1. JAN GERRITSE(N)¹ DECKER was born Abt. 1640 in Heerden, Gilderland, Holland, (Netherlands), and died Bef. February 23, 1709, in Ulster Co., NY. He married GRIETJE HENDRISCKSE WESTERCAMP March 23, 1664, in Kingston (Wiltwyck) Reform Dutch Church, Kingston, Ulster Co., NY, daughter of HENDRICK WESTERCAMP and FEMMETJE ALBERTS. She was born Bet. 1642 - 1644 in New Amsterdam (New York), NY.

Notes for JAN GERRITSE(N) DECKER:

Decker family info from " 'The Original Gedcom' of genealogical research for early Ulster County, New York": Lorraine Luke's web site "My Families of Early Ulster County, New York" found at the RootsWeb.com site; e-mail: lorraine.luke at concast.net;

Additional Decker family info from Decker researcher Thomas P. Oberst, New York, at <http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/o/b/e/Thomas-P-Oberst/Gene12-0003.html>, who reproduces Richard Schermerhorn, Jr.'s compilation "Decker Families in America," 1945, 138 pages, presented to the Holland Society of New York;

Also the Minisink Valley Historical Society;

Kingston in Ulster Co., NY, also named Wiltwyck, Dutch for wild wood; and Esopus, after branch of Delaware tribe from which land was purchased; and 'Sopus;

More About JAN GERRITSE(N) DECKER:

Fact 1: 1688 witness to baptism in Kingston Reformed Church; earlier "Jan Gerritse" or"Jan Gerritsen";

Fact 3: 1703 trustees meeting Rochester; 1709 tax list of Ulster Co.,

Fact 4: 1663 taken prisoner with wife and three children;

Fact 5: 1661 on muster roll of garrison at Wiltwyck (Kingston);

Fact 6: 1688, 1697, 1701 in Kingston Church records;

Fact 7: in Sylvester's "History of Ulster County, NY 1880" for town of Rochester;

Fact 8: also in Richard Schermerhorn, Jr.'s "The Decker Family" 1945;

Fact 9: meaning of word 'decker' is roofer, slater, builder of decks;

Fact 10: owned land in Mombaccus, Ulster Co., NY; purchased in 1685;

Fact 11: traveled back and forth from Holland to America, according to historian Charles Stanley;

Fact 12: from naming practice of the Dutch/Scandanavian, Jan's father would be Gerrit (Gerritsen=Gerrit's son);

the American colonies at left; Kingston along the Hudson River in Ulster Co., NY at right;

More About GRIETJE HENDRISCKSE WESTERCAMP:

Fact 1: at marriage "Est nec virgo nec vidua" = She is neither virgin nor widowed.

Fact 2: Grietje sued Peter Jacobsen 1662 for "ruining" her;

Fact 3: Peter in turn sued her asking for release so that he could marry someone else;

Fact 4: 1663 court ordered him to pay her for "services in having 'lain' with him";

Fact 5: asked "to have honor restored"; Peter denied child was his;

Fact 6: baptismal entry in Kingston Church indicates child was illegitimate;

Fact 7: NY historical manuscript "Dutch, Kingston Papers" (court records 1661-7)

Fact 8: from Tom Oberst, " Our Grietje appears in many places in these court records-what a character she must have been!"

Children of JAN DECKER and GRIETJE WESTERCAMP are:

Notes for HENDRICK JANSEN DECKER:

marriage record in Kingston, Ulster Co., NY.

In 1652, Dutch settlers from Holland moved from Albany, NY, to the Esopus Creek, in the Hudson River Valley, named for the Esopus branch of the Delaware tribe. The settlers bought the area in 1653 from the Esopus, built a village on a promontory which they named "Esopus." The village was later called Wiltwyck (Dutch for "wild woods"). In 1664, Wiltwyck was renamed Kingston after the British took over control of the former Dutch colony.

listed in "Baptismal and Marriage Registers of the Old Dutch Church of Kingston...," transcribed and edited by Roswell Randall Hoes, 1891, NY:

       "parents, Henrik Dekker and Hanna Quick, child Thomas, date Sept. 3, (1704), witnesses Jan Dekker and Marrytje Du Puis";

