Genealogy Menard, Mainor, Maynard » Johannes Jacob Deckard (1757-1842)

Persoonlijke gegevens Johannes Jacob Deckard 

• Hij is geboren in het jaar 1757 in Metz, Alsace, Lorraine, France.Bronnen 4, 6, 8, 10, 14, 15, 16, 17
• Woonachtig:
• in het jaar 1840: Lawrence, Indiana, USA.Bron 9
• in het jaar 1798: Bethel, Berks, Pennsylvania, United States.Bron 13
• op 4 maart 1831: Lebanon, Pennsylvania, USA.Bron 15
• (Arrival) in het jaar 1775 in Virginia.Bron 18
• Hij is overleden in het jaar 1842 in Smithville, Monroe, Indiana, United States, hij was toen 85 jaar oud.Bronnen 4, 6, 10, 12, 14, 17
• Hij is begraven op 24 februari 1843 in Smithville, Monroe County, Indiana, Verenigde Staten.Bronnen 4, 6, 10, 14, 17
• Een kind van Johannes Jacob Deckard en Anna Merrill

Gezin van Johannes Jacob Deckard

(1) Hij heeft/had een relatie met Catharine Decker.

Kind(eren):

1. Henry Decker  1781-1847
2. Johannes Decker  1785-1854
3. Michael Decker  1786-1859 
4. Johann Peter Decker  1788-1859
5. Susanna Maria Decker  1792-1794
6. Christian Decker  1794-1869
7. John Adam Decker  1796-1878 
8. David Decker  1816-1836

(2) Hij is getrouwd met Mary Elizabeth Vance.

Zij zijn getrouwd in het jaar 1780 te Botetourt, Virginia, United States, hij was toen 23 jaar oud.

Kind(eren):

1. Michael Deckard  1781-1839 
2. Johanna Adriana Marina Dekker  
3. mary Deckard  1783-1845
4. Jacob Deckard  1791-1878
5. Catherine Deckard  1815-1879
6. Hezekiah Deckard  1819-1889
7. william Deckard  1820-1890

(3) Hij is getrouwd met Mary Vance.

Zij zijn getrouwd in het jaar 1780 te Botetourt County, Virginia, Verenigde Staten, hij was toen 23 jaar oud.

(4) Hij is getrouwd met Margaret Cattering.

Zij zijn getrouwd in het jaar 1780 te Botetourt County, Virginia, Verenigde Staten, hij was toen 23 jaar oud.

Kind(eren):

1. JOHN JOSEPH DECKARD  1794-1869

Notities over Johannes Jacob Deckard

Birth: 1757, GermanyDeath: 1842
Indiana, USA
UNFOUNDED STORIES ABOUT JACOB DECKARD, SENIOR

I had heard so many tantalizing stories about Jacob Deckard, Sr. that I set out to prove them so I could brag about this magnificent ancestor to my friends. Since few people have done thorough on site research in recent years, the natural starting point was to go back to Dr. Percy Edward Deckard's 1932 book, GENEALOGY OF THE DECKARD FAMILY. Next, I conferred with Deckard descendants across the country and met with various Deckard family researchers. I learned that family researchers had added to the information in Dr. Percy Deckard's book, thereby creating a new mix of genealogy. And I learned that most, if not all, of the additional information regarding immigrant Jacob Deckard was totally unfounded. Some information appears to be pure fantasy, and some is claimed to be family tradition, meaning hearsay information passed along by individuals who were not present to report information first hand.

My on-site research included repeated trips to Metz, France and to Virginia, Tennessee, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri. Ongoing, I visit families in these areas and seek out old cemeteries. I search through court records, probate records, deeds, marriage records, birth records, baptismal records, death records, church banns, and more. I have met with noted genealogical researchers and writers, and stay in touch with them. All this has given me a strong background of on-site Deckard research from which to draw some sound conclusions regarding the validity of the information in Dr. Percy Edward Deckard's book and certain claims added by family researchers. At times, the stories of the two sources intermingle into an amalgam that seems to attract more layers upon layers of tangled information.

Dr. Deckard claimed the family name was Deckert when three brothers named Peter, Jacob, and Michael arrived in America in 1775-1776, but didn't say whether or not they made the voyage together. According to this account, Jacob and Michael Deckert went to Virginia, but Peter Deckert first settled in Pennsylvania and later went to Virginia. The surname was spelled variously as Deckert, Deckart, and Deckard before ultimately becoming Deckard.

However, later family researchers claimed that the family name was Decker and that the father of the three brothers, Johannes Jacob Decker I, accompanied them to America. These sources said that his son Jacob was named Johannes Jacob Decker II. They further claimed that the elder Decker settled in Essex County, New Jersey, where he retained the Decker name and helped new immigrants settle in America. They said that the father was called "Papa Decker" or "Squire Decker" and died in Essex County in 1815.

Family researchers also claim that the elder Decker's grandson John Decker lived with him from 1805 to 1815 in New Jersey and volunteered during the War of 1812 using the New Jersey address. However, the records cited as documentation do not apply to the grandson John Deckard, but rather to a John Decker. This is either a case of mistaken identity or an attempt without documentation to connect the Decker family in New Jersey to the Deckard family of Virginia. Records from the National Archives show that John Deckard lived in Wythe County, Virginia, entered the military on September 23, 1812 and served in Captain Lewis Haile's Company of Virginia Militia. John Deckard was discharged at Slaughter Field, Virginia on March 12, 1813 and applied for his pension on April 22, 1871. The DAR Index Roll of Honor also lists John Deckard as a veteran of the War of 1812.

From these two claims, other family researchers developed a hybrid story saying that the family name was Deckert when the father and his three sons arrived in America. Then the sons migrated to Virginia and changed their names to Deckard, whereas the father settled in New Jersey and shortened his name to Decker. So there are at least three stories regarding the family name upon arrival in America and its ultimate spelling. However, I don't discount that the name was Deckard all along and, as today, commonly mispronounced. I will use the name Deckard henceforth, except where records spell the name differently.

