The Decker Family - From the Founding of Wiltwyck to a Family Scattered Across America
The story of the Decker family recorded in Olde Ulster begins more than two and a half centuries before Mrs. G. B. Munger gathered its names, dates, church records, and family Bible entries into a published genealogy. What appears at first to be a long succession of baptisms, marriages, and deaths is, when read as a whole, the story of an American family growing alongside the country itself.
Its earliest generations lived behind the stockade at Wiltwyck, worshiped in the Dutch church at Kingston, farmed the valleys around Marbletown and Shawangunk, served as baptismal sponsors for one another's children, and buried their dead in the old churchyards of Ulster County. Later generations moved west—to Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Oregon, and California—while others remained in the same Ulster County neighborhoods where their ancestors had lived for generations.
The genealogy was published by Mrs. Munger in installments between 1906 and 1909, and several portions were based upon old family Bibles then still in the possession of Decker descendants.
Jan Broersen Decker: At the Beginning of the Story
The earliest documented ancestor in the principal line was a man generally known in the records as Jan Broersen, whom Mrs. Munger identified as Jan Broersen Decker.
Exactly when Jan arrived from the Netherlands was unknown even when the genealogy was written. Mrs. Munger wondered whether he might have been related to Johan de Deckere, a Dutch official who came to Manhattan in 1655 and became Receiver-General, but she presented that only as a probability, not as a proven relationship.
What is certain is that Jan Broersen was at the Esopus by the 1650s and was deeply involved in the affairs of the fledgling settlement.
On May 18, 1658, his name appeared among those protesting the illegal sale of brandy to the Native people and reporting the violence that had erupted in the region. Less than two weeks later, on May 31, he joined the agreement by which the scattered settlers promised to move together into a fortified settlement once a stockade could be constructed.
That settlement became Wiltwyck, the community that eventually became Kingston.
Jan's name continued to appear whenever the young community faced an important decision. On August 17, 1659, he joined a petition asking that Domine Hermanus Blom be sent to minister to the people of the Esopus. During the First Esopus War he joined other residents in writing to Director-General Peter Stuyvesant concerning the violence surrounding the settlement.
He was also expected to defend the community. His name appeared on military muster rolls dated March 28, 1660, and June 15, 1661.
Jan contributed fifteen florins* toward Domine Blom's salary, possessed Lot No. 11 in Wiltwyck, apparently even before the town had been formally laid out, and in 1667 was called as a witness during the inquiry remembered as the Esopus Mutiny.
Jan therefore stands at the beginning of this Decker genealogy not simply as a name on a pedigree, but as one of the men involved in the establishment, defense, church life, and government of one of the earliest European settlements in Ulster County. (*A florin was a unit of Dutch currency, also called a guilder or gulden.)
Jan married first Heyltje Jacobs. He later married Willemtie Jacobs, widow of Jan Cornelisse of Gothenburg, Sweden, on December 24, 1679. Mrs. Munger specifically stated that there were no children of the second marriage.
The children of Jan Broersen Decker and Heyltje Jacobs were:
Gaerliff, or Gerrit Decker — baptized February 26, 1662, at Kingston.
Grietje Decker — baptized August 31, 1664.
Maddelen Decker — baptized October 3, 1666.
Fietie Decker — baptized June 18, 1671.
The family line followed by Mrs. Munger continued through their son Gerrit.
Gerrit Janse Decker and Magdalena Willemz Schut
Gerrit Janse Decker, baptized in 1662, grew up in the world his father had helped establish. In 1684 he married Magdalena Willemz Schut. The first publication of their marriage banns occurred on April 2, although the exact marriage date was not preserved in the record.
The Kingston church entry is particularly useful because it tells us where the young couple came from. Gerrit was described as born in Kingston and then residing in Marbletown. Magdalena had been born in Albany and was also living in the Marbletown area.
Their children were:
Gerrit died before January 12, 1696, because on that date Magdalena remarried. Her second husband was Richard Winfield, recorded in Dutch as Rutsert Wintveld, an Englishman born in Derby and then residing under the jurisdiction of New Paltz. The Decker line continued through Gerrit and Magdalena's eldest son, Jacob.
