Obituary:  Moses DECKER, d. 1860, Vernon Co., Wisconsin

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         Archives by:    Dale Decker
                       < ddecker@softcom.net >
                         October 24, 1998
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From the History of Vernon County, Wisconsin p408

Death of Moses Decker from the Northwestern Times, Aug. 8, 1860

"It is with sincere regret we record the death of Moses Decker, Esq.,
which occurred in this village (Viroqua) on Saturday the 4th Inst.

Mr Decker had reached his three score years and ten, being in his
seventy-second year. He was born in the state of New York, and 
portions of his life were spent in that State, in Ohio, Illinois and 
Wisconsin. During the war of 1812-15, he was living in Ohio, was 
drafted as a soldier and served one campaign.

In January, 1847 he removed with his family on to the ground now 
occupied by the village of Viroqua, cutting his way with an ax. He 
had, previous to the moving of his family here, selected his lands, 
and soon after his arrival they were entered. When Bad Ax County was 
organized, Mr Decker laid out the village of Viroqua, and as an 
inducement to locate the county seat here, offered to donate forty 
acres to the county, adjoining the village plat, to aid in the 
erection of county buildings. Viroqua became the Since his removal 
here Mr. Decker has seen Bad Ax county organized and its population 
increase from a few families to 10,000 souls. He has seen churches and 
school houses spring up all around him, and the wilderness made to 
bloom like a garden. Amid all the changes and improvements that have 
been made Mr Decker has stood in our midst like one of the ancient 
landmarks. But at last he is gone!

"Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live forever?"
No, one by one, the links that bind the present to the past are 
sundered, and we look with sadness for a moment on the vacancy made by 
their removal, and then, hurried along by the waves, we float down the 
stream of time, soon forgetting the forms and faces that have been 
borne away from us forever.

Mr Deckers first wife died Jan. 3, 1859. He was married again to Mrs 
Anna Goode, widow of the late Thomas Goode, Esq. who survives him.

Eleven children scattered through the States of Ohio, Illinois, 
Wisconsin and California mourn his loss." .