Life History of Ulysses Sordet DeMoulin and History of Demoulin Family [California Business History Labor] DeMoulin, Ulysses Sordet Americana - General,Ephemera,Letters and Manuscripts,States and Regions

An autobiography and genealogy written by Ulysses S. DeMoulin (1871 1955), founder of DeMoulin Bros., a uniform manufacturing company which now mainly supplies marching band attire. The genealogy incorrectly traces the family s history back to French Revolutionary figure Camille Desmoulins, though it appears accurate otherwise. It includes a description of early Sebastopol (Highland) Illinois, with a simple map. In the autobiography, which is told in a large number of short anecdotes, DeMoulin discusses his childhood and early life in Jamestown and Sebastopol, and goes into detail about the early years of his company, beginning with the formation of the Modern Woodmen of America fraternal organization, for which the company supplied uniforms and items used in rituals . DeMoulin used the profits from this enterprise to invest in a number of others, including a mine near Gold Hill, Colorado, and oil drilling land in Illinois. However, the most interesting portions of the autobiography concern DeMoulin s role in the development of agriculture in California s Imperial Valley. DeMoulin first travels to southern California in 1903, happening to meet several engineers involved with the Imperial Irrigation System, who take him to see the new town of Brawley: "Here, by lantern light, we sat around on the ground in the evening, discussing many kinds of farm lands, and if soft, hard or sandy. We slept in remadas, made by setting posts to protrude about twelve feet above the ground, which were then braced and divided into small box-like stalls. The remada was then covered with tree branches, and a huge heavy taupalin [sic] curtain hung over the sides and front at night, to keep out the dust, of which you might find two or three inches at your door in the morning. A pitcher of water, and a bowl, were your only means of bathing. There were no streets in Brawley at this time, only trails, as the town had not yet been surveyed, having only been founded in October, 1902. People were living in tents while waiting for completion of hotel accommodations and other living quarters under construction." DeMoulin begins buying land in the Brawley area to rent to farmers and traveling to the area regularly. He describes the building of the Laguna Dam, spending a week at the workers camp, "at which time I slept in the workmen s crudely-built bunks, and ate with them at the long, rough pine tables"; and befriends author Harold Bell Wright. He also witnesses several conflicts with the IWW: "In 1908 there moved into Brawley about 200 International Workmen of the World, or more familiarly known as I.W.W. s, (I won t Work,) and in command was a Captain Stanley. However, as most unwelcome guests, they proceeded to join a strike in the cantaloupe sheds, and inserting razor blades into apples, the strikers threw them at workers. Goons also tried to interfere with the trucking operations from the fields to the packing sheds. I recall of one driver telling a goon that if he even attempted to place a foot in his truck, he would shoot him. And defying the driver, the goon was instantly killed. Naturally, this would cause a riot and they sent to El Centro for a tank, such as it was in those days - a cannon and several machine guns. But soon after the Mayor had issued orders to shoot anyone getting out of hand, an agreement was easily reached." University of Washington s IWW History Project documents two IWW actions in Brawley between 1905 and 1920, neither of which match DeMoulin s description; nor does the event appear in newspapers. However, "Captain" William Stanley was in the area, serving as the secretary of the I.W.W. s chapter in the Imperial Valley. In 1911, Stanley was killed in an early battle of the Mexican Revolution, assisting Mexican Liberal Party fighters in occupying Mexicali. DeMoulin claims to have traveled with several others to watch the fighting that would end the occupation: "It was suddenly discovered one morning tha