More About HENDRICK JANSEN DECKER:

Fact 1: 1696 received license "to purchase unimproved land in Minisink Co., PA;

Fact 2: in "History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe Counties, Pennsylvania"

Fact 3: moved with brothers to Minisink before 1712;

Fact 4: lived in Rochester Twp., Ulster Co., 1696;

Fact 5: 1709-1712 tax list for Ulster Co., NY;

Fact 6: heirs mentioned in deed to brother John, 1717;

Children of HENDRICK DECKER and JANNETJEN KORTRIGHT are:

Children of HENDRICK DECKER and ANTJE QUICK are:

Children of GERRIT DECKER and MARGARET JANSZ are:

Children of JACOB DECKER and ANNETJE HENDRICKS are:

Children of HERMANUS DECKER and RACHEL LA MONTAGNE are:

Notes for THOMAS DECKER:

from "Settlement of Orange County" (NY), <http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ny/county/orange/history/set1.htm>:

       "An old family by the name of Decker were the pioneers in that direction [south] which is now very numerous, and from them Deckertown has its name."

listed in "Baptismal and Marriage Registers of the Old Dutch Church of Kingston...," transcribed and edited by Roswell Randall Hoes, 1891, NY:

       "parents, Henrik Dekker and Hanna Quick, child Thomas, date Sept. 3, (1704), witnesses Jan Dekker and Marrytje Du Puis";

More About THOMAS DECKER:

Burial: prop. Magagkemack Dutch Reformed Church Cemetery, Port Jervis, Orange Co., NY

Fact 1: lived in Minisink Precinct 1727; on tax rolls 1739;

Fact 2: deacon Machachemek Reformed Dutch Church; 1752 Elder;

Fact 3: 1755 mentioned as "respected elder";

Notes for JANNETJE (NIMWEGEN) VAN INWEGEN:

Deerpark was formerly known as Minisink and Machackemeck.

Children of THOMAS DECKER and JANNETJE VAN INWEGEN are:

Children of PIETER DECKER and MAGDALENA OOSTERHOUT are:

Child of HENDRICK DECKER is:

Notes for GEORGE/JORIS W. DECKER:

recorded in the Richard Schermerhorn, Jr., book "Decker Family," 1945, presented to the Holland Society of New York; specifically states that Joris Decker was baptized June 17, 1740, at the Machachemack (Port Jervis) Reformed Dutch Church, sponsors: Joris Davids and Naomi Koettebek;

listed as Revolutionary soldier in "A Century of Wayne County, Kentucky 1800-1900" by Augusta Phillips Johnson, p. 6:
'Many men who had given service in the Revolution came to what in 1800 became Wayne County...
'The pension list of the War Department gives the following names of Revolutionary soldiers who emigrated to Wayne County:
'Under Act of 1818, Died in Kentucky: ...George Decker, Virginia, born 1740...'

also listed in "New York in the Revolution--Enlisted Men": Abraham Decker, Benjamin Decker, Conrad Decker, George Decker, Isaac Decker, Jacob Decker, Jacob C. Decker, John Decker, Lawrence L. Decker;

additional info from Decker descendent Dot Allen;

from Martha Crowhorn, descendent and Decker researcher; also researched by Decker genealogist Pat Spurling:

letter from Rev. War vet. and pensioner George/Joris Decker--

        "We were first marched to Delaware River on the frontiers in New York, thence to North River to Stony Point, thence with their main army and was discharged in the fall not far from Stony Point.

       "But have lost my discharge for my tour of 8 months.

       "Shortly after my return I got married and about 4 or 5 months before the Battle of Long Island, I was again drafted for 9 months tour in my said county; its name not recollected and served the full term of 9 months as a private under Capt. Wood, Lieut. Jackson, his Christian name not recollected, but a brother to ...my former captain, and Sergeant Forkiner. We marched toward the North River; we took shipping and landed in the city of New York.

at right, Battle of Long Island, NY, August 27, 1776; General George Washington vs. Major General Howe;

       "Then to White Plains between North and East River. We then marched back to the city of New York. I took sick and was taken to the hospital. When I got well, I was in the Battle of Long Island commanded by General Washington. About one o'clock in the night after the battle, we retreated off the island to the city of New York and remained there a short time and had some small engagements and we then retreated up North River near King's Bridge and stayed until we were discharged. The precise time not recollected before the snow at the time was up to my shoulders.

