Julian DeJean

I am flustered that I can not find source documents on Julian’s lineage.  The only thing we have to go on is Myrle’s research that states Julian was a son of Stephen DeJean and Cornelia Rouse.  I believe Myrle is correct, as do many other researchers, however my need for neat and tidy records compels me to continue looking for how Myrle knew this – considering she was his great-granddaughter, she may have received this knowledge either through family stories or she found what I have not; records tying him to Stephen and Cornelia.

Be that as it may, we accept his lineage using Myrle’s publications as evidence; Harrison County History (1981, pg 143) and Some Genealogy Records of Stephen Louis De Jean Family from Paris France and his American Descendents (sic) (1974).  We can also use cluster research to support his lineage.

Myrle records his name as Julian Fayette Schyuler DeJean and his birth as 27 April 1822 or 1828 in New York.  His death she records as 26 January 1898 in Buffalo Gap, South Dakota.

His headstone was located on Find-a-grave and the inscription records the following: Julian De Jean, born Apr 27, 1822, died Jan 26, 1898.  His headstone is located in the Buffalo Gap Cemetery in Buffalo Gap, Custer County, South Dakota.

I suspect his birth to be more like 1824 since it is almost consistently recorded as such during the prime of his life in censuses between 1850 and 1880.  It is not until his death in 1898 that it suddenly becomes 1822, and his headstone is the only evidence for that year.  It is presumed to be the source for Myrle’s information.

Myrle’s research provides us with his marriage details also.  He married Elizabeth (Nettie) Bullis on 22 October 1846 in Milton, Rock County, Wisconsin.  A Wisconsin marriage to Elizabeth is supported by virtue of their residence recorded in censuses and the year is acceptable based on the birth of their oldest child, George.

Myrle did not seem to have much on Elizabeth, just her maiden name and their place of marriage.  Records of some of their children’s marriages also support her maiden name of Bullis.  There was an Isaac Bullis or Bullus who lived next door to Julian and Elizabeth in 1870 in Milton, Rock County, Wisconsin.  He may have been Elizabeth’s brother based on their close ages – if there was a familial relationship at all.  I haven’t looked into her much yet, myself.

We find Julian and his family in censuses where he is always enumerated as a farmer (but later a carpenter) and always identified his place of birth as New York.  Between 1850 and 1870 he bounces around Wisconsin (Dane, Rock, and Juneau Counties – all places where Stephen, Cornelia and their documented children lived and prospered).  By 1875, he and Elizbeth are living in Osborne County, Kansas where he has been appointed as postmaster for Covert (1873) and was paid a salary of $12.69.

He is still in Kansas (Norton County) by the 1880 census and has switch from farming to carpentry.  He is also remarried to a new wife, Lydia A. (____) Smith, she and her son’s are in his household.   In 1900 Lydia and the same sons are found in Idaho Falls, Idaho, but she is back to being called Smith.

Myrle implies a divorce from Elizabeth.  This is possible as an Elizabeth DeJean has been found back in Rock County, Wisconsin enumerated in the Wisconsin Death Index for 1820-1907.  It is not clear if this is Elizabeth Bullis DeJean or another Elizabeth DeJean.  The only information provided on this index is the name “Elizabeth DeJean” and a death date of 13 April 1889, after Julian is found living with Lydia A. in Kansas.  I will have to order the death certificate from Wisconsin.

He may have been in Denver, Colorado working as a carpenter (1885 and 1890 city directories) before moving to South Dakota and dies in 1898.

Kansas county formations from Mapofus.org.  Showing Julian’s movements through Kansas in the 1870’s.

The Colorado Julian DeJean also married a Mattie J. Moon in 1888 – I am not sure this is the same man as ours.  No other detail about this man is given, no birth date, place or age, nor parent names.  Myrle never mentioned a residency in Colorado nor a third marriage.  There is another Julian DeJean who is unrelated to us and comes from the Louisiana DeJean branch.  More research is needed to determine which Julian moved to Colorado.

Why Buffalo Gap, South Dakota, though?  Well, the answer may lie with one of his daughters, Jeanette (Jane) DeJean, who married Edwin O. Bond in Dunlap, Iowa, then moved to Buffalo Gap, South Dakota where she and her husband died and are buried.  And low and behold – there they are, Jennie J. Bond, wife of Ed and one of their children in Buffalo Gap Cemetery.  A duplicate profile has been entered on Find-a-grave for Julian DeJean Bond who died 26 January 1898 (either an error or Julian’s namesake grandson died on the same day as him…hmmm – I say erroneous duplicate).  It’s hard to be 100% certain from pictures, but it looks as though Julian shares a headstone (monument) with his grandson, H. Wilder Bond who died in 1897, solidifying his ties to the Bond family in Buffalo Gap.

Images of headstones at Buffalo Gap Cemetery uploaded by Vivian.  Note the similarities, I believe Julian DeJean and H. Wilder Bond share the same monument.  It is possible that another sides has an inscription for Julian’s daughter, Jeannette (Jennie J. DeJean) Bond, though her Find-a-Grave profile does not have a headstone or monument image.

The census also supports Myrle’s identification of Julian and Elizabeth’s children, though she had come to slightly different conclusions on a couple of birth years and places than I did.

Julian escaped newspaper mentions except for one to indicate he had run into financial trouble in Lyon County, Kansas.

Clipped from Newspapers.com, The Emporia Weekly News (Emporia, Kansas), Friday, December 8, 1871 (accessed 7 May 2016).

Genealogical Summary

Julian Fayette Schyuler DeJean was born probably 27 April 1823 or 1824 in Hanover, Chautauqua County, New York (location is based on residency of Stephen DeJean between 1820 and 1825).

He married Elizabeth Bullis on 22 October 1846 in either Dane County or Rock County, Wisconsin.

He married or simply cohabitated with Lydia A. (____) Smith in Kansas before 1880.  And may have married third to Mattie J. Moon in Colorado in 1888 – though this still needs more analysis.

He died 26 January 1898, probably in South Dakota based on the location of his grave in Buffalo Gap Cemetery, Custer County, South Dakota.

Julian and Elizabeth had the following children:

1. George Washington DeJean, b. 14 August 1846 or 47 in Wisconsin, possibly in or near Albion Dane County.  He married (1) Marion Barber Tucker on 13 June 1869 in Milton, Rock County, Wisconsin and she died 8 March 1889.  He married (2) Mary/Minnie (McIntosh) Vint on 2 November 1892 in Dunlap, Harrison County, Iowa.  He died 1 April 1921 in Harrison County, Iowa.
2. Clark DeJean, b. 1850 probably in Dane County, Wisconsin.
3. Jenneatte J. (presumably Jane) DeJean, b. 28 November 1852 in Wisconsin (8 years old in 1860, day and month provided by Myrle). She died 4 December 1900 in Buffalo Gap, South Dakota and is buried in the same cemetery as Julian.  She married Edwin O. Bond at Dunlap Iowa in 1873.
4. Daniel (Dann) Fayette Schular DeJean, b. 1854 in Wisconsin.
5. James DeJean, b. 1855 in Wisconsin.
6. Adeline DeJean, b. 1860 in Wisconsin.
7. Alfred DeJean, b. 1869 in Wisconsin.