Jacob Gerritse Decker and Geertye Van Wagenen
Jacob Gerritse Decker, born in 1684, married Geertye Van Wagenen in 1709. Their marriage record described Jacob as born in Marbletown and living at Shawangunk, while Geertye had been born in Kingston and was living there.
With Jacob and Geertye, the Decker genealogy becomes unusually personal because their children's births were preserved in an old family Bible that was still in Mrs. Munger's possession when she published the genealogy. Instead of merely giving dates, the Bible identified the children affectionately as “our first daughter,” “our first son,” and so on.
Their children were:
Sara Decker — born December 19, 1709, described as “our first daughter.”
Gerrit Decker — born October 2, 1711, “our first son.”
Willem Decker — born July 15, 1713, “our second son.”
Jacob Decker — born October 3, 1715, “our third son.”
Abram Decker — born October 27, 1717, “our fourth son.”
Isaac Decker — born December 20, 1719, “our fifth son.”
Benjamin Decker — born October 2, 1721, “our sixth son.”
Ephraim Decker — born September 16, 1723, “our seventh son.”
Magdalena Decker — born October 6, 1725, “our second daughter.”
Jonathan Decker — born August 30, 1728, “our eighth son.”
Ten births recorded over nineteen years reveal a household very different from the small family with which the line had begun. By the early eighteenth century the Deckers were firmly established in the Shawangunk-Marbletown region.
Gerrit Decker and Catharina Schut
Jacob and Geertye's eldest son, Gerrit Decker, born October 2, 1711, married Catharina Schut on October 6, 1733. Reverend Petrus Vas performed the ceremony.
Gerrit lived until May 1, 1786. Catharina died April 11, 1770.
Their children were:
Petrus Decker (1734–1758) — born July 30, 1734; died November 22, 1758. The Bible recorded that he had “fallen on sleep.”
Manases Decker — born August 24, 1736.
Gertie Decker — born October 22, 1738.
Elizabeth Decker (1740–1813) — born November 11, 1740. She becomes particularly important later because she married into the second Decker branch.
Hiskia Decker (1742–1745) — born December 5, 1742; died March 9, 1745.
Cattrina Decker — born December 20, 1744.
Jenneke Decker — born November 4, 1747.
Elias Decker — born August 7, 1750.
Rubben Decker — born March 30, 1753.
Samuel Decker (1756–1776) — born February 15, 1756; died April 20, 1776.
Petrus Decker — born February 3, 1759.
The first Petrus had died in 1758, and the name was reused for the son born the following year, a common practice in Dutch families of the period. This younger Petrus carried the line forward.
Petrus Decker and Annatje Decker
Petrus Decker, born February 3, 1759, married Annatje Decker on August 10, 1782. Reverend Rymer Van Nest performed their marriage.
Their children were:
Levi Decker — born September 7, 1783.
Geertje Decker — born May 18, 1785.
William Decker — born May 10, 1787.
Samuel Decker — born October 18, 1789.
Garret Decker — born May 11, 1792.
John Decker — born March 31, 1794.
Thomas Decker — born March 12, 1800.
The next portion of Mrs. Munger's genealogy concentrated heavily upon their eldest son Levi.
Levi Decker and Ann Davis
Levi Decker, born September 7, 1783, married Ann Davis at Shawangunk on January 15, 1806. Reverend Moses Freligh performed the ceremony.
Their children formed the generation whose descendants spread dramatically beyond Ulster County:
Elsie Ann Decker (1807–?) — born July 25, 1807.
Peter Decker (1809–1863) — born March 12, 1809; died September 18, 1863.
Frances Decker (1811–1871) — born March 30, 1811; died February 22, 1871.
John Davis Decker (1814–1880) — born March 9, 1814.
Jeremiah Decker (1816–1839) — born October 8, 1816; died November 21, 1839.
Harvey Decker (1819–1890) — born April 3, 1819; died February 25, 1890.