       "I lived and was born in the state of New York, near Goshen, the county seat for about 35 years, afterwards in Rockbridge County, VA, 3 years, then in North Carolina Iredell County, 4 years, then in Holston, Washington County, VA, 4 years, then I moved back to North Carolina, the same place I left, then back to Holston, the same place I left, then to Kentucky, first in Pulaski County, KY, then to Cumberland County, KY, and then into Wayne where I now live. I have lived about 22 years, except for one year in Indiana, that I lived any time."

Said soldier died 11-29-1842.

A letter from James C. Kennedy, of Washington to the pension department, states that a daughter of George W. Decker, pensioner who died in Pulaski Co., KY, has applied to him to secure for her an alleged balance of pension due her father George W. Decker.

Her name is not shown in the said letter.

Affidavit for proof was signed "Adam Vickery, clergyman in Wayne."

painting of Battle of Long Island, NY below;

summary from "Abstracts of Revolutionary War Files," page 933:

       "George Decker: S3036(8)1, NY line, soldier was born January 1, 1743 0r 1744 near Goshen in the highlands of NY State near the New Jersey line and soldier lived there at enlistment and he lived there about 35 yrs. Then moved on to Rockbridge City, VA for 3 yrs. then moved to Iredell City, NC for 4 years then moved back to the Holston River in Washington County, VA for 4 yrs. then moved back to Iredell City then moved back to the Holston River then moved to KY and lived in Pulaski, Wayne, Cumberland Counties. He applied for pension from Wayne Co., KY, Aug. 28, 1832, where he lived 22 yrs. with the exception of 1 year that he lived in IN. Soldier died Nov. 29, 1842, in Pulaski County, KY. Soldier had married shortly after his 1st tour of service but his wife wasn't named. A daughter (not named) of soldier was mentioned."

another summary:

Decker, George Pension number S30.381 New York

Wayne Co., KY 8-28-32, Age 90 January 1, 1833

States that he entered the service as a private; that he was born in the highlands of New York, near the New Jersey line, state of New York 1742 or 1744 and was drafted for 3 months in the spring of 1775 in said county under Capt. Jackson, under Col. Drake, and General Scott, thinks his name was General Scott.

From the above, George states that he was born "near Goshen" (not "in") and "near the New Jersey line" (probably Port Jervis, i.e., Minisink area, also known as "Machackemeck" where Hudson Valley Deckers were located). When this is added to:

1. the baptism of a Joris (Dutch for George) in Port Jervis, 1740,

2. that people in his time period often were not that concerned with data, places, dates,

3. our family story that George W. Decker, our ancestor, lived to be over 100 years of age,

4. that George named a son Thomas--the patronymics of Dutch/German tradition,

5. and that the George W. Decker who applied for his Revolutionary War pension from Wayne County, KY, where our ancestor's son Thomas and grandson David lived, died in 1842,

it is my contention that this George is the Joris, b. 1740, son of Thomas, b. 1704.

Wayne Co., KY Order Book A, Page 435:

      "Ordered that Andrew Milburn, George Decker...be exempt from working on public roads on account of old age."

The modern map above shows the route the Decker family would have taken from the western Virginia frontier to what would become Wayne Co., KY.  Washington Co., VA, where George and family were living at the time, is on the east border of Scott County.  They would have made their way to Daniel Boone's Wilderness Trail/Road, in orange, and continuing west would have eventually reached the Cumberland Gap.  A "wilderness road" followed the Clinch River, in dark turquoise.  This would have been the first part of the journey for the Alleys and Denneys, eventual family members of the Deckers.

