabitha Howard, born in Georgia
Biography of James Dulin, now deceased. Father of Mrs.
Lee McCrummen of Pauls Valley, Oklahoma and Simp Dulin,
Paoli, Oklahoma.
James Dulin was born in Henry County, Georgia
in 1837. His father, Sugar Dulin was a native of North
Carolina and was born about the year 1801. His mother's maiden name was
Miss Tabitha Howard. She was a native of Henry County, Georgia
and was nearly the same age of James Dulin's father.
They became the parents of six children, James being the only son.
When James Dulin was quite young, his mother died and his father broke up
housekeeping, placing his six children with people who were able to care for them.
James Dulin went to live with his aged grandparents. But in a few years, both
died, passing away at nearly the same time and being laid to rest in one coffin. He
was then taken care of by one of his uncles.
During these early years, so full of troubles, James Dulin received very
little school, but this was partially through his own fault. When he was seventeen,
his uncle offered to send him to school a year, if he would stay with him and attend
carefully to his studies. But he had the usual boyish fancy for a wandering life,
and as a party of emigrants were on the point of starting with wagons to Texas, he joined
them. In course of time he found himself in Rush County,
Texas.
We may say with truthfulness that James Dulin started in life without
means, for upon leaving home, he had not a dollar in the world. His baggage
consisted of an extra suit of cotton clothing, tied up in a big handkerchief. He was
neither richer or poorer when Texas was reached, for he had 'worked his passage' and
earned his board while on the way by assisting with the teams and doing something more
than his share of the work around the nightly camps.
His stay in Rush County was short, for he had an
opportunity to join his fortunes with the Hittson family. They were
bound for the Crow Creek country in Hill County.
Mr. Dulin accompanied Jess Hittson to Palestine
after several loads of lumber, the following year, which was 1856.
Mr. Dulin and his friends, the Hittsons, moved to
Parker County and located on Grindstone Creek, where they were
engaged in making grindstones.
Fort Worth, Texas was then nothing but a military post
and the only mill in the country was located near by on Elm Creek.
They used to carry their corn there to have it ground for bread.
The Hittsons owned about forty head of cattle and when
traveling, it was our subject's task to walk and drive the herd.
After the organization of Parker County, in which Mr.
Dulin assisted, he went to Palo Pinto County, when it was organized in
it's turn.
He then moved to Callahan County but after a short stay
in this locality, the rambling fever again made itself felt and in 1859, he joined six
other adventurers who, under the leadership of Joel McKee, started
overland to the mines of Colorado.
Carrying their supplied on pack mules, they passed through the
Indian Territory by way of Fort Arbuckle.
However, Mr. Dulin, like many others, failed to find a fortune in the mining
districts. He then left for New Mexico. He found work cutting
saw logs and for this received seven dollars a month. By camping in the woods and
doing his own cooking, in a short time his wages were raised to fifteen dollars. He
remained at this place through the winter.
In the fall of 1860, Mr. Dulin returned to Texas. The Indians on the
Texas frontier were then becoming restless and a few weeks after his return to that state,
they made an extended raid, killing many settlers and destroying a vast amount of
property. A party of whites were organized to follow and punish them, which Mr.
Dulin joined, and was thus present at the noted Pease River Fight.
The Comanches received a drubbing which they never forgot.
The famous Cynthia Ann Parker was recovered by her friends after
twenty years of captivity.
When this campaign was at an end, Mr. Dulin engaged in the cattle
business. Mr. Dulin took up the stock business as a regular occupation. He
continued in this business for three years and then moved from Texas to the Indian
Territory, with the intention of making his home permanently there.
Mr. Dulin was first married in 1864 to Miss Janie Moore,
by whom he had one child, a boy named George. His second marriage occurred in 1872,
when he was united to Miss Pocahontas Walner, a native of the Chickasaw
Nation. Miss Walner was a daughter of a famous physician, who had
married into the tribe. By this marriage, Mr. Dulin acquired rights of citizenship
among the Chickasaws. He accordingly moved into their territory and established
himself on Blue Creek.
Blue Creek was twelve miles west of Caddo, Oklahoma, on
the line of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway. Mr. Dulin lived there until the
spring of 1878, when he moved to Paoli, Indian Territory, bringing with
him about 420 head of cattle, in which he held a one-half interest. A number of
horses and about 150 head of hogs. He owned at one time about four miles square of
Washita Valley land, having 3000 or 4000 acres fenced for pasturage and cultivating some
1500 acres more.
Two children were born to Mr. Dulin's second marriage, a son, Simp,
and a daughter, Susan. Mrs. Pocahontas "Walner"
Dulin, died April 17, 1880. Mr. Dulin died November 6, 1895 and was buried
beside his wife Pocahontas "Walner" Dulin and his father-in-law, Wm.
Walner, in their private cemetery at Paoli, Oklahoma.
This story was furnished by: "The Cattle Industry of Texas",
published in 1895. And by Mrs. Frances "Stewart" Walner,
sister-in-law by marriage to James Dulin.
See the bio written by Bill Dulin, great grandson of James Dulin at:
http://gen.1starnet.com/civilwar/dulinj.htm
James Dulin Home
submitted by Bill Dulin