Thomas Decker (1822–1898) — born January 17, 1822; died June 4, 1898.
Sarah Decker (1824–1901) — born August 3, 1824; died October 11, 1901.
Through these eight children, the Decker story divides into numerous branches.
Peter Decker and Gertrude Catharine Gasherie
Levi and Ann's son Peter Decker (1809–1863) married Gertrude Catharine Gasherie on December 20, 1837.
Their children were:
Levi Decker (1838–1894) — born September 9, 1838; died August 15, 1894.
Gasherie Decker (1840–1864) — born October 23, 1840; died September 12, 1864.
James Van Vleck Decker (1842–1847) — born July 24, 1842; died August 23, 1847.
Sarah Catharine Lyon Decker (1844–1845) — born June 16, 1844; died September 25, 1845.
Gertrude Besley Decker — born December 31, 1845.
Two of the children died before reaching school age.
Peter's eldest son, Levi Decker, married Lydia Maria Lewis on June 1, 1865. Their children's birth dates were not given in the article:
Ella May Decker
Levi Gasherie Decker
Bessie Gertrude Decker
Percy Lewis Decker
Lucy Bird Decker
Peter's daughter Gertrude Besley Decker married Colby O. Munger on August 10, 1869. Their known child was:
Edwin Thomas Munger — born July 14, 1870.
Elsie Ann Decker and Luther Hornbeck
Elsie Ann Decker, eldest child of Levi and Ann, married Luther Hornbeck on May 15, 1830.
Their children were:
Susan Ann Hornbeck — born April 10, 1832; married Robert Rhinehart on August 10, 1876. They lived at Dwaarskill and had no children.
Frances Hornbeck (1836–1837) — born May 23, 1836; died February 9, 1837.
Sarah Hornbeck (1838–1875) — born July 14, 1838; died February 7, 1875.
Harriet Hornbeck (1845–1900) — born August 25, 1845; died March 14, 1900.
Levi Hornbeck (1848–1864) — born February 17, 1848; died February 24, 1864.
The 1907 article added an evocative detail about Susan Ann: she and Robert Rhinehart lived at Dwaarskill in an old homestead erected about 1776. Thus, while some descendants would soon cross the continent, this branch remained surrounded by the landscape of its ancestors.
Frances Decker and Edmund Bruyn
Frances Decker (1811–1871) married Edmund Bruyn on January 27, 1835, linking the Deckers with another prominent old Ulster County family.
Their children were:
Levi Bruyn — born October 30, 1835.
Wilson Bruyn — born December 15, 1837.
John Oscar Bruyn — the 1907 installment gives his birth as June 9, 1843, and death as August 31, 1881; the 1909 repetition leaves his birth blank.
There is an important correction here. The 1907 installment incorrectly reported that Levi Bruyn died in 1837, yet immediately afterward described his marriages beginning in 1862. The 1909 version corrected the family listing and clearly treated Levi Bruyn, born October 30, 1835, as the adult son who married twice.
Levi first married Mary Jane Smith on October 30, 1862. She died February 24, 1871. There were no children of that marriage.
On December 9, 1872, Levi married Ann E. Snyder. Their children were:
Irwin Snyder Bruyn (1874–1877) — born January 12, 1874; died October 24, 1877.
William Edmund Bruyn — born June 30, 1878, at Rosendale. He married Evelyn Myer in Brooklyn on October 17, 1906 and was living there when the genealogy was published.
Frances and Edmund's son Wilson Bruyn married Henrietta Stine of West Virginia in December 1865. Henrietta died March 31, 1903. Their known child was:
Francis Stine Bruyn — born January 2, 1881; later residing in New York City.
John Davis Decker and Maria Goodgion
For reasons unexplained in the magazine, John Davis Decker's branch was omitted from the 1907 continuation and added when Mrs. Munger resumed the genealogy in 1909.
John, born March 9, 1814, married Maria Goodgion on February 2, 1837. Reverend J. H. Bevier performed their marriage.
Their children were:
Alfred Decker (1838–1903) — born March 21, 1838; died in August 1903 at Cambridge, Nebraska.
