On the voyage from his home at Zweibriicken to the port of Havre, which was made by the only mode of conveyance then known; viz., by wagons, Julins, as the oldest brother among nine children, was first called upon to exercise those practical qualities that served him so well in after life. Landing at New Orleans on Christmas Day, after a long passage of 62 days, the family proceeded up the Mississippi, which was running with heavy ice, to St. Louis, and thence to Belleville, Illinois, where the father purchased a farm already well developed, which remained the family residence for many years.