Image and text from Otsego county New York Geographical and Historical
by Edwin F Bacon, Ph B. 1902 Oneonta NY
| Page 26. DECATUR. Area 12,841. Population 559. Decatur township was set off from Worcester in 1808. Its surface is hilly, broken by narrow valleys. The principal streams are Oak and Parker creeks tributary to the Schenevus. The first settlement was made in 1790 by Jacob Kinney near the present village of Decatur. The first merchant in the village was Nahum Thompson, who was member of the assembly in 1844. The first supervisor was David Tripp, and the first town clerk was Lemuel Fletcher. The first school was taught by Samuel Turber about the year 1798. The first grist mill was erected by John Champion, the grandfather of S.B. Champion, editor of the Stamford Mirror. James Stewart built the first carding mill. Jacob Brown and his son Jacob came from Columbia county in 1787. Nathan and Gardner Boorn were early settler. Amos, a son of Gardner, was supervisor for six years. The brothers Elisha, John and Samuel Waterman, came from Norwich, Connecticut, soon after the Revolution. From Elisha was descended the late Lewi Edson Waterman, the inventor of the "Waterman Ideal Fountain Pen." Mr. Waterman was born in decatur in the year 1837, and died in Brooklyn, N.Y. in 1900. Other pioneer settlers were John Treat, Charles Treat, Charles Kaple, Orra Ferris, Amos Crippen, Rober Lansing, Chelsea and Lorenzo Dow Davis and Andrew Sloan. VILLAGES: This is a strictly agricultural township, having only one village, Decatur, with a population of 70. CHURCHES: There is only one church in the township,a Methodist church at the village of Decatur. SCHOOLS: Number of districts 6. Number of teachers 6. Children of school age 75. Transcribed by Karen Flanders Eddy. KARENE1@webtv.net |