A family researcher claims that Jacob Decker II had a slave named Pompey, who accompanied the four Deckers to America. The three sons and Pompey, the story goes, joined the American forces in the Revolutionary War, where Jacob and Pompey served in undercover operations. The researcher also claims that Benjamin Franklin, a Freemason, went to France to recruit fellow Freemasons to join the Americans in their fight for independence from England. He supposedly enticed Marquis de La Fayette to answer the call. Then La Fayette, in turn, asked the Decker's to accompany him to America.

Now for the more accurate reliable findings of our research, and what we consider at this time to be the truth.. No record has been found showing that the Deckard's were Freemasons or that they and La Fayette were friends or even acquaintences. If the four Deckard's came to America in 1775 or 1776, they would have preceded Marquis de La Fayette, who arrived in 1777, by one to two years. And there is no record that Peter and Michael Deckard served during the Revolutionary War. Only Jacob Deckard's name is on military records in Indiana, Virginia, and in the National Archives in Washington, DC. And his name was spelled correctly as Jacob Deckard.

The documentation offered by the family researcher to substantiate the claim that the four Decker's came to America together in 1775 or 1776 was supposed to be in a hard to find book in the Newberry Library in Chicago. I found the book, Marvin Koger's index to David Rupp's Book, THIRTY THOUSAND NAMES OF IMMIGRANTS INTO PENNSYLVANIA FROM 1727-1776. The family researcher pointed to four scattered names in the publication to substantiate that the four Decker's immigrated together. The problem with the claim is that the names of the four immigrants mentioned in the book were spelled variously as Decker or Decher, and appear in different parts of the book rather than together as a family. Also each of the four men sailed to America on different ships and during different years, all before 1775 or 1776. All four of these men are identified in different parts of Dr. Percy Deckard's book, as well as in other sources, and none of the four men identified in Koger's index is the Jacob I, Jacob II, Peter, or Michael Decker of the claim.

In Jacob Deckard's day, the German names for John were used in family names according to a set formula. At baptism, a male infant to be named John was given the name JOHANNES only if he had NO MIDDLE NAME. But if a male baby to be named John was baptized with a first and a middle name, then he was given the first name JOHANN or HANS (Johnny), but definitely not Johannes. The German name Johann occasionally appeared on early American records as Johan or Johanne. A problem for genealogical research was created by English and American ship captains, and other officials unfamiliar with German names, who sometimes hurriedly and carelessly wrote the name Johannes for Johann, and vice versa, thereby perpetuating errors in records.

After baptism, unless he was a member of a royal family, the male with a German name would go by his middle name only, with the option to use the first and middle names on legal documents, such as land deeds, etc. But when a person became accustomed to one name in everyday life, it probably followed through in legal usage too. We don't know if the name of the alleged Jacob I, as well as that of his son Jacob, was Johann Jacob or not, but it definitely was not Johannes Jacob. In fact, there is no known record showing what the father's name was. But we do know that his son Jacob Deckard, the brother of Peter and Michael, used only the name Jacob with either Deckard or Deckert on all documents we have uncovered, except for the baptismal record of one of his sons when Jacob's name was given as John Deckert. In any event, under the German formula, it is wrong to refer to Jacob Deckard as Johannes Jacob Deckard.

This error also appears on what some sources claim is the tomb of Jacob Deckard and five or more other family members. Located just off Fairfax Road south of Smithville, Indiana, the tomb is said to be a cave opening out of a small hill and sealed with myriads of stones stacked on top of one another. A slight trickle of a stream runs close to the tomb, which is said to be located in the former barnyard of Jacob, Jr.'s farm. Stones stacked in this fashion was not uncommon in that area as an effective means of erosion control. No proof has been forthcoming to authenticate the site as the tomb of Jacob Deckard and other family members. Many family members have expressed their doubts.

A recently erected tombstone in front of the stacked rocks is said to have replaced a smaller stone, shaped like a capital letter "I" lying horizontally on the ground, lacking any trace of name engraving. In run-on sentences, the new tombstone reads: "DECKARD TOMB JOHANNES JACOB II REV. WAR VET. B. 1757 – D. 1842 WIFE ELIZABETH VANCE AND OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS' .

Why would anyone remove all those myriads of stones each time a family member died and then restack them again. The story offered by a family researcher in response to this puzzlement is that all those buried in the tomb died at the same time due to an epidemic. This overlooks the fact that records of family members claimed to be buried there possibly died over a nineteen-year span of time. The story also disagrees with the information on the web site of an Indiana chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR). Containing Deckard genealogy collected by a family researcher, it says that Johannes Jacob Deckard III (1757-1842) married Mary Elizabeth Vance (1760-1840). If Elizabeth died in 1840, two years before Jacob in 1842, then the family members supposedly buried in the Deckard tomb didn't die at the same time. So, are we to believe the stones were removed and replaced each time a family death occurred? Also, this is the first and only time I have seen III after Jacob Deckard's name, and it disagrees with the II after Jacob Deckard's name on the tombstone. Did the information come from two different sources?

The Indiana SAR web site says the Jacob Deckard information was collected by a family researcher who we know holds DAR membership #523625. This DAR member offers as documentation the information contained in the earlier DAR application of member #195379. However, the DAR applications of the two DAR members say Jacob's name was Jacob Deckard, whereas the SAR web site says his name was Johannes Jacob Deckard III. Also, the application of DAR member # 195379 says that Jacob's wife was Mary Vance, whereas the application of DAR member #523625 and the SAR web site say that Jacob's wife was Mary Elizabeth Vance.

The disputed name of Johannes Jacob II on the new Deckard tombstone may represent a hybrid of the first names listed in Marvin Koger's index of ship passengers. Remember the Decker's and Decher's who were claimed to be father and three brothers who immigrated to America? One of the passengers in the index had the first name Johannes and another had the first name Jacob. Maybe the fictitious hybrid name of Johannes Jacob was extrapolated from the two names of the ship passengers. This appears to be an attempt to substantiate the Johannes Jacob name. But authentic genealogical research cannot be supported by such libertine suppositions or concoctions.