from "Wayne County, Kentucky Deed Book B 1811-1818," June Baldwin Bork, p. 1993, p. 65:
       'Recorded: 20 Oct 1812--Bill of Sale: Joseph Decker doth contract and sell his while possessions to George Decker: 1 bay mare, 1 cow & calf, 2 two yrs ole barrows, big wheel, little wheel & the rest of the house hold furniture & all my corn... it being for value received... /s/ Joseph (X) Decker. Wit: John Lay, Hardy Hughs.'

from a history of Knox County, Kentucky by Elmer Decker, pub. 1939, pp.68-69, as reproduced on http://www.bellcountypubliclibraries.org:
       "Andrew M. Decker, a member of the Board of Education for the State of Kentucky, of the Methodist Episcopal Church for many years, was the son of Andrew M. Decker and Eliza Jane Hurst Decker, the grandson of Andrew [error, should be William? ] Decker and Rhoda Hunt Decker and the great grandson of George and Aisley Decker. George Decker was a Revolutionary War veteran from Orange County, New York."

More About GEORGE/JORIS W. DECKER:

Baptism: June 17, 1740, Machackemack (now Port Jervis, aka Deerpark), Orange Co., NY; sponsors: Joris Davids & Naomi Koetteback/Kotteback;

Fact 1: Revolutionary War vet., KY pension list Sept. 2, 1833;

Fact 2: lived to be 102;

Fact 3: 1814 May Court, tax list Wayne Co., KY;

Fact 4: 1790 census for Iredell Co., NC; 1810 census Wayne Co., KY;

At right is a map of Cumberland Gap. George and family would have traversed this route getting from Virginia to Kentucky.

Fact 5: "Sally" is a wife;

Fact 6: Ann Gibbs sold to George Decker for $100 77 acres on waters of Beaver Creek;

Fact 7: 1820 census for Wayne Co., KY;

Fact 8: George Decker and wife Sally sold William Haynes 27 acres on Beaver Creek for $?100;

Fact 9: 1830 census for Wayne Co., KY;

Fact 10: listed in "New York in the Revolution-Enlisted Men";

Fact 11: would have traveled through Cumberland Gap;

Fact 12: 1840 census Pulaski Co., KY, living next to Dicey Decker, John H. Decker's widow;

The picture at right is of the painting by Bingham titled Through the Cumberland Gap.  Decker descendant and family genealogist Melody Summers Hull remembers as a child enjoying this picture.  Little did she know that eventually she would use it to illustrate the history of her ancestors.

Children of GEORGE/JORIS DECKER and SALLY are:

Notes for MARTINUS DECKER:

from the book "The Old Mine Road," by D. G. Hine:

       "In the 1789, the present site of Port Jervis was known as Nahant and, while the town is modern-1826-having been made by the canal, it was included in the Minisink country and there is yet standing here the stone house of Martinus Decker, built possible about 1759, where Martinus was married to Jenneke Westbrook, known as Johannas Decker's fort. This was burned out by the Indians on July 19, 1779, but the solid stone walls were not injured and in 1797 Johannas Decker repaired the place and it stands today on Main Street, Germantown, as he left it."

More About MARTINUS DECKER:

Fact 1: Pension file (R7158) includes copies of a page from family bible;

Children of MARTINUS DECKER and JANNEKE WESTBROOK are:

Notes for THOMAS DECKER:

THOMAS DECKER SERVED IN THE WAR OF 1812.

a picture of the Cumberland Gap, left; location of Wayne County in Kentucky, right;

Kathy Decker Patscheck found stones for Thomas and Sarah at Bugwood Cemetery, Wayne County, KY.

"A Little History of the David Decker Family" by granddaughter Daisy Field-Fink, daughter of Cynthia A. (Annie) Decker Dwiggins, who married Addison Dwiggins.

letter dated June 3, 1961,

       "Mother's father, Grandpa Decker, was born in Kentucky near Monticello where Mae (Mrs. James Humble) now lives. His father's [Thomas Decker's] house was standing on the bank of the Cumberland River when Mother and I were there. It was built high off the ground and there was an old tree standing by it. You could see where the water had left its mark high up on the tree when the river had been in flood. Right across the river from that old house was where Uncle Bill (William) Decker lived when we were there. We went across the river in a little row boat, Mother and I. Just twelve miles from that place is Monticello where the old courthouse was, all covered with vines, and where Grandpa got his marriage license and was married.

