Decatur, Samuel

DECATUR, CORTWRIGHT, CLAPP, WAFFLE, TESSER, DURR

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 8/22/2009 at 12:44:28

Decatur, Samuel

Among the successful farmers of Jasper County who have forged their way to the front by sheer force of will and individual merit rather than by the influence and material assistance of others, no worthier example could be found than that of Samuel Decatur, of Rock Creek Township. He is a man of excellent judgment, which accounts for his uniform success as an agriculturist and stock raiser. Being careful in his calculations, resourceful in his dealings and eminently honorable in his relations with others, people have always reposed confidence in his word, as his integrity has ever been above criticism. He is one of the best examples of the truly self-made American this County can produce, for he started at the bottom of the ladder and his rise to a topmost rung has been by hard work, close application and the exercise of great patience, making stepping-stones out of the obstacles encountered on the highway of life.

Mr. Decatur was born in Tioga County, New York, October 15, 1850, the son of William and Julia Ann (Cortwright) Decatur, both natives of New York, he of Binghamton and she of Tioga County, and there they grew up and were married. Mr. Decatur worked by the month until the commencement of the Civil War when he enlisted in Company B, One Hundred and Ninth New York Volunteer Infantry. For there months he was sick in the hospital and was finally discharged on account of disability. He brought his wife to Poweshiek County, Iowa, in 1869 and located in Grinnell, their son, Samuel, of this review, having preceded the parents there the year previous. The father remained in that city until his death, in 1882; however, he spent his last days on the farm with the subject. His family consisted of seven children, five of whom are living. Mrs. William Decatur survived her husband a short time.

Samuel Decatur, of this sketch, was educated in the public schools of New York, and when but eleven years of age he was compelled to work to help support the family while the father was in the war. When eighteen years of age he came to Poweshiek County, Iowa, and worked by the month until the spring of 1881. When a boy he worked many a day for fifty cents, cutting wood, and boarded himself, and later he worked for two seasons on the Iowa Central railroad, using his own team. He was economical and thereby got a start, these hard experiences doing him good and insuring his success later in life In 1881 he bought a farm of thirty acres in Rock Creek Township; this being timbered, he did a great deal of hard work developing it, but this was his start toward a large and valuable farm. he having added to his original purchase from time to time, as he prospered, until he is now the owner of one of the best-improved and most productive farms in his Township, consisting of three hundred and fifty acres; he has all modern conveniences, including a good silo, substantial outbuildings and a large and neatly furnished residence. In 1904 he bought the Perry Madison place of two hundred seventeen and one-half acres, which joined his original farm on the south. It is one of the oldest farms in the vicinity, but is still rich and productive, having been carefully tilled. Mr. Madison was one of the first settlers here and took up this farm from the government when this part of the state was yet a wild prairie. He was the first schoolteacher in Rock Creek Township and was well known to the early settlers.

In politics Mr. Decatur is a Republican and he has held a number of local offices, always with credit to himself and with satisfaction to the people.

In 1876 Mr. Decatur was united in marriage to Orilla Clapp, a native of Walworth County, Wisconsin, and the daughter of Alvin and Martha Clapp, old settlers of that County, having come from New England when Wisconsin was a territory. They began life as typical pioneers, erecting a log house and clearing a small patch, and in time had a good home, and there they spent the remainder of their lives, both being now deceased. Their family consisted of three children: Eli, who died in the army; Orilla, wife of Mr. Decatur; Marida, who married E. M. Waffle.

Eight children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Decatur, namely: Clarence is married and is living in Poweshiek County; George; Mable, who married William Tesser, lives in Grinnell; Herbert; Delphina married Arthur Durr and lives in Rock Creek Township; Lawrence; William McKinley; one child died in infancy. Past and Present of Jasper County Iowa B. F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, IN, 1912 Page 738.