Robert Goodgion Decker (1839–1862) — born November 28, 1839; killed during the Civil War in 1862.
Anna Margaret Decker (1842–1852) — born April 29, 1842; died July 7, 1852.
Wilkin Hornbeck Decker — born October 7, 1844.
Sarah Frances Decker — born June 21, 1847; married Daniel Deyo.
David McElhone Decker — born January 22, 1850; married; his spouse was not named. He was living at Bruynswick.
Mary Elizabeth Decker — born December 5, 1852; unmarried and living at Bruynswick.
John Thomas Decker — born July 26, 1855; married Martha Ann Peck and lived at Middletown, New York.
Ann Maria Decker — born July 31, 1859; married George Whelpley and lived at Belleville, New Jersey.
Sarah Frances and Daniel Deyo had four daughters, one of whom had died before 1909, but their names were not included.
Alfred Decker married first Sarah Frances Estell, with the ceremony performed by Reverend William Hamilton of the Reformed Church of New Prospect in Shawangunk. Alfred married second Mrs. Jane Hunter on July 30, 1879. He later lived at Cambridge, Nebraska, but Mrs. Munger stated that she had no record of his family there.
Wilkin Hornbeck Decker
John Davis's son Wilkin Hornbeck Decker married Sarah J. Canfield on January 27, 1869.
Their children were:
Robert Lewis Decker — born August 1, 1869; later married his relative Marvena Decker.
Marietta Decker — born October 21, 1871; married Liverius Crookston.
After Sarah's death, Wilkin married Libbie Evans on December 5, 1878.
Their child was:
Florence Ethel Decker — birth date not supplied; married Chester Quick in May 1906.
Marietta Decker married Liverius Crookston at Shawangunk on October 1, 1900. Their child was:
Viola Crookston — born February 1, 1902.
Harvey Decker: Loss, War, and a Second Family
Harvey Decker (1819–1890) married Marietta McEwen on September 8, 1841. Marietta had been born April 5, 1820.
Their children were:
Clarence W. Decker (1843–1864) — born September 21, 1843; killed at the Battle of Pleasant Hill on the Red River in Louisiana in May 1864.
Wheeler Decker (1845–1883) — born June 24, 1845; died December 14, 1883, at Sioux City, Iowa.
John T. Decker (1847–1848) — born September 11, 1847; died July 28, 1848.
Mariana Decker — born September 22, 1850; later living at Bruynswick.
Emily Decker (1853–1853) — born June 7, 1853; died August 29, 1853.
Marietta died at Delafield, Wisconsin, on August 8, 1853. Her infant daughter Emily died only twenty-one days later.
Six years afterward, Harvey married Elizabeth Goodgion, born June 26, 1824, on October 13, 1859. Their children were:
Robert A. Decker (1861–1888) — born April 1, 1861; died February 2, 1888.
Johnson Decker — born July 5, 1862; married Albertina Rosencrans on October 25, 1893.
Marvena Decker — born April 29, 1864; married Robert Lewis Decker.
Willet Decker (1866–1894) — born June 18, 1866; died March 4, 1894.
The later 1909 installment says Johnson and Albertina had one daughter:
Helen Decker.
This corrects the January 1907 version, which called Johnson's daughter Viola. In the 1909 revision, Viola is clearly identified as the daughter of Marietta Decker and Liverius Crookston.
Wheeler Decker Goes to Iowa
Harvey's son Wheeler Decker married Laura L. Shipley at Sioux City, Iowa, on October 19, 1874.
Their children were:
Eugene Herbert Decker — born August 12, 1875.
Willard Clark Decker — born August 29, 1880, according to the corrected 1909 account; he later lived in Oregon.
Eugene Herbert Decker married Hattie May Mitchell on July 18, 1900 and lived at Hueneme, California. Their children recorded in the 1907 installment were:
Ardis Gertrude Decker — born May 3, 1902.
Harold Clark Decker — born May 2, 1903.
An unnamed younger child, whose name and birth date were not given.
Thus, within only a few generations, descendants of the Wiltwyck settlers had reached the Pacific coast.