       "...the damning of the Cumberland created Lake Cumberland and inundated entirely all the familiar territory that the Decker family called 'Home.' "

More About THOMAS DECKER:

Burial: Bugwood Cemetery, Wayne Co., KY

photos, above and below, of Thomas and Sarah Alley Decker's gravestones at the Bugwood Cemetery, Wayne Co., KY, taken by Decker researcher Debbie Decker Kinman;

Fact 1: listed on census 1820's -1860's in Wayne County, KY;

Fact 2: veteran of War of 1812, Capt. Taul's Company from Wayne Co. KY, commander Col. Barbee; also Capt. Fards Co.;

Fact 3: buried with wife Sarah in Bugwood Cemetery, Wayne Co., KY;

Fact 4: mentioned in "A Century of Wayne County, Kentucky" p. 46;

Fact 5: had cabin "built up" on bank of Cumberland River, twelve miles from Monticello, KY; across river was son Bill's cabin; area later dammed and flooded for Lake Cumberland;

Fact 6: would have traveled through Cumberland Gap;

Fact 7: marriage surety bond dated December 24, 1812, by William Summers;

More About SARAH ALLEY:

Burial: Bugwood Cemetery, Wayne Co., KY

Fact1: listed on 1870 census for Wayne Co., KY, living with son John and his family;

Children of THOMAS DECKER and SARAH ALLEY are:

Notes for JOHN DECKER:

info on John Decker and descendents from Decker researcher Cathy Hokanson <mike.cath at netzero.com>;

More About JOHN DECKER:

Fact 1: veteran of War of 1812, Capt. David Holt's Company, Kentucky Infantry-commanded by Col. John Miller;

Fact 2: on 1810, '40, '50 census for Wayne Co., KY; 1834 tax list for Wayne Co., KY

Fact 3: cause of death: old age;

Children of JOHN DECKER and ELIZABETH are:

Notes for DAVID DECKER:

from A Little History of the David Decker Family, unpublished manuscript by granddaughter Daisy Field-Fink, daughter of Cynthia A. (Annie) Decker Dwiggins, who married Addison Dwiggins:

letter dated June 3, 1961,

       "Mother's father, Grandpa Decker, was born in Kentucky near Monticello where Mae (Mrs. James Humble) now lives. His father's (Thomas Decker's) house was standing on the bank of the Cumberland River when Mother and I were there. It was built high off the ground and there was an old tree standing by it. You could see where the water had left its mark high up on the tree when the river had been in flood. Right across the river from that old house was where Uncle Bill (William) Decker lived when we were there. We went across the river in a little row boat, Mother and I. Just twelve miles from that place is Monticello where the old courthouse was, all covered with vines, and where Grandpa got his marriage license and was married.

        "He fell in love with a young girl name Betty (Elizabeth) Allie/Alley [actually Denney], and they wanted to get married, but her parents said they were too young and would not let them. So Grandpa went and joined the army. I think it was at the time of the Mexican War, thinking he would be old enough when he returned. But when he was discharged and came back, hoping to marry Betty, he found her sweeping off a large flat rock that lay outside their cabin door and from her appearance he knew she was expecting a baby. She had married a man by the name of Barrow. It hurt Grandpa and made him mad so he turned around and married her older sister for spite. Betty had married Barrow to spite her parents.

       "Then Grandpa left Kentucky and came to Indiana. I believe he settled around Frankton. There was a little United Brethren church near, and Grandpa was converted and became class leader in the church, a position he held for some time. There were two men in the church who owned adjoining farms that were having difficulties over a line fence. They decided to go to law about the matter, and Grandpa did not think it right, but they should settle the matter as the Bible indicated. They would not listen to him, so he resigned and left the church. He was a back-slider until he was an old man; I think I was about five years old.

       "I don't know how many children he had when he left Madison County and went to Tipton County to live. He entered several hundred acres of land from the government and had to live on the various pieces a stated time to be able to get a deed for them. He was living there, close around Tipton and Sharpsville, when mother was born. The closest neighbor was a half mile and the children to follow. When the woman got there my mother was born, washed, and cared for by her mother as she had no doctor.

