JESSE A. DECKER.—The history of a community concerns itself not
so much with the machinery of government as with the character of the
citizens who are active in its business circles and constitute the essential
basis of its political and legal status and its educational and moral prog-
ress through their support of interests tending in the line of improvement.
In this connection therefore mention should be made of Jesse A. Decker,
for long years a successful merchant of Brazil, where he was engaged in
dealing in groceries, provisions, meat, flour and feed from October, 1866,
to January, 1908.
    J.  A. Decker was born January 7, 1841, near Pisgah, Butler county,
Ohio. His father, Obadiah B. Decker, was born in Pennsylvania, January
26, 1816, and having removed westward was married near Piqua, Ohio, to
Miss Sarah Ann Austin, whose birth occurred in that state August 6,
1821. His death occurred April 9, 1885, while his wife died November
19, 1883. They were parents of nine children, all sons, and seven grew
to manhood. Frequently they with their father cast eight Republican
votes. Five of the number are now living: Jesse A., William W., Elmon
A., Andrew S. and Oba A. During the pioneer epoch in the history of
Clay county Obadiah B. Decker brought his family to this locality, arriv-
ing on the 16th of August, 1849, after two weeks of travel in a large cov-
ered wagon, for this was before the era of railroad building. The father
cut the date of their arrival upon a big beech tree which stood for a num-
ber of years thereafter and gave witness of the day of their coming. Mr.
Decker was a shoemaker by trade but in Indiana turned his attention to
farming and also engaged in buying furs each winter. He was likewise
well known as a coon hunter and throughout Clay and adjoining counties
he was frequently seen taking a lot of furs on horseback to the nearest
market. His son Jesse frequently made these trips with him and the
father handled thousands of dollars’ worth of furs each winter. The
father had the assistance of his seven sons (there were no daughters in
the family) in clearing up a farm of one hundred and sixty acres. They
cut down and burned large oak trees just to get the land ready for farm-
ing. Deer, turkeys and other kinds of wild game were plentiful and Mr.
Decker of this review has seen wild deer within twenty feet of the cabin
home in which the family lived. During the busiest season of the year
the father frequently employed hired help and sometimes paid them in
flour and meat at a rate of from fifty to seventy-five cents per day or at
eight, ten or twelve dollars per month for the summer. They raised stock
of all kinds and each spring and summer the boys of the family would
have a great time picking wool, which was carded and spun into, cloth
from which their winter garments were made. Log rollings were very
common in that locality from 1849 until 1860 and the father would spend
from five to fifteen days each spring in assisting his neighbors in that
way. The wives of the helpers would at the same time have a quilting or
wool picking and at night there would be a dance or party—festivities
which were greatly enjoyed. Whiskey was always served in those days
and Obadiah Decker raised rye and would take the grain to Williams-
town, where he had whiskey manufactured. It sold from twenty-five to
thirty-five cents per gallon in those days and was an unadulterated article.
The experiences of pioneer life were utterly unlike the modes of living at
the present time. If there was a death in the community the relatives
would go to William West, a cabinet maker of the neighborhood, who
manufactured cupboards, tables, bedsteads and chairs. Receiving an order
for a coffin, he would have it ready for the burial the next day, working
all night at times to complete his task, and sometimes the varnish was
hardly dry at the time of the funeral. The funeral procession would be
composed of farm wagons and people on horseback. Later a man of the
community purchased a spring wagon with which to go to market and
church and this was often borrowed to be used for hauling the corpse to
the cemetery, the coffin placed in the wagon, with a white bedsheet spread
over.
    In those early days Mrs. Decker, the mother, rode to church on
horseback. Services were held in a log schoolhouse, the only church at
that time being at Cloverland, a representative of the Baptist denomina-
tion. Educational privileges in the early '50s were very poor. The teach-
ers were hired by the people of the district, paying so much for each
scholar, and the school term covered December, January and February.
The roads were often bad and the weather inclement and these conditions,
combined with the amount of work to do on the farm, made it impossible
for J. A. Decker and his brothers to attend school for more than about
two months in the year.
    After attaining his majority Mr. Decker left the farm and came to
Brazil, where he attended a graded school taught by Professor Loveless,
realizing the fact that his education was inadequate for the demands of the
time in a growing and progressive country. There was probably not a
frame schoolhouse in the county in the early ‘50s. One of the school-
houses in which he pursued his studies was a low, squatty structure of
round logs, with a big fireplace in one end in which could be burned a
four-foot log. The seats were made of split logs, the flat side being
dressed smooth, while legs were put in the round side to rest the slab upon
and thus was constructed a bench for about a dozen pupils.
