PAULEN, DEBOLD
, was born March 25, 1800, in the village of Eingenheim, twelve miles nearly north of Strasburg, France, now Germany. He was there married to Margaret Walter, who was born Nov. 11, 1806, in the same province. They had one child in France, and emigrated to America, landing at New Orleans, Feb. 18, 1837. In the fall of that year the yellow fever raged as an epidemic in New Orleans. Of the one hundred and sixty-three passengers who came over in the ship with Mr. Paulen, all except thirty died. Mr. Paulen, his wife and child all had the disease, but escaped death. Their money was gone, but they came up the Mississippi and Illinois rivers to Beardstown, Illinois, and from there by wagon to Sangamon county, arriving April 20, 1838, in what is now the southeast corner of Island Grove township. They had two children in Sangamon county. Of their three children--DEBOLD, Jun., born Sept. 11, 1828, in Alsace, France, now Germany, came to Sangamon county in 1838 with his parents, married Jan. 26, 1854, to Alpha C. Rigg, who died without children, Jan. 18, 1856. Mr. Paulen was married Mar. 10, 1857, to Elizabeth McMurry. They have four children, namely: GEORGE R., MARGARET A., JACOB W. and JOHN LEW, and reside two and three-quarter miles northwest of Curran, Sangamon county, Illinois.
JACOB W., born Sept. 8, 1839, in what is now Curran township, Sangamon county, enlisted in 1862, in Co. B, 130th Reg. Ill. Inf., was elected 2d Lieut. upon the organization of the company, served in the Vicksburg campaign in the 4th division of 15th Army Corps, was promoted to 1st Lieut. at DeCrow's Point, Texas, Feb. 21, 1864. He was taken prisoner in Gen. Bank's expedition, at the battle of Mansfield, La., April 8, 1864; was fourteen months a prisoner at Tyler, Texas, and released soon after the close of the rebellion. He was commissioned Capt. of Co. E, 130th Ill. Inf., after the war, for meritorious conduct, and was honorably discharged the latter part of June, 1865. He was married June 18, 1866, to Lucy B. Johnson, who was born near Frankfort, Ky., March 5, 1848. They had three children, namely: BENJ. R. S., born in De Witt county, Ill., July 14, 1869; LAURA E., born June 25, 1871; MINNIE M., born June 28, 1873. The two latter near Fredonia, Wilson county, Kan., where Mr. Paulen and family reside.
MARY F., born March 26, 1844, in Sangamon county, married in the same county to Ebenezer F. Hatfield, who was born Dec. 8, 1841, in Warren county, O., enlisted Sept. 10, 1861, in Co. A, 4th Ohio Cav., for three years. He was wounded at the battle of Chickamauga, Sept. 20, 1863, captured, and released ten days later; served his full time, and was honorably discharged. He now draws a pension. Mr. and Mrs. Hatfield have three children, EDWARD E., CHARLES C. and SILAS G., and reside two miles west of Curran, Illinois.
Mrs. Margaret Paulen died April 7, 1863, in Sangamon county, and her husband resides with their son, Debold, Jun.
Debold Paulen was not out of Sangamon county from the time he came, in 1838, for thirty-two years. In 1870 he went to visit a brother and sister in Canada, whom he had not seen for forty years. He is now--1876--in his seventy-seventh year, teeth all sound, good health, and says he does not know of an ancestor dying under eighty years.