Marvena Decker and Robert Lewis Decker
Harvey's daughter Marvena Decker married her relative Robert Lewis Decker, son of Wilkin Hornbeck Decker, at Rutsenville, New York, on September 2, 1890.
Their children recorded by Mrs. Munger were:
Harvey Wilkin Decker (1891–1894) — born July 8, 1891; died October 23, 1894.
An unnamed younger son, whose birth was acknowledged but whose name was not supplied.
Thomas Decker and the Wisconsin Branch
Levi and Ann's son Thomas Decker (1822–1898) moved west and established another branch in Wisconsin.
On March 10, 1852, Reverend S. W. Ford married Thomas to Charlotte Brighton at West De Pere, Wisconsin. Charlotte had been born in England on November 22, 1827.
Their children were:
Thomas Decker — born May 10, 1853; lived at West De Pere.
Sarah Decker — born September 22, 1854; lived at West De Pere.
John Decker (1857–1893) — born May 10, 1857; the later 1909 account gives his death as September 2, 1893 and states that he left no heirs.
Levi Decker (1859–1875) — born May 8, 1859; died July 1, 1875.
Samuel Decker — born in 1864; lived at West De Pere.
Annie Decker (1866–1869) — born August 5, 1866; died July 29, 1869.
Their eldest son, Thomas Decker, married Agnes Ramsay on March 21, 1883. Their children were:
Edna Jean Decker (1884–1885) — born March 16, 1884; died March 4, 1885.
Ramsay Prescott Decker — born July 29, 1886.
Margaret Sarah Decker — born April 4, 1893, according to the later 1909 account.
The 1907 version makes clear that Agnes, rather than Thomas, died on June 15, 1893. This resolves an awkwardly worded sentence in the 1909 reprinting that otherwise appears to make Thomas both a current resident and deceased.
Sarah Decker and David McElhone
The youngest child of Levi and Ann Davis in the published genealogy was Sarah Decker (1824–1901).
She married David McElhone on December 31, 1844. They had no children.
With Sarah's family, Mrs. Munger had traced the principal documented line descending through:
Jan Broersen → Gerrit Janse → Jacob Gerritse → Gerrit → Petrus → Levi.
But another Decker family had been living in Kingston from the colonial period, and Mrs. Munger now turned to a question she could not completely solve.
The Second Decker Branch: The Mystery of Cornelius
A man named Cornelius Decker married Elsie Ten Broeck in Kingston on December 22, 1695.
Mrs. Munger believed Cornelius belonged to the same Decker family. His marriage record said he had been born in Kingston, and she noticed the repeated use of the given name John among his descendants.
From that evidence she proposed that Cornelius may have been a son of Jan, or John, Broersen Decker.
But she explicitly warned her readers that she had no proof.
That distinction remains important. The Olde Ulster genealogy treats Cornelius as belonging to the second generation for purposes of organization, but his parentage was not established by a record available to Mrs. Munger.
Cornelius married Elsie Ten Broeck, daughter of Wessel Ten Broeck and Marya Ten Eyck, on December 22, 1695.
Their children were:
Johannes Decker — baptized May 16, 1696.
Maria Decker — baptized May 1, 1698.
Heyltje Decker — baptized January 14, 1700.
Wessel Decker — baptized January 25, 1702.
A later family Bible entry shows that Elsie died June 9, 1725 and was buried June 11 beside her husband Cornelius Decker, establishing that Cornelius had died before her.
Johannes Decker and the Old Dutch Bible
Cornelius and Elsie's son Johannes Decker, baptized in 1696, married first Catrina Wynkoop on December 29, 1720.
Catrina, baptized December 17, 1699, was a daughter of Evert Wynkoop and Geertje Elmendorp.
Their child was:
Geertjen Decker — baptized October 15, 1721.
Catrina died January 2, 1724. The family's old Dutch Bible recorded that she was “at rest in the Lord” and that she was buried January 4 beside her mother.
The following year Johannes recorded another loss. His mother died June 9, 1725 and was buried two days later in the churchyard beside her husband Cornelius and the family's earlier dead.