    Another feature of pioneer life was less pleasant, for in the early days
there were horse thieves, robbers and murderers who infested the country
and it was an impossibility to arrest the culprits and secure their convic-
tion according to law, for they were banded together and when one of
them would get in trouble the others would stand by him until he was
cleared. The good people, therefore, had to organize and eventually
broke up the band. They formed a society known as the Regulators, of
which Obadiah Decker became a member. As time went on the organiza-
tion grew stronger and more determined to break up the band of outlaws,
who were in command of one John A. Clark, who lived on a farm about
two miles west of Cloverland in the house now occupied by Charles Hen-
dricks. Not far distant lived other members of the band and it was
arranged between them that when any of them saw an opportunity to trade
horses or buy a cow from a family emigrating westward they would pay
for the same in counterfeit money. The mover was left absolutely help-
less, for the band would warn him to go on and keep quiet about the
transaction or it would be the worse for him. On one occasion Clark, in
a quarrel with a man in Cloverland, went to his wagon which was stand-
ing near, secured the wagon hammer and knocked the man in the head,
killing him on the spot, and yet he was not arrested for the crime! The
law abiding people realized that something must be done. They went to
the homes of all whom they knew to be antagonistic to the band, routing
them out at night with the intention of lynching the culprits but they
escaped, although some were shot. At different times the law abiding
citizens made a raid upon the bandits. On one occasion, following
such a raid, the next morning twelve or fifteen of the bandits, mounted on
horseback, rode through Cloverland, shouting that they were going to
Deckers, Modesitts and Corbans and take them out and lynch them. They
were all armed with revolvers, dirks and knives. They reached the Decker
home about eight o’clock in the morning and to their surprise found about
twenty-five men there who had been after them in the night and were
holding counsel as to what to do next. The bandits, not making their real
errand known, said they wanted to buy hogs. One Nathaniel Modesitt,
a man of too much “grit” to quietly accept such an excuse, called out that
he would lick any of the party in fair fight, saying, “You came here for
trouble and not for hogs ;“ but his challenge was not accepted. The Regu-
lators did not care to enter into an open fight, as they knew that some of
their number would he killed or seriously wounded. Later the whole
force of the Regulators was called out with the intention of capturing
Clark. There were over two hundred men who proceeded to Clark’s
house in day time but they found him out, learning that he had gone to
Terre Haute. Proceeding to the city, they asked of the authorities per-
mission to find Clark and were told, “Get him if you can.” They then
proceeded to one of Clark’s friends, who kept a den and was noted for
stealing. They did not succeed in finding Clark but took his friend out
east of the city across the canal bridge and, placing a rope around his neck,
they pulled him up, then let him down, asking him to tell where Clark was.
He did not have the information, however, but he confessed to stealing
meat and other supplies. Clark’s band was so well organized that they
kept him out of sight and later the family removed to Illinois. At length
the band of lawbreakers was broken up but occasionally a horse theft was
committed for several years and lesser depredations were committed, so
that the Regulators continued their organization until there was no further
need of the society, the last call for their aid being made in 1862. There
are still four members of the society living in Brazil: Lake Modesitt, San-
ford Modesitt and William and Jesse Decker.
    There were two men and their families who moved into a cabin near
a war widow by the name of Peake, her husband having responded to the
call to arms in 1861. In the fall of 1861 those two men came, strangers
to the neighborhood, and settled in the cabin. No one knew anything about
them and it seemed as though they got a living without working for it.
Smokehouses were occasionally robbed of the meat and wheat and corn
were also missed at different times. The two families found they were
crowded in the little cabin and made known to the widow that they wished
her to move away so they could have her cabin. She objected and one
night she was taken out and all sorts of indignities heaped upon her. She
brought suit against the men and while she was attending trial her house
was burned to the ground. The neighbors then thought of the old-time
law of the Regulators, called a meeting, organized and selected officers and
plans were made to mete out justice to the two men. This was in the
spring of 1862. About fifty members of the new society went to the cabin,
knocked in the door with a fence rail and grabbed the two criminals (who
had pistols under their pillows) before they were aware of what was