Since valid documentation is lacking to support either the claim that the father of the three immigrant Deckard brothers immigrated to America or the claim that his name, as well as that of his son, was Johannes Jacob, I will refrain from further reference to those claims by family researchers. Henceforth I will refer to the son, the brother of Peter and Michael, as Jacob Deckard or Jacob Deckard, Senior. The name and identity of the father of the three immigrant brothers remains a complete mystery.

We have established that there is no valid documentation for the name Johannes Jacob, but could it have been Johann Jacob or John Jacob? It's possible, but no record has been uncovered showing that combination as Jacob's name. The documents we have found, even legal documents, bearing the name of Jacob show his name only as Jacob along with his last name, with one exception. Six of Jacob Deckard's children were baptized at Zion Lutheran Church at Cripple Creek, Wythe County, Virginia. Five of the baptismal records list the parents as Jacob and Elizabeth, but one, John Deckard's baptismal record, shows the parents as John and Elizabeth. Was this an error made at a later date in transcribing the church records from the original German to English? Was it a mistake by the minister, John Stanger, giving the baptized son's name as that of the father, or was Jacob's name John Jacob? That is the only known record where John was used in place of Jacob for Jacob Deckard's name.

Some researchers claim that if a German family had more than one son, all of the sons were given the first name of John and all but one would be given their own middle names. Then only the middle names were used in everyday life to identify each son, except for the son having only the first name of John without a middle name. But even a rudimentary review of the facts reveals that this practice was only a tendency rather than a set formula. So we do not know if Jacob was our ancestor's first name or his middle name. But the known paper trail seems to lean toward Jacob as his first name. Jacob later named one of his son's Jacob prompting careful researchers today to refer to them as Jacob and Jacob, Jr. When more clarification is needed, we refer to them as Jacob Deckard, SR. and Jacob Deckard, Jr.

According to a family researcher, Jacob Deckard was a member of a secret organization that used secret codes and symbols as spies during the Revolution. Jacob and Pompey, according to the claim, worked as a spy team at the Battle of Stony Point, New York, where Pompey was given his freedom and a horse after the battle. Shortly after gaining his freedom, Pompey was captured by Indians and subsequently sold to a Frenchman in Montreal. Canada. According to the claim, Jacob went to Montreal, Canada after the war to give someone power-of- attorney to negotiate Pompey's return. The researcher claims that Jacob wrote a letter to be forwarded to a British officer in Montreal saying he wanted Pompey back because he had bought and paid for him. Strange words from a man who supposedly gave Pompey his freedom after the Battle of Stony Point! I have a copy of the letter which was signed Yohannes Decker.

Since Jacob, Sr., his wife Elizabeth, and Jacob, Jr. couldn't read or write, they relied upon others to write their correspondence and sign their names. Then they drew their X's and made the usual signs used as seals in their day. The letter to the British officer signed Yohannes Decker didn't have an X or a seal, indicating that the writer was able to write the letter himself. And Jacob's name was neither Yohannes (or Johannes) nor Decker. A family researcher claims that Jacob, Jr.'s second wife, Jemima Etter, taught him to read and write. But the 1850 U. S. Census for Monroe County, Indiana reported that Jacob Deckard, Jr., his wife Jemima, and their daughter Elizabeth could not read or write. And Indiana land deeds show that Jacob, Jr. had to sign his name with an X long after his marriage to Jemima. Jacob, Sr. and Jacob, Jr.; like father, like son, neither was literate.

The documentation backing the Pompey claim was said to be in a rare book by Morton Pennypacker titled, GENERAL WASHINGTON'S SPIES ON LONG ISLAND AND NEW YORK. I found the rare book at the famous David Revolutionary War Library at Washington's Crossing, Pennsylvania. The 1939 book reveals that the Pompey involved in the July 16, 1779 Battle of Stony Point with General Anthony Wayne, and who was subsequently captured by Indians, was owned by Captain (later Major) John Lamb, one of Washington's spies. There is no mention of Jacob Deckard or even a hint that he was involved in this campaign. In fact, at this time, Jacob Deckard probably was in the Northwest Territory.
A family researcher claims that the Mr. Goodbread mentioned in Morton Pennypacker's book was really Jacob Deckard. The reasoning behind this claim, according to the researcher, is that two things point to the secret identity of Mr. Goodbread as Jacob Deckard. First, a Yohannes Decker had a slave named Pompey (a common slave name at the time). And secondly, the family researcher claims that a Jacob Decker II owned land 43 years later in Lawrence County, Indiana close to an African American cemetery. When you consider this line of reasoning, you readily see its pitfalls. The claim that it was Jacob Decker II who owned land in Lawrence County, Indiana is an attempt to unite Yohannes Decker, Jacob Decker II, and Mr. Goodbread as one person. I have already addressed the Yohannes Decker issue. And the Lawrence County Court House records of land deeds reveal that it was Jacob Deckard who bought land there, not Jacob Decker II.

This contrivance of the facts in an attempt to make the Decker name fit a pre-conceived notion is not sound reasoning and doesn't work. Furthermore, Pompey was the slave of John Lamb not Mr. Goodbread. So, to claim that Pompey was the slave of Jacob Deckard would mean that the family researcher would have to contend that Jacob Deckard assumed the identity of John Lamb, the true owner of the slave Pompey. But that is not the claim. Instead, the researcher contends that Jacob Deckard assumed the name Mr.Goodbread, who didn't own a slave named Pompey. So the contention that Jacob Deckard owned Pompey and posed as Mr. Goodbread requires a good stretch of the imagination. In fact, it was impossible.

