Jacob K. Decker, farmer and stock-raiser; P. O. Charleston; was born in Knox Co., Ind., Aug. 7, 1817; his parents, Isaac and Margaret Decker, were Virginians, and left that State in 1811, and were living in Fort Knox, on the Wabash, when the battle of Tippecanoe was fought; when he was 7 years old, his father died, and at about the age of 15, he was apprenticed by his guardian to a merchant in Crawford Co., Ill.; in 1836, he came to Charleston and engaged in the grocery business, with a capital of $250; about two and a half years later, he went to farming, which he has continued, in connection with other business, to the present time; in 1842, he engaged in the dry goods trade, which he followed until 1855; he then farmed exclusively until 1859, when he resumed the dry goods business, continuing till 1863, since which time he has been engaged solely in farming and stock-raising; he owns a fine farm of 750 acres adjoining the city on the north, although he resides in the city, where he owns a good residence with ten acres of land; he also owns a fine brick store on the east side of the public square, occupied by S. Barnes, besides which he owns 250 acres of land in Northern Iowa. In politics, he is a Republican. He has served one term on the Board of Supervisors, and for over twenty years has been Treasurer of the Coles County Board of Agriculture. He was married Sept. 23, 1839, to Miss Mary A. Morton, daughter of the late Charles S. Morton, of Charleston; they have 7 children living – Charles V. (of Hutchinson, Kan.), Hannah H. (wife of Dr. W. R. Patton, of Charleston), Annie (now Mrs. Silas Barnes, of Charleston), Demetrius J. (now a resident of California), Ion B. (now Mrs. T. H. Duncan, of Oakland, Ill.), N. Ella and Mary A.
