My Genealogy Hound

ACHILLE D. DHALLUIN, proprietor of the Stockmen’s House at Sedalia, is a member of a family that has been especially noted for valor in war, and he has sustained the reputation for courage gained by former generations. During his service as a soldier, both in Europe and Africa, he endured all the vicissitudes and perils of war, and can relate many interesting and thrilling reminiscences of his experiences in camp and on the battlefields.

A native of Lille, Flanders, France, Mr. Dhalluin was born on the 9th of June, 1850. His parents, Louis and Alice (DePrest) Dhalluin, were natives of the same province as himself, and his father was proprietor of a woolen-mill there. He was a soldier under Napoleon Bonaparte, and was wounded while in the service. Our subject’s paternal grandfather, Joseph Dhalluin, and his maternal grandfather, Henry DePrest, were in the Bonaparte wars, and the former, in the memorable engagement at Waterloo, was injured to such an extent as to render amputation of his arm a necessity. Prior to this he had marched to Russia and participated in the siege and destruction of Moscow, under the leadership of his illustrious commander.

The subject of this notice is one of four children, and is the eldest son of his parents. He received a good education in the schools of France, and on completing his studies learned the trade of a barber and hair-dresser. In 1870, at the age of twenty, he became a member of the Seventh Battalion for service in the Franco-Prussian War, and for seven months was in the vicinity of Paris, during the siege of the city. September 17, 1870, in the first battle near that place, he was wounded in the right knee by a piece of a shell, and was obliged to remain in the hospital for three months. After the siege was raised, he was sent to Africa, and at Ft. Teseozoo he and his regiment were blockaded by the Africans for three days. During this time he was captured by a native, who slashed his throat, but he was saved by his Captain, and was brought back to the fort, where his wound was dressed. Some four months later he was able to rejoin his regiment, with which he remained until the close of the African War, being detailed as a barber the greater part of the time.

After having spent four years in Africa, Mr. Dhalluin returned to France and continued in the service of that country until 1876, when a change in the Government put an end to his military career. In 1877 he came to the United States, and for the three ensuing years he was employed as a barber in St. Louis, after which he came to Sedalia. Here he was similarly engaged, being proprietor of a shop in the eastern part of the city until 1890, when he opened the Stockmen’s House.

The marriage of Mr. Dhalluin took place at Sebastopol, Ill., in 1879, his wife being Miss Lucy Berthoux, a native of Carondelet, Mo. They are the parents of five children, namely: Dollie, Romey, Charles, William and Helen. As a Democrat, Mr. Dhalluin has taken an active part in local politics, and has represented his party in various county and state conventions. He has served as City and County Commissioner, and has always been ready to assist, in every possible manner, the welfare of the political organization with which he has allied himself.