It is claimed by a family researcher that Jacob was a 32nd degree Freemason and used secret Masonic signs and symbols in covert communication. But we have been unable to document that Jacob was even a Mason at all. Much has been made of the claim that Jacob's original grave marker was in the shape of the letter "I" lying sideways in a horizontal position upon the ground. The source of this claim said that this "I" symbol was also attached to the barn of Jacob, Sr.'s son Jacob, Jr. near the supposed tomb of Jacob, Sr. The source further claimed that the "I" shape was used as a religious symbol having an ancient secret meaning. I have researched articles on symbols and occult signs and have made inquiries of Freemasons, gravestone cutters and engravers, all of which availed nothing. Even the ancient Nordic and Germanic Runic alphabet didn't fit the claim, because Runic letters purposely avoid horizontal structures in letters by using slanted lines.

Some sources claim that Jacob Deckard may have been a member of the Sons of Liberty, because at least one of his descendants is on record as a member of the Red Man Society, which was the sequel to the Sons of Liberty after the Revolutionary War. There is even a claim by a family researcher that Jacob's secret communicative skills were acquired from more ancient sources than the Masons or the Sons of Liberty. The researcher said that the secrets may have been passed down from the son of Dekar (Ben Dekar in Hebrew), touted as a possible ancestor, who was one of King Soloman's Jewish administrators. This claim has caused a rumor that the Deckard's have a trace of Jewish ancestry. But there is not the slightest evidence to substantiate this tale.

A family researcher also claims that Jacob Deckard participated covertly in a skirmish between Colonel Augustin Mottin de la Balme and Chief Little Turtle near Fort Wayne. The claim is that Jacob used the identity of Dr. Andrew Rey (also spelled Ray) on the expedition to Fort Wayne with Colonel de la Balme and was spared death by the Indians when he gave secret Masonic signs to British fur traders at the trading post. Handed over to the British as a POW, this supposedly Dr. Rey imposter wrote two letters in French to the British command complaining that he had to pay for his own upkeep in captivity. I wonder why this English-speaking captive wrote the letters in French to English-speaking British officers? The letters were signed Dr. Rey, Aide de Camp to Colonel de la Balme. As pointed out before, Jacob could not write, and the handwriting in these letters was far different from that in the letter to the British officer in Montreal regarding the slave Pompey. The documentation for this bit of information was supposed to be in very hard to find manuscripts by Dr. Lyman C. Draper held at the library of the University of Wisconsin. I located copies of the manuscripts, which made no mention of Jacob Deckard under his own name or as an imposter of Dr. Rey.

While in Kaskaskia, Dr. Andrew Rey had volunteered his services as field surgeon for George Rogers Clark's troops. When he didn't arrive in Vincennes at the time expected, it was reported that he had volunteered but didn't report for duty. It appears that the family researcher took this to mean that he didn't show up at all. But according to Dr. Lyman C. Draper's manuscripts # 50 J 68, on October 14, 1780, Major McCarty sent a message to George Roger Clark regarding Colonel de la Balme's planned expedition. Major McCarty reported in the message that he saw the group making their preparations and that, "Our Little Doctor Ray" was with them. Major McCarty went on to say that Captain Plassy ordered Dr. Rey to take a group of men to rescue Sergeant Meryweathers from the guard who held him under arrest as a deserter. Then Dr. Rey and these men left with Colonel de la Balme to attack Chief Big Knife's Indian warriors and the British at Fort Wayne. So, according to Major McCarty, who was present at Vincennes, Dr. Rey himself went on the ill-fated mission.

A different claim of Jacob's military adventures showed up in another writing. Here the family researcher claimed that Jacob Deckard was promoted to captain in the service of New Jersey by General Anthony Wayne and given command of Fort Industry at Toledo, Ohio. It was further claimed that Jacob held this position several years until he retired in 1812 at the age of 55. But Jacob's first child was born in Wytheville, Virginia in 1781, and he was involved in a civil court case in Jeffersonville, Indiana in October 1801. The court records gave his residence as Knox County, Indiana. Evidently, the case had gone to court at an earlier time as the legality of the judgment rendered was questioned by George Washington, who ordered a writ of error. So there is a possibility that Jacob lived in Knox County on the earlier court date but resided elsewhere by the second court date. Still, the record of the second court date in 1801 just says Jacob Deckard of Knox County, Indiana. So did he reside in Toledo, Ohio or around Vincennes, Knox County, Indiana at that time?

When I reviewed the records of Fort Industry, I did not see Jacob Deckard's name listed among the soldiers stationed there. If he had been in the service of New Jersey at Fort Industry in Toledo, Ohio those years, he couldn't have been in the service of Virginia at the same time posing as Dr. Rey in Colonel de La Balme's November 1780 campaign. And he couldn't have written letters under the name of Dr. Rey as a POW in 1781. The commanding officers of Fort Industry held the rank of colonel. For a short period of a few weeks, between commanding officers, a Captain Rhea was in charge. Did the family researcher feel there was a connection between Dr. Andrew Rey and Captain Rhea?

So, what was Jacob Deckard's role in the military during the Revolutionary War? I obtained records from the National Archives in Washington, DC that lists Jacob Deckard as a private in Clark's Illinois Regiment of Virginia Militia. He mustered out of the Virginia Militia as a private in December 1781 and not as a New Jersey captain in 1812 as claimed.

Since George Rogers Clark's Illinois Regiment was involved in campaigns in the Northwest Territory, especially around Vincennes, Indiana, I went to Vincennes to research records. I met with three National Park Rangers at the George Rogers Clark Memorial, located at the site of old Fort Sackville. In checking their records, I learned that Jacob Deckard is sometimes mistaken for Jacob Decker who was in Captain Abraham Keller's Company and died on October 7, 1780 in the Northwest Territory. I also interviewed one of that Jacob Decker's descendants, who confirmed the account. But a family researcher still claimed that Jacob Decker was our Jacob Deckard and that the report of his death was faked as a cover-up so our Jacob Deckard could go undercover posing as Dr. Rey and Colonel de La Balme's Aid-de camp. However, the military records in the National Archives document that both Jacob Decker and Jacob Deckard served in Clark's Illinois Regiment of Virginia Militia.