On May 17, 1726, Johannes married Marytje Jansen.
The entries for their children are especially valuable because the family Bible also named the children's baptismal sponsors, providing a glimpse into the network of relatives and close associates surrounding the family.
Their children were:
Elsie Decker — born March 26, 1727. Sponsors: Matthewis Jansen and Marya Decker.
Rachel Decker — born February 28, 1729. Sponsors: Benjamin Smedes Jr. and Rachel Smedes.
Cornelius Decker — born January 6; the year was omitted from the Bible entry. Sponsors: Cornelis Jansen and Heyltje Decker.
Matthewis Decker — born December 14, 1733. Sponsors: Johannes Jansen and Annaye Jansen.
Marya Decker — born January 9, 1737. Sponsors: Isaac Tack and Magdalene Tack.
Catharyna Decker — born February 17, 1739. Sponsors: Johannes Delameter and Margaret Jansen.
Johannes Decker — born April 16, 1741. Sponsors: Johannes Ten Broeck and Rachel Ten Broeck.
Johannes died January 23, 1742.
The son Cornelius—the one whose birth year the Bible failed to record—continued the line.
Cornelius Decker: Two Marriages Join the Decker Lines
On July 1, 1762, Cornelius Decker, son of Johannes, married Elizabeth Van Wagenen.
Elizabeth had been born November 1, 1739 and was the daughter of Symen Van Wagenen and Sarah Du Bois.
Their child was:
Sarah Decker — born January 16, 1764.
Only weeks after Sarah's birth, Elizabeth died on March 12, 1764. The old Bible even preserved the approximate time: between nine and ten in the morning.
Cornelius later married Elizabeth Decker (1740–1813). This marriage is genealogically important because Elizabeth was the daughter of Gerrit Decker and Catharina Schut, the already documented line descending from Jan Broersen through Jacob Gerritse. In other words, even though Mrs. Munger could not prove that Cornelius's paternal branch descended from Jan Broersen, his children by his second wife unquestionably descended from Jan Broersen through their mother.
The children of Cornelius and his second wife Elizabeth Decker were:
Johannes Decker — born June 2, 1767.
Cornelius Decker (1770–1796) — born July 13, 1770; died September 23, 1796.
Catharina Decker — born February 2, 1774.
Elizabeth Decker (1778–1795) — born October 8, 1778; died August 11, 1795.
Maria Decker — born November 23, 1780.
Elizabeth Decker died June 10, 1813, aged seventy-two years and seven months. Cornelius had died the previous year, on August 4, 1812. Because his birth year was omitted from the old Bible, it should not be presented as a proven date. We know only that his birthday was January 6 and that he died in 1812.
Johannes C. Decker and Sarah DePuy
The June 1909 installment carried this second branch forward through Johannes C. Decker, born June 2, 1767. He married Sarah DePuy, who was also born in 1767. They had a remarkably large family.
Their children were:
Cornelius Decker — born March 30, 1789; married Gertrude Bruyn. Their children were Johannis, Zachariah, Asa, Sarah, Elizabeth, Cornelius, Eli, Cornelia Ann, Rachel, and Nathaniel.
Annatia Decker — born September 2, 1790; married Elijah Alliger. Their children were Isaac, John Benjamin, Elizabeth Decker, and Cornelius Decker.
Elizabeth Decker — born November 11, 1792; married Benjamin Alliger. They had no children.
Maria Decker — born December 26, 1794; married Levi Hasbrouck. Their children were Johannis Decker, Joseph L., Sarah Ann, and Augustus.
Catharine Decker — born November 3, 1797; married Cornelius Smedes. Their children were George, Josiah, Matthew Jansen, and Johannis Decker.
John DePuy Decker — born September 14, 1799; married Nancy Hoey.
Sarah H. Decker — born September 20, 1801; married Willett Linderman. Their children were Sarah Maria and Rachel.
Rachel Decker — born August 3, 1803; married Richard Jackson. Their children were Rachel Ann and John Richard.