       "Grandpa had a lot of dealings with the Indians as there were many of them about. He would have been a wealthy man had he let whiskey alone, but he drank and was a very wicked and brutal man in his family. He was not good to Grandma (Lurana Denney) as he always held a grudge about Betty (Elizabeth) marrying Barrow, and he mistreated the sister that he married. Mother said he would come home drunk and run all of them out of the house and stand, holding an ax over her mother's head. He was so cruel, and treated her so badly that when the last baby was born, she died and so did the infant. But before Grandma died, Betty's husband had died and left her with five children. Grandpa was left with nine children, and Aunt Ellie was just a nursing baby when Grandma died, so Grandpa and Betty married and there were children on both sides, her children being older than his children. Grandpa was not good to her children, but Mother said her Aunt Betty was a real mother to his children. He resented all the children, his and hers because they had not belonged to both of them. He still held that old grudge against her for marrying Barrow, and he made life very unhappy for all of them.

       "He kept whiskey by the barrel at the house, and Mother said he would come home, late at night, and make her, a little girl of eleven, get up and go out, catch a chicken, and fry it for him, and the men he had brought home with him. And when she had cooked it he would whip her and make her dance for them; Betty did not dare say a word. She said he would come home drunk and run them out of the house and keep them out all night.

       "He took a lease, intending to cut the timber off it, and took Betty along to cook for the men he had working for him, leaving Aunt Jane and Aunt Lizzie at home to keep the smaller children. They just had a little log cabin, and when they went to bed they closed the door. There was a little "smoke-house" just a few feet from the cabin where they smoked their meat, and Grandpa had several gourds, filled with gun-powder, hanging in it. During the night someone set fire to the cabin and had come and opened the door they had closed on retiring and propped it open. The fire awakened the girls, and they got the smaller children out and away safe. The powder gourds began to explode and someone "hollered" a little distance away. It burned everything they had; only the things they had washed and was still hanging on the line remained. They all thought....................(?)

        "I have heard Aunt Julia and Mother talk about those times--and laugh. Grandpa got a covered wagon fixed up, hitched two oxen to it, and went all the way back to Kentucky to bring his father [Thomas Decker] and mother [Sarah Alley] to Indiana. I forgot how long Mother said it took him to make the trip, but they would not leave Kentucky and come with him. It made him mad, and he told them they would never see him again--and they never did.

        "Dennie Brankle was Betty's daughter's son that lived at Middletown. She lived in Windfall, and Betty left Grandpa and went to live with Martha Brankle. One day Mother was there and she and Betty were looking through some pictures, and they came upon Grandpa's picture. Betty cried and said: "Annie, put it away. If I can't live with him I can't bear to look at this picture."

       "When my mother and father moved to Van Wert, Ohio, Grandpa went with them, also Uncle Newton. Mellie (Melville, Annie Dwiggins' oldest son) was a year old at that time and it was wild country there. Deer would come up to the house, and Grandpa killed a lot of them according to Mother. She said when Dad started to town, he would take a *u*s-*ail with him and have to get out every little while and dislodge the mud from the wheels. My little sister Harriet Ellen was (born?) there. Mother and Dad had raised her youngest sister, Aunt Ellie, and she was with them also. She was about twenty and engaged to marry a Methodist minister, but shortly before their marriage date she died, and about two months later my little sister died. They are both buried out there (Ohio). Rob (Robert Fink, Daisy Dwiggins' last husband) and I went to the graveyard where they are buried. There is a lovely highway runs right by the cemetery. Mother would not believe me. She said it just could not be. I went to an orchard just across the highway and brought her some apples from the place where she and Dad used to take the wagon and to get apples to make apple butter. We would have taken her to see the old place had she been able to make the trip.