It appears that Jacob Deckard was a construction worker in the Northwest Territory and helped build Fort Jefferson in April 1780 at the juncture of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. For this endeavor, he was paid with a warrant for land in Virginia. Jacob remained at the fort the entire14 months of its existence. The fort was abandoned when it was no longer needed to guard that area of the Northwest Territory from attack. After that, around mid 1781, Jacob helped build boats on the Ohio River near present day Jeffersonville, Indiana. The boats were to be used in an attack on Detroit, but the plan was later aborted when the commander of Detroit, Governor Hamilton, was captured at Fort Sackville. The National Archives show that Jacob Deckard mustered out of the militia in December 1781, but didn't receive payment for the building of the boats until July 1784. The archives of George Rogers Clark and the National Archives show that Jacob received 21 pounds, 9 shillings and 4 pence in payment from Richmond, Virginia. That amounted to about $51.52 in Jacob's day. That's the true no thrills documented story of Jacob Deckard, Sr.'s military service.

Now, let's address Dr. Percy Edward Deckard's claims about Jacob Deckard. First, he says that the surname of the Deckard brothers was Deckert and that they changed it to Deckard in America. It is true that some of the early records in America often recorded their name as Deckert. This may well be due to the fact that the "d" at the end of a German name is pronounced as a "t." During one trip to Metz, France, a retired Metz police officer named Jean Deckert said that the family name changed back and forth from Deckert to Deckard and back again as Metz changed hands back and forth between Germany and France. To show the family's loyalty, the Germans required the –ert ending on the name, and the French required the –ard ending. That is no longer a requirement today. Jean Deckert said he thought that his ancestors came from an area of Germany that is part of Poland today. The Deckard name is believed by some genealogists to have first been recorded in the German-speaking Prussian Republic. Today, part of the former Prussian Republic is in Poland.

At the city archives in Metz, I searched through records such as the census, tax lists, and land transfers under the names Deckert, Deckard, and similar names. I searched for records of the three Deckert/Deckard brothers, Peter. Jacob, and Michael, under German, French, and Latin spellings. For example, the name Jacob in Latin is Jacobus. Latin spellings of first names was popular among Catholics. But a thorough search of the records with the help of French record clerks revealed nothing. They said that many records such as births, baptisms, marriages, and deaths were kept in churches in and around Metz. But two world wars obliterated most of those records. Dr. Percy Deckard's book says that the three brothers lived near Metz rather than in Metz. Churches outside of Metz stood a greater chance of destruction during the heavy fighting that occurred around Metz during the two world wars. But there is another problem. During the lifetime of the three Deckard brothers in France, Protestants were prohibited by French law from keeping records of births, baptisms, marriages, and deaths. This also would decrease the chances of finding any records on the Deckards, who were of the German Reformed faith.

The most controversial claim in Dr. Percy Deckard's book regarding Jacob Deckard begins in Part IV on page 528. It says, and I quote, "Jacob Deckard married Mary Vance of Virginia about 1780 in Botetourt County, Virginia. She BELONGED TO the VANCE FAMILY of Washington County (at the time of her marriage was Botetourt County), Virginia, INCLUDING Samuel Vance, Colonel in the Revolutionary Army, who married Margaret Laughland on 1-8-1778." The italics are mine for emphasis. Notice that Dr. Deckard didn't say Mary Vance was the daughter of Samuel Vance, but just indicated some kind of kinship between the two contemporaries.

Dr. Percy Deckard was a Medical Doctor living in Pennsylvania when his book was published in 1932. The scope and methods of his research were limited in comparison to research capabilities today. He indicated that he secured the application of DAR member # 195379 which contained the Mary Vance and Colonel Vance information he included in his book on page 528. But on page 529, Dr. Deckard relates his puzzlement as to why three land deeds on file with the Recorder of Deeds Office in Wythe County, Virginia recorded the name of Jacob Deckard's wife as Elizabeth. He says that the deeds show, and I quote, "Jacob Deckard and his wife Elizabeth (possibly Mary Elizabeth or he was married twice and his first wife, Mary, was then dead) … sold a tract of 85 acres of land …" End of quote and beginning of controversy.

This agrees with my on-site findings. The land deeds in both Wythe County, Virginia and Lawrence County, Indiana give the name of Jacob Deckard's wife as Elizabeth. The only baptismal records of their children found are those of Zion Lutheran Church on Cripple Creek in Wythe County, Virginia. Six of their children were baptized beginning with John Deckard in 1793, and all of the records give the mother's name as Elizabeth. No certifiable record has been produced to date to verify that Jacob Deckard married Mary Vance. But that undocumented claim, along with the claim that Mary Vance was the daughter of Samuel Vance, continues to be passed along by armchair researchers. I wonder how they explain the dates given in Dr. Deckard's book? Samuel Vance married Margaret Laughland in 1778 and just two years later Mary Vance supposedly married Jacob Deckard.

Two DAR memberships of record, and maybe the only ones to date, claimed Jacob Deckard as the patriot. The application of the first DAR member, # 195379 approved in 1929, said that Private Jacob Deckard married Mary Vance, who was the daughter of Colonel Samuel Vance and Margaret Laughland. The application of the second DAR member, #523625 approved in 1967, said that Private Jacob Deckard served in Clark's Illinois Regiment of Virginia Militia and married Mary Elizabeth Vance.

These two DAR applications inadvertently give testimony to the evolution of research misconceptions regarding Jacob Deckard. The first application said that Jacob married Mary Vance. That information then went into Dr. Percy Deckard's book. But Dr. Deckard questioned why courthouse records gave the name of Jacob's wife as Elizabeth and therefore offered possibilities as to why that might be. Family researchers of succeeding generations have been unable to find records to explain why both Mary and Elizabeth have been mentioned as possible wives for Jacob. So many of the researchers chose the alternative possibility offered by Dr. Deckard and said Jacob's wife was Mary Elizabeth and considered the problem solved! But the name Mary Elizabeth can't be certified at this time and remains unfounded until valid documents of proof are presented to substantiate the claim.

