Prepared by: Everette C. Smith, R.L.S.
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1) John was born in Maine in 1810 and his wife Mary was born in Ireland, this info comes from the 1850 and 1860 census records for Harford Co., MD. The 1850 census calls John a 'Tinner'.
2) My family tradition says that my GGGrandfather, George W. Smith, was brought to MD. from N.Y. or Canada (family tradition says that George sent his family back home to Tonowonda during the Civil War - in fact I can't find George or the family in the 1870 census for MD. and George did serve in the war), by a Decker family that adopted him (I think that George was apprenticed to him for the purpose of learning a trade).
3) John and Mary had a son born in N.Y. (according to the 1850/60 census), - Richmond. He is buried in Forest Hill, Maryland and his tombstone gives the birth date as 18 Feb. 1835.
4) Their next child, Amanda was born in MD. in 1837 (again according to the census) which means that the Deckers moved from Canada or N.Y. to MD. between 1835 and 1837.
5) 4 more children were born to John and Mary in MD - census stuff again - Andrew in 1840, Sarah Jane in 1842 (her tombstone gives 26 Dec 1842), Alice Jane in 1845 (tombstone - 8 Jan 1845) and Frances in 1847.
6) John and Mary were renting a house in Bel Air, Harford Co., MD. from which John ran a Tinsmith business. In 1847 they bought their first piece of property in MD and he moved his shop to that new site. Just recently I read a deed which stated that a certain piece of property was located on the road between Decker's Hill and Smith's Mill. Decker's Hill was named for John Decker his place was on top of that hill near Forest Hill.
7) All this time George was working with John in the Tinsmith shop.
8) In 1849 John applied for and got a patent for an improved ice cream freezer (I like to think that my GGGrandfather helped design it).
9) 26 Jul 1856, Richmond died age 21, not married.
10) In November of 1856 John sold his site and moved back to Bel Air where he bought a house and relocated his tinsmith business there.
11) Sarah Jane died 15 Feb 1860 and was buried next to her brother at Christ Episcopal Church in Forest Hill, Harford Co. MD. (as far as I can tell, this group of Decker's never darkened the doorway of that church).
12) Alice Jane died 27 Feb 1861 and was buried next to her siblings.
13) John and Mary sold their property in 1862 and moved away - and I don't have the slightest clue where.
14) except that last week while wasting time looking through old newspapers at the library I chanced upon a small obit - Sarah V. Decker, wife of Andrew J. Decker died 17 Oct. 1865 in Kewaunee, Wisconsin, aged 25 years, 8 months and 21 days (26 Jan 1840).
Now, I said to myself, Hummmm..... the date is right, Andrew was born in 1840 and why would anybody put an obit in our little newspaper if nobody knew who he was talking about. So I called and wrote to Kewaunee Co. Wisconsin and I'm waiting for a reply. Tap, tap, tap.
You see. I can't locate my GGGrandfather's parents or siblings. So I thought that I would work on the Decker line and maybe somebody from that group would have information on the movements of John - perhaps I could find George by following John around - but nobody will admit to knowing John.
One thing I did find out from my phone call to Wisconsin is that the place is filthy with Deckers, and a Decker did come there in the 1860's and founded a town and named it Casco probably because that was the name of the town in Maine that he hailed from - how about that! I haven't gotten back to Maine on that one yet.
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