Meeker County MN Archives Biographies.....DeCoster, F. Y. 1838 - 
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 January 8, 2020, 8:55 pm

Source: Alden, Ogle & Co.
Author: See Below

  ANOTHER PIONEER of Meeker county is F. Y. DeCoster, ex-judge of probate, and one
of Litchfield’s most prominent merchants. Mr. DeCoster was born in Buckfield, Me.,
on the 10th of November, 1838. His parents were Varanes and Louisa (Thompson)
DeCoster, both natives of the same State. F. V. remained at home until seventeen,
working on a farm and attending school and at fifteen began teaching school. When
seventeen he went to the city of Boston and worked in a store for about a year, when
he started west and brought up at Dunkirk, N. Y. A short time later he pushed on
West to St. Anthony, Minn., and remained there until the spring of 1858,when he
located in the village of Kingston, Meeker county, and was there engaged in
carpentering, teaching and in carrying on the fur trade, remaining at this most of
the time until the war broke out. He thus became personally acquainted with the
famous Little Crow, the head of the massacre movement in 1862, and also with the
chief Shakopee, buying fur and venison at various times of both these notables. In
1859-60 Mr. DeCoster left Kingston for a trip through the south, going to St. Louis,
then to Cincinnati, and then Natchez, Miss., where he had charge of the boats on the
levee for a time. From there he went to New Orleans; then Mobile; and then to
Montgomery, Ala., on the same boat that carried a lot of Southern planters who were
on their way to attend a secession convention. After spending a short time at
Savannah, Ga., Mr. DeCoster, returned to the North, and finally drifted to his old
home in Buckfield, Maine, where he remained some two weeks, and then returned to
Kingston, Minn. Shortly after the war broke out, on the 25th of September, 1861, he
enlisted in Company D, Fourth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, and went to Fort
Abercrombie. In the spring of 1862, his company was assigned to the Army of the West
in Tennessee. On the 1st of January, 1863, he was made orderly sergeant of Company
A, First Battalion Cavalry, Mississippi Marine Brigade, and on the 8th of July, in
the same year, he was placed in command of Company D, as Captain and served until
August 29, 1864. The business of the brigade was to keep the Mississippi river clear
of Rebel forces who fired on transports, one of the most dangerous assignments in
the service. The full brigade was carried on boats, and consisted of eight marine
fleet boats, with five rams, one regiment of infantry, battalion of cavalry and
battery besides the rams. During this time Mr. DeCoster had two horses shot from
under him, and in one engagement when they were surprised by 800 of the enemy in the
canebrake the company had seventy horses shot out of 170. The night previous to this
action they learned that the boat “Bostona” had been burned by the Rebels at Austin,
Miss. The brigade was then 100 miles off but they started in haste and arrived at
that point at four o’clock the following morning. Mr. DeCoster was ordered to take
ten men and go into the country in search of the Rebels. When four miles out they
came in sight of five of the Rebels and captured them. When about to return to the
command the major of the brigade came up and they were ordered to push on, which
they did, and when they had proceeded but a short distance they were met by the 800
rebels, and all hands of the Union men came near losing their lives. It is worthy of
mention that their fiagship, The Autocrat, was the second one at Vicksburg. Mr.
DeCoster continued in service on the river, participating in numerous engagements,
until the 27th of August, 1864, when he was mustered out, being made supernumerary
by the consolidation of the brigade. After the close of the war he remained at St.
Louis for some four months and then returned to Minnesota and engaged in the general
mercantile trade at Kingston. This he conducted until 1868 when he sold out and
became interested in a flouring mill and remained in that until the spring of 1871,
being justice of the peace most of the time and otherwise taking a prominent and
active interest in public affairs. In the spring of 1871 he removed to Litchfield
and again embarked in the general merchandise trade. This he continued until about
1879, when he changed his line and handled musical instruments, sewing machines and
notions. In 1887 he went into the jewelry business and now handles a line which
includes jewelry, musical instruments, etc. In 1872 he was elected judge of probate
and served one term, and since that time has been court commissioner most of the
time. He has also taken an active interest in educational matters and has held
various offices on the school board, lie has also been a member of the council and
taken an active interest in all public matters at Litchfield. Mr. DeCoster is a
member of the Masonic fraternity, having joined the Golden Fleece Lodge, Ho. 89,
when it was located at Forest City, and has always maintained his membership. He is
also a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and was one of the charter members
of the first post organized at Litchfield, and joined the present post soon after it
was organized, and is identified with the “Survivors of the Mississippi River Ram
Fleet and Marine Brigade.” He is a member of the dramatic association, and was its
manager for some two years.

   Mr. DeCoster was married in the spring of 1871 to Miss Mary E. Campbell, of North
Manchester, Conn. They have one child— Esther L., who was born on the 4th of
January, 1875. The family are members of the Presbyterian Church, and Mr. DeCoster
has been superintendent of the Sunday-school of that church constantly since 1871.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:
Illustrated Album of Biography
Meeker and McLeod Counties, Minnesota
1888


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