Ford County IL Archives Biographies.....Decker, John August 8, 1867 - 
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Norma Hass http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00013.html#0003021 February 25, 2017, 9:39 pm

Source: History of Ford County, Illinois : from its earliest settlement to 1908, volume 2, pages 711-712
Author: Gardner, Ernest Arthur

John H. Decker has for fourteen years been a resident of Ford county, where he 
is now engaged extensively and successfully in the raising of stock of high 
grades, being well known in this regard. He was born in Williamsburg, West 
Virginia, August 8, 1867, and was the second in order of birth in a family of 
four sons and three daughters whose parents are Nathaniel Green and Louisa B. 
(Hinkle) Decker, both of whom are natives of West Virginia, and still reside 
in that state, the father following the occupation of blacksmithing.

John H. Decker spent his early boyhood under the parental roof, and when 
thirteen years of age started out in business life on his own account, working 
as a farm hand to the age of eighteen. Thinking to find better business 
opportunities and to acquire success more quickly in the west, he made his way 
to the western part of Kansas, where he worked on a horse ranch for three 
years, going thence to McLean county, Illinois, where he resided for five or 
six years. He next made his way to Piper City, Ford county, and for about 
fourteen years has resided within the boundaries of this county. During the 
entire period he has carried on farming and stockraising, and has owned two or 
three different farms, but has sold them. He is now renting the John Stadler 
farms, one of two hundred and forty acres and the other of one hundred and 
sixty acres, both in Brenton township. Here he has resided for three years and 
is extensively and successfully engaged in business as a stock farmer, having 
devoted the last ten years to stock-raising. He has horses, cattle and hogs, 
and upon his place today are found twenty-five head of Percheron draft horses, 
all of which are thoroughbreds, and he has won a number of premiums on 
exhibiting his stock. He also raises pure bred shorthorn cattle and has a pure 
Scotch bull, Gloster, at the head of his herd, which numbers thirty registered 
animals. He also keeps pure bred Duroc Jersey hogs, having one hundred and 
twenty-five upon the farm at present. As a stock dealer he has become very 
widely known and his business is extensive and profitable.

In 1891 Mr. Decker was united in marriage to Miss Katharine Irene King, a 
native of Ohio and a daughter of John and Lena (Myre) King, the former a 
native of Germany, and the latter of Ohio. The father was brought to the 
United States by his parents when only five weeks old. From Ohio he removed to 
this county, settling in Brenton township. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Decker have been 
born four children: Nina, Leota, lona and John Green.

Mr. Decker is a democrat and a public-spirited citizen, giving loyal support 
to many measures for the general good. He has served as school officer, and 
the cause of education finds in him a warm friend. He is also a director of 
the Ford County Fair & Driving Association, and is a Master Mason of Piper 
City lodge. He likewise belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and 
the Modern Woodmen camp, and is loyal to the teachings of these organizations. 
He may well be termed a self-made man, deserving all the credit which that 
term implies, for he started out on his own account when a youth of thirteen 
years, and has since depended upon his own resources for the success he has 
achieved. He is now one of the best known stock-dealers of Ford county, and 
has done much to improve the grade of stock raised in this part of the state.

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