Moses I. Decker — born August 19, 1805; married Elsie Ann Jansen. Their children were John August, Catharine Jansen, and Adoniram Judson.
Margaret Decker — born December 1, 1807; married John D. DeYoe. Their children were Abraham Nathaniel, Johannis Augustus, Leah Catharine, Sarah Ann, and Daniel.
Elsie Decker — born April 6, 1810; married Matthew Jansen. Their son Egbert died in infancy.
Josiah Decker — born May 6, 1813; married Mary Elma Decker. Their children were Garrett, Newton Johannis, Anna Frances, Mary Boyd, and Josiah.
By this generation the repeated appearance of surnames such as Bruyn, Alliger, Hasbrouck, Smedes, Jansen, and DeYoe shows just how intertwined the old Ulster County families had become.
John DePuy Decker and Nancy Hoey
The line was then followed through John DePuy Decker, born September 14, 1799.
On March 3, 1827, Reverend Abraham D. Wilson of the Shawangunk Reformed Church married him to Nancy Hoey, born August 10, 1798.
Their children were:
Sarah DePuy Decker — born in 1828; married John Lang on June 13, 1867.
Mary Decker — born January 29, 1829.
Robert Hoey Decker — born July 14, 1831; married Mary Jane Van Keuren on December 15, 1859.
Ann Catharine Decker — born May 20, 1833.
Julia Elizabeth Decker — born May 5, 1835.
John J. Decker — born November 6, 1836; married Mary Belle Crane on July 7, 1880.
Ellen Jane Decker — born January 25, 1839; married Edmund Bruyn on June 23, 1875.
Elijah Alliger Decker — born February 3, 1841; married Cornelia Spaulding on May 16, 1878.
Ellen Jane Decker Bruyn is especially significant to the history of the genealogy itself: the old Dutch Bible quoted by Mrs. Munger was in the possession of Mrs. Ellen Jane Decker Bruyn of Bruynswick when the 1909 article was published.
Mary Decker and Clark Decker
John DePuy's daughter Mary Decker, born January 29, 1829, married Clark Decker on November 5, 1850.
Their children were:
Howard Decker — born January 6, 1854; married Lucia Dwight Spaulding.
Mariana Decker — born April 28, 1857.
Boyd Decker — born July 18, 1859.
Charles Decker (1862–1865) — born October 30, 1862; died February 27, 1865.
Agnes Hoey Decker — born June 14, 1865; married Andrew R. Armstrong.
Mariana Decker
Mariana Decker, born April 28, 1857, married John L. McKinney of Pine Bush, New York. Their children were:
Howard Decker McKinney — born May 29, 1889.
Marion McKinney — born November 24, 1892.
Boyd Decker
Boyd Decker, born July 18, 1859, married Fannie Fuller Raymond on July 12, 1888. Their children were:
Raymond Boyd Decker — born September 8, 1889.
Kenneth Clark Decker — born September 28, 1891.
Ralph Kempton Decker — born August 11, 1897.
Lawrence DePuy Decker — born April 5, 1903.
With Lawrence's birth in 1903, the genealogy had traveled nearly two and a half centuries from the days when Jan Broersen signed agreements at a threatened frontier settlement on the Esopus.
From Wiltwyck to a Nation
Taken together, the installments of Olde Ulster tell far more than a succession of names.
The first generation lived at a time when Wiltwyck was a stockaded settlement surrounded by wilderness. Jan Broersen had to help defend his community, sign agreements concerning its protection, petition for a minister, and take part in the civic life of a place that had scarcely become a town.
His children and grandchildren grew up around Kingston, Marbletown, and Shawangunk. Their baptisms and marriages were entered into Dutch Reformed church books. The families of Van Wagenen, Schut, Ten Broeck, Wynkoop, Jansen, Smedes, Bruyn, Hasbrouck, DeYoe, and others repeatedly crossed the Decker story.
Family Bibles preserved what official records sometimes did not. They remembered children as “our first son” and “our second daughter.” They recorded who stood beside a baptismal font as godparents. They remembered that a wife died on a Monday morning between nine and ten o'clock. They recorded where a mother was laid to rest beside her husband and “forefathers.”