Could the information in the first DAR application be wrong? Jacob Deckard was the great grandfather of that DAR member, who may have gotten her information from her elders. But would they know? According to Dr. Deckard's book, one of the DAR member's elders, her great uncle Michael Deckard, Jr., Jacob Deckard's grandson, gave information regarding his grandfather Johann Daniel Hilgenberg that has been proven entirely and certifiably wrong beyond any doubt by esteemed genealogists. Another of the DAR member's elders, her first cousin once removed, gave information regarding his grandfather Johann Daniel Hilgenberg that was completely different from that of Michael Deckard, Jr., but also has been proven entirely and certifiable wrong beyond any doubt.

Washington County, Virginia was formed from part of Botetourt County, Virginia in 1776, leaving a smaller Botetourt County. I have done extensive on-site research in both counties, and the 1780 county marriage records are still on file. But I found nothing in the marriage records, church banns, or marriage bonds regarding the marriage of Jacob Deckard. Records were available, but Jacob's name was not in them. This poses the question as to how, and if, the DAR information was properly documented with valid records.

Samuel and Margaret Vance lived in Abingdon, Washington County, Virginia, where their lives are well documented in authentic records. According to those records, Samuel Vance and Margaret Laughlin did not have a daughter named Mary or Mary Elizabeth. But they did have a daughter named Elizabeth who was born about 1798. eighteen years after the the 1780 date that Jacob is said to have married. This Elizabeth Vance married Abraham Bradley and died before 1820.

Some researchers claim that before he married Margaret Laughlin, Samuel Vance first married Agnes Penquite and had daughters named Elizabeth and Mary. But these daughters would have been only seven and ten years of age in 1780, when Jacob is said to have married. And too, the dates and location of this Samuel Vance raises questions as to this being the same Samuel Vance who married Margaret Laughlin in 1778 in Washington County, Virginia.

I have researched all the Mary Vance's of record I could find, but have located no Mary Vance that fits into the timeframe and locality and no Mary Vance whose spouse is unaccounted for. But I agree with Dr. Percy Deckard on one point. The records both he and I observed show the name of Jacob Deckard's wife as Elizabeth. Virginia and Indiana land deeds, as well as Virginia baptismal records, all give her name as Elizabeth. However, Elizabeth who remains a mystery.

Samuel and Margaret Vance were prominent citizens in Abingdon, Virginia, and that is why their lives are well documented. The couple are buried with well-marked tombstones at Sinking Springs Cemetery in downtown Abingdon. According to local records, the tombstone engraver misspelled Margaret Laughlin's name as Laughlan. Then, the information in Dr. Percy Deckard's book, from DAR application # 195379, misspelled the already misspelled name as Laughland. And ever since, many armchair researchers have continued to pass the doubly misspelled name along as Laughland. But the errors do not stop there.

Dr. Percy Deckard's book, on page 528, says that Samuel Vance, who married Margaret Laughland (Laughlin), was a colonel in the "Revolutionary Army". But the documents on record in Abingdon, Virginia make it clear that the Samuel Vance who married Margaret Laughlin was a civil servant in some sort of judiciary capacity and registered in the local Virginia Militia for call to duty as needed, which occurred three times. He served as a supply sergeant during a stint in Lord Dunmore's War against the Shawnee Indians, at the Battle of Point Pleasant, and at the Battle of King's Mountain. However, his pension was drawn as a wartime civil servant rather than as a sergeant.

The Samuel Vance in the Virginia Militia who made colonel lived in Augusta County, Virginia and was married to Sarah Bird (Byrd). He was made a colonel in the Virginia Militia by court action in Augusta County immediately before the British surrender at Yorktown. He was given command of troops and sent to Yorktown at the surrender to usher British captives to the arranged quarters. For further reference that Colonel Samuel Vance is not an ancestor in the lineage of Jacob Deckard see SAR membership # S1882.

Taking Dr. Percy Edward Deckard's book as gospel and failure to thoroughly research the added claims of family researchers has allowed unfounded information to creep into Deckard genealogy. And with the handy availability of the internet, the misinformation is beginning to abound far and wide. I would hope to leave as clear a record as possible of my lineage from Jacob Deckard, Senior. But it increasingly appears that half-truths, exaggerations, fantasies, and fictitious stories are spreading faster than substantially documented facts. My vexation does not end with me. I am also concerned for you and your descendants. How sad that future generations will be left with glorified fiction!

Ron E. Deckard

To report new information, corrections, or web errors, click here

Indiana Patriot Graves - Indiana State SAR

Family links:
Children:
Sally Deckard Arney (1807 - 1851)*

*Calculated relationship
Burial:
Deckard Tomb
Smithville
Monroe County
Indiana, USA
Created by: WDK
Record added: Feb 06, 2011
Find A Grave Memorial# 65270621

Birth: 1757, GermanyDeath: 1842
Indiana, USA
UNFOUNDED STORIES ABOUT JACOB DECKARD, SENIOR

I had heard so many tantalizing stories about Jacob Deckard, Sr. that I set out to prove them so I could brag about this magnificent ancestor to my friends. Since few people have done thorough on site research in recent years, the natural starting point was to go back to Dr. Percy Edward Deckard's 1932 book, GENEALOGY OF THE DECKARD FAMILY. Next, I conferred with Deckard descendants across the country and met with various Deckard family researchers. I learned that family researchers had added to the information in Dr. Percy Deckard's book, thereby creating a new mix of genealogy. And I learned that most, if not all, of the additional information regarding immigrant Jacob Deckard was totally unfounded. Some information appears to be pure fantasy, and some is claimed to be family tradition, meaning hearsay information passed along by individuals who were not present to report information first hand.