       "Uncle Newt (Newton) married out there and they had a little girl two years old and then she had twin girls and died. He left them with her mother until he could return to Frankton and find someone to take care of them for him. When he went back to get them her mother had placed them in a home, and they had "adopted them out" and he could not find them, and he never did find them until they were all married and had families. Mother and Aunt Julia went out there to visit Uncle Amos Decker, and they found out where they (the girls) were all married and had families. Two farmers had adopted the twins, and they lived on adjoining farms, but they did not find out they were sisters until both *******************Dayton, Ohio. So he (Newt), at last, got to see them. I went to see Nola when we were in Dayton. The girls just thought that he did not try to find them, I suppose. Nola begged him to come and live with them, but he would not.

        "Grandpa took a l**** *** ***land north of Elwood, built him a little cabin right in the woods and lived there. Mother and I went out to see him one day that I remember so well: he was sitting outside the cabin on an old split-bottom chair, leaning back against the cabin. His ***on *acks (guns on racks?) in the house, seed-corn hanging about along with the gourds containing his gun-powder. I can see that scene yet. He had been "reclaimed" and I remember him walking back and forth across Mother's rooms, clad in his black and red plaid shirt, with his hands behind his back--singing "Am I a soldier of the Cross, a follower of The Lamb," praising the Lord and weeping. He went with Mother and I to the Christian church, where Mother belonged, and the preacher said: "Brother Decker, testify." Grandpa stood up, but began to weep saying: "I can't, Brother (Perkins?), I'm too (full? fall? ???). He said to Mother one day: "Well, Annie, I have told all the children, excepting Belle, that I taught you wrong ****, that all would go to Heaven, no matter what they did or believed. If the Lord just lets me live until I can see her and tell her, I'll be happy. But he took sick a little while after this and they brought him to Aunt Julia's (Wood) home and there he died. He did not get to see Aunt Belle, but she came to his funeral.

Family records show that David spent some of his later years living in a simple log cabin near the Waymire Cemetery in northwest Madison County, IN.  Becoming somewhat infirm of health, from at least 1880 for a time, David resided with his daughter and son-in-law, Julie and Joshua Wood, in the growing village of Elwood nearby.  Since David is not listed in any of the pioneer or modern cemeteries for Madison or Tipton counties, family members believe that he was interred near his last log cabin home, with the other early settlers of his generation, and under a simple stone marked "Decker" at the Waymire Cemetery.  The stone, listed on the Waymire Cemetery tombstone transcription records, no longer exists, unfortunately.

       "His children were Amos, Newt, Dave, Lizzie, Jane, Belle, Julia, Annie, Ellie, one young man that died. I don't know the rest. I believe there were twelve.

        "Betty's children were Dave, Sam, Jake, Jasper, Martha (Brankle)"

 letter provided by Kathy Decker Patscheck, 105 Greenside Dr., Somerset, KY 42501; kpatscheck@yahoo.com.

Genealogical research also done by Clyde L. and Marie Ferree Johnson, 9748 Deerfield Circle, Carmel, IN 46032.

from the history "Tipton County, Indiana":

       'Records prove that the first actual white settlers came in near the year 1845, and located near the north fork of Wildcat, in the northern part of the township. These were David Decker, Philemon Plummer, Robert Stephens, Ira Plummer and their respective families. Decker came from Madison county, adjoining, and erected a primitive pole cabin, around which a few rods of ground were cleared for a truck patch. However, the wet state of the county precluded a very bountiful living from the soil, so Decker was forced to depend upon his rifle for his main subsistence. Game was plentiful, and the meat used for the table and the skins used as a medium or exchange or for clothing. Decker lived on his original claim some five years, when he disposed of it and moved farther south, near the present site of Windfall. Here he became the possessor of a valuable tract of real estate, which he owned until 1871, when he sold all of his property and moved from the township.. He was a man of prominence in his community and was chosen a justice of the peace at the first election after the township organization.'

from "Tipton County, Indiana." by Marvin Pershing, 1914, p. 193:

       'Decker was elected Wildcat Township's first justice of the peace and was a teacher in its first school in 1848...and he was a very competent man.  His son Elbert was the first known white child born in Wildcat Township. The children of David and Lurana Decker in 1850 were Talitha, William, Sally, Amos, Cynthia, Agnes, and Nancy. David Decker sold his real estate and moved out of the township in 1871.'