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JAMES E. DULIN. It requires men of grit, courage, coolness and decision to make a successful locomotive engineer. It takes nerve on many occasions to meet the unexpected which the engine driver often encounters--wrecks, washouts, train robbers and various situations where one must think rapidly and do the right thing at the right time. One of these men is James E. Dulin, well known in railroad circles of this locality, one of the oldest engineers on the Frisco running out of Springfield.
Mr. Dulin was born October 26, 1856, at Aledo, Illinois. He is a son of Edwin R. and Sarah (Artz) Dulin. The father was born April 28, 1825, in Columbus, Franklin county, Ohio, and the mother was born in Woodstock, Shenandoah county, Virginia, March 13, 1828, and she moved with her parents from the Old Dominion to Delaware county, Ohio, in September, 1834, when six years of age, and there she grew to womanhood and married Mr. Dulin. They both received good educations for those times, Mrs. Dulin becoming a fine scholar. From Ohio the parents of our subject moved to Illinois, where they lived on a farm. Leaving that state, they settled in Missouri and continued farming for a while, then moved to Kansas City, where Mr. Dulin followed the trade of cooper and carpenter, and there the death of the mother occurred March 22, 1897; the father died September 19, 1900. They were the parents of nine children, six of whom are still living, namely: Ernestine; Josephine is deceased; Elwy died February 7, 1915; James, of this sketch; Archie died in infancy; May, Ettie, Lester and Jesse.
When James E. Dutin was ten years of age the family located in Missouri, locating in Johnson county, where he grew to manhood and received his education in the common schools. He was of a mechanical turn of mind, and his first work was in a woolen mill, where he spent one summer. He began his railroad career in Urbana, Illinois, in 1873, in the shops there, later began as fireman on the Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western railroad; he then went to Kansas City, Missouri, and went to work for the Missouri River, Ft. Scott & Gulf railroad, in March, 1874, as fireman, running between Kansas City and Ft. Scott, Kansas, and while on this run was promoted to engineer on March 8, 1880, and transferred to Springfield, Missouri, on November 7, 1883, to remain here only thirty days, helping out on the new line; but he remained, and has been running on the Ozark division, between Springfield and Thayer, and is the oldest engineer in point of service on this division. This road was purchased by the Frisco System in 1900. Thirty-one years is an exceptionally long time for a railroader to work for a company on the same division, and Mr. Dulin's long retention on this line would indicate that he is efficient, trustworthy and faithful. In all, Mr. Dulin has been with the same company for forty-one years.
Mr. Dulin was married June 16, 1881, in Kansas City, to Lillah H. Hagerty, who was born in Princeton, Illinois, December 25, 1860. She is a daughter of Rev. T. H. Hagerty, of St. Louis, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church. He has answered the roll call sixty-two consecutive times in St. Louis Conference and is ex-chaplain-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic. At present he is chaplain of the Ransom Post Grand Army of the Republic, of St. Louis, Missouri. His wife, who was a Hull before her marriage and a daughter of Rev. H. Hull, a Presbyterian minister, has been deceased several years, her death occurring July 15, 1872. After her mother's death she was reared in the family of J. Radle, Esquire, of Meadeville, Pennsylvania, and there received her education. Mrs. Dulin received a good education, being a graduate of Lewis College, Glasgow, Missouri.
Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Dulin, namely: Elsie, born June 7, 1882, died April 29, 1884; Jamie H., born October 24, 1883, was educated in the Springfield schools, graduating from Drury Academy. He now lives in Chicago and is a designing artist, maintaining a studio of his own there, where he turns out some very fine work in his line. He married Dorothy Sessna; Everett, born. January 23, 1899, is a junior at this writing in the Springfield high school.
Politically, Mr. Dulin is a Republican of the Progressive wing. He belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church and is a member of Division 378 Brotherhood of Engineers. Fraternally, he is a Mason, and for the past twenty-four years has been a member of the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.
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