My on-site research included repeated trips to Metz, France and to Virginia, Tennessee, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri. Ongoing, I visit families in these areas and seek out old cemeteries. I search through court records, probate records, deeds, marriage records, birth records, baptismal records, death records, church banns, and more. I have met with noted genealogical researchers and writers, and stay in touch with them. All this has given me a strong background of on-site Deckard research from which to draw some sound conclusions regarding the validity of the information in Dr. Percy Edward Deckard's book and certain claims added by family researchers. At times, the stories of the two sources intermingle into an amalgam that seems to attract more layers upon layers of tangled information.

Dr. Deckard claimed the family name was Deckert when three brothers named Peter, Jacob, and Michael arrived in America in 1775-1776, but didn't say whether or not they made the voyage together. According to this account, Jacob and Michael Deckert went to Virginia, but Peter Deckert first settled in Pennsylvania and later went to Virginia. The surname was spelled variously as Deckert, Deckart, and Deckard before ultimately becoming Deckard.

However, later family researchers claimed that the family name was Decker and that the father of the three brothers, Johannes Jacob Decker I, accompanied them to America. These sources said that his son Jacob was named Johannes Jacob Decker II. They further claimed that the elder Decker settled in Essex County, New Jersey, where he retained the Decker name and helped new immigrants settle in America. They said that the father was called "Papa Decker" or "Squire Decker" and died in Essex County in 1815.

Family researchers also claim that the elder Decker's grandson John Decker lived with him from 1805 to 1815 in New Jersey and volunteered during the War of 1812 using the New Jersey address. However, the records cited as documentation do not apply to the grandson John Deckard, but rather to a John Decker. This is either a case of mistaken identity or an attempt without documentation to connect the Decker family in New Jersey to the Deckard family of Virginia. Records from the National Archives show that John Deckard lived in Wythe County, Virginia, entered the military on September 23, 1812 and served in Captain Lewis Haile's Company of Virginia Militia. John Deckard was discharged at Slaughter Field, Virginia on March 12, 1813 and applied for his pension on April 22, 1871. The DAR Index Roll of Honor also lists John Deckard as a veteran of the War of 1812.

From these two claims, other family researchers developed a hybrid story saying that the family name was Deckert when the father and his three sons arrived in America. Then the sons migrated to Virginia and changed their names to Deckard, whereas the father settled in New Jersey and shortened his name to Decker. So there are at least three stories regarding the family name upon arrival in America and its ultimate spelling. However, I don't discount that the name was Deckard all along and, as today, commonly mispronounced. I will use the name Deckard henceforth, except where records spell the name differently.

A family researcher claims that Jacob Decker II had a slave named Pompey, who accompanied the four Deckers to America. The three sons and Pompey, the story goes, joined the American forces in the Revolutionary War, where Jacob and Pompey served in undercover operations. The researcher also claims that Benjamin Franklin, a Freemason, went to France to recruit fellow Freemasons to join the Americans in their fight for independence from England. He supposedly enticed Marquis de La Fayette to answer the call. Then La Fayette, in turn, asked the Decker's to accompany him to America.

Now for the more accurate reliable findings of our research, and what we consider at this time to be the truth.. No record has been found showing that the Deckard's were Freemasons or that they and La Fayette were friends or even acquaintences. If the four Deckard's came to America in 1775 or 1776, they would have preceded Marquis de La Fayette, who arrived in 1777, by one to two years. And there is no record that Peter and Michael Deckard served during the Revolutionary War. Only Jacob Deckard's name is on military records in Indiana, Virginia, and in the National Archives in Washington, DC. And his name was spelled correctly as Jacob Deckard.

The documentation offered by the family researcher to substantiate the claim that the four Decker's came to America together in 1775 or 1776 was supposed to be in a hard to find book in the Newberry Library in Chicago. I found the book, Marvin Koger's index to David Rupp's Book, THIRTY THOUSAND NAMES OF IMMIGRANTS INTO PENNSYLVANIA FROM 1727-1776. The family researcher pointed to four scattered names in the publication to substantiate that the four Decker's immigrated together. The problem with the claim is that the names of the four immigrants mentioned in the book were spelled variously as Decker or Decher, and appear in different parts of the book rather than together as a family. Also each of the four men sailed to America on different ships and during different years, all before 1775 or 1776. All four of these men are identified in different parts of Dr. Percy Deckard's book, as well as in other sources, and none of the four men identified in Koger's index is the Jacob I, Jacob II, Peter, or Michael Decker of the claim.

In Jacob Deckard's day, the German names for John were used in family names according to a set formula. At baptism, a male infant to be named John was given the name JOHANNES only if he had NO MIDDLE NAME. But if a male baby to be named John was baptized with a first and a middle name, then he was given the first name JOHANN or HANS (Johnny), but definitely not Johannes. The German name Johann occasionally appeared on early American records as Johan or Johanne. A problem for genealogical research was created by English and American ship captains, and other officials unfamiliar with German names, who sometimes hurriedly and carelessly wrote the name Johannes for Johann, and vice versa, thereby perpetuating errors in records.

After baptism, unless he was a member of a royal family, the male with a German name would go by his middle name only, with the option to use the first and middle names on legal documents, such as land deeds, etc. But when a person became accustomed to one name in everyday life, it probably followed through in legal usage too. We don't know if the name of the alleged Jacob I, as well as that of his son Jacob, was Johann Jacob or not, but it definitely was not Johannes Jacob. In fact, there is no known record showing what the father's name was. But we do know that his son Jacob Deckard, the brother of Peter and Michael, used only the name Jacob with either Deckard or Deckert on all documents we have uncovered, except for the baptismal record of one of his sons when Jacob's name was given as John Deckert. In any event, under the German formula, it is wrong to refer to Jacob Deckard as Johannes Jacob Deckard.

This error also appears on what some sources claim is the tomb of Jacob Deckard and five or more other family members. Located just off Fairfax Road south of Smithville, Indiana, the tomb is said to be a cave opening out of a small hill and sealed with myriads of stones stacked on top of one another. A slight trickle of a stream runs close to the tomb, which is said to be located in the former barnyard of Jacob, Jr.'s farm. Stones stacked in this fashion was not uncommon in that area as an effective means of erosion control. No proof has been forthcoming to authenticate the site as the tomb of Jacob Deckard and other family members. Many family members have expressed their doubts.

A recently erected tombstone in front of the stacked rocks is said to have replaced a smaller stone, shaped like a capital letter "I" lying horizontally on the ground, lacking any trace of name engraving. In run-on sentences, the new tombstone reads: "DECKARD TOMB JOHANNES JACOB II REV. WAR VET. B. 1757 – D. 1842 WIFE ELIZABETH VANCE AND OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS' .

Why would anyone remove all those myriads of stones each time a family member died and then restack them again. The story offered by a family researcher in response to this puzzlement is that all those buried in the tomb died at the same time due to an epidemic. This overlooks the fact that records of family members claimed to be buried there possibly died over a nineteen-year span of time. The story also disagrees with the information on the web site of an Indiana chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR). Containing Deckard genealogy collected by a family researcher, it says that Johannes Jacob Deckard III (1757-1842) married Mary Elizabeth Vance (1760-1840). If Elizabeth died in 1840, two years before Jacob in 1842, then the family members supposedly buried in the Deckard tomb didn't die at the same time. So, are we to believe the stones were removed and replaced each time a family death occurred? Also, this is the first and only time I have seen III after Jacob Deckard's name, and it disagrees with the II after Jacob Deckard's name on the tombstone. Did the information come from two different sources?

The Indiana SAR web site says the Jacob Deckard information was collected by a family researcher who we know holds DAR membership #523625. This DAR member offers as documentation the information contained in the earlier DAR application of member #195379. However, the DAR applications of the two DAR members say Jacob's name was Jacob Deckard, whereas the SAR web site says his name was Johannes Jacob Deckard III. Also, the application of DAR member # 195379 says that Jacob's wife was Mary Vance, whereas the application of DAR member #523625 and the SAR web site say that Jacob's wife was Mary Elizabeth Vance.

The disputed name of Johannes Jacob II on the new Deckard tombstone may represent a hybrid of the first names listed in Marvin Koger's index of ship passengers. Remember the Decker's and Decher's who were claimed to be father and three brothers who immigrated to America? One of the passengers in the index had the first name Johannes and another had the first name Jacob. Maybe the fictitious hybrid name of Johannes Jacob was extrapolated from the two names of the ship passengers. This appears to be an attempt to substantiate the Johannes Jacob name. But authentic genealogical research cannot be supported by such libertine suppositions or concoctions.

Since valid documentation is lacking to support either the claim that the father of the three immigrant Deckard brothers immigrated to America or the claim that his name, as well as that of his son, was Johannes Jacob, I will refrain from further reference to those claims by family researchers. Henceforth I will refer to the son, the brother of Peter and Michael, as Jacob Deckard or Jacob Deckard, Senior. The name and identity of the father of the three immigrant brothers remains a complete mystery.

We have established that there is no valid documentation for the name Johannes Jacob, but could it have been Johann Jacob or John Jacob? It's possible, but no record has been uncovered showing that combination as Jacob's name. The documents we have found, even legal documents, bearing the name of Jacob show his name only as Jacob along with his last name, with one exception. Six of Jacob Deckard's children were baptized at Zion Lutheran Church at Cripple Creek, Wythe County, Virginia. Five of the baptismal records list the parents as Jacob and Elizabeth, but one, John Deckard's baptismal record, shows the parents as John and Elizabeth. Was this an error made at a later date in transcribing the church records from the original German to English? Was it a mistake by the minister, John Stanger, giving the baptized son's name as that of the father, or was Jacob's name John Jacob? That is the only known record where John was used in place of Jacob for Jacob Deckard's name.

Some researchers claim that if a German family had more than one son, all of the sons were given the first name of John and all but one would be given their own middle names. Then only the middle names were used in everyday life to identify each son, except for the son having only the first name of John without a middle name. But even a rudimentary review of the facts reveals that this practice was only a tendency rather than a set formula. So we do not know if Jacob was our ancestor's first name or his middle name. But the known paper trail seems to lean toward Jacob as his first name. Jacob later named one of his son's Jacob prompting careful researchers today to refer to them as Jacob and Jacob, Jr. When more clarification is needed, we refer to them as Jacob Deckard, SR. and Jacob Deckard, Jr.

According to a family researcher, Jacob Deckard was a member of a secret organization that used secret codes and symbols as spies during the Revolution. Jacob and Pompey, according to the claim, worked as a spy team at the Battle of Stony Point, New York, where Pompey was given his freedom and a horse after the battle. Shortly after gaining his freedom, Pompey was captured by Indians and subsequently sold to a Frenchman in Montreal. Canada. According to the claim, Jacob went to Montreal, Canada after the war to give someone power-of- attorney to negotiate Pompey's return. The researcher claims that Jacob wrote a letter to be forwarded to a British officer in Montreal saying he wanted Pompey back because he had bought and paid for him. Strange words from a man who supposedly gave Pompey his freedom after the Battle of Stony Point! I have a copy of the letter which was signed Yohannes Decker.

Since Jacob, Sr., his wife Elizabeth, and Jacob, Jr. couldn't read or write, they relied upon others to write their correspondence and sign their names. Then they drew their X's and made the usual signs used as seals in their day. The letter to the British officer signed Yohannes Decker didn't have an X or a seal, indicating that the writer was able to write the letter himself. And Jacob's name was neither Yohannes (or Johannes) nor Decker. A family researcher claims that Jacob, Jr.'s second wife, Jemima Etter, taught him to read and write. But the 1850 U. S. Census for Monroe County, Indiana reported that Jacob Deckard, Jr., his wife Jemima, and their daughter Elizabeth could not read or write. And Indiana land deeds show that Jacob, Jr. had to sign his name with an X long after his marriage to Jemima. Jacob, Sr. and Jacob, Jr.; like father, like son, neither was literate.

The documentation backing the Pompey claim was said