Then the geography of the family began to change. Some descendants remained at Dwaarskill, Bruynswick, Shawangunk, and other Ulster County communities. Others moved to Middletown and New York City, or across the Hudson Valley into New Jersey. Still others joined the great nineteenth-century movement west.
The Wisconsin branch settled around West De Pere. Wheeler Decker reached Sioux City, Iowa. Alfred Decker went to Cambridge, Nebraska. Willard Clark Decker lived in Oregon. Eugene Herbert Decker reached Hueneme, California.
The family's history also became entwined with the nation's wars. Clarence W. Decker died at Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, in 1864, and Robert Goodgion Decker was also killed during the Civil War.
Alongside these great movements were quieter tragedies repeated through generation after generation: infants who survived only months, children who died before adulthood, young wives lost soon after childbirth, widowers and widows who married again and began new families.
Yet throughout it all, names reappeared - Cornelius. Johannes. Gerrit. Levi. Petrus. Elizabeth. Sometimes those repeated names created confusion for later genealogists, but to the families who chose them they represented continuity.
By the beginning of the twentieth century, the descendants recorded by Mrs. Munger could be found from New York to California. Yet the old Bible at Bruynswick still linked them with the Dutch-speaking men and women whose births, marriages, and deaths had been written into its pages nearly two centuries earlier.
The result is a remarkable family chronicle: a Decker story beginning beside the Esopus in the seventeenth century and expanding, generation by generation, across the United States.
A Note on Accuracy
Several discrepancies appear between the original January 1907 installment and the revised or expanded April 1909 account. Where the later article clearly resolves an earlier contradiction, I have used the later information. Most importantly:
The 1907 article mistakenly has Levi Bruyn (born 1835) dying in 1837, despite later describing his marriages in 1862 and 1872. The 1909 account removes that erroneous death and confirms that the adult Levi Bruyn was born October 30, 1835.
The 1907 article calls Johnson Decker's daughter Viola. The 1909 revision identifies his daughter as Helen and separately identifies Viola as the daughter of Marietta Decker and Liverius Crookston.
Willard Clark Decker's birth appears as October 29, 1880 in 1907 but August 29, 1880 in the later 1909 account; the later date is used here.
John Decker, son of Thomas and Charlotte, is reported as dying December 2, 1893 in 1907 but September 2, 1893 in 1909; the later date is used here.
Margaret Sarah Decker's birth is April 1, 1893 in 1907 and April 4, 1893 in 1909; the later date is used here.
The birth year of the Cornelius Decker who died August 4, 1812 is not supplied in the old Bible. The entry gives January 6 as his birthday but omits the year. It is therefore safer to describe him as “Cornelius Decker (born January 6, year unknown–1812)” rather than assign him an estimated birth year as though it were documented.
Finally, Mrs. Munger's placement of the Cornelius Decker who married Elsie Ten Broeck in 1695 as a son of Jan Broersen Decker is explicitly unproved. She believed the relationship probable from his Kingston birth and family naming patterns, but stated that she did not know his father.
The June 1909 installment again ends with “To be continued,” although it is the last Decker installment located in this run of Olde Ulster.
The following chart was AI generated from the details in this book. Feel free to download and examine it!
Sources:
Benjamin Myer Brink, ed., Olde Ulster: An Historical and Genealogical Magazine, vol. II (Kingston, N.Y., 1906), August, p. 244. https://archive.org/details/oldeulsterhistor02king/page/n303/mode/1up
Benjamin Myer Brink, ed., Olde Ulster: An Historical and Genealogical Magazine, vol. III (Kingston, N.Y., 1907), January, pp. 27-29. https://archive.org/details/oldeulsterhistor1907king/page/n30/mode/1up
Benjamin Myer Brink, ed., Olde Ulster: An Historical and Genealogical Magazine, vol. V (Kingston, N.Y., 1909), April, p. 120. https://archive.org/details/oldeulsterhistor1909king/page/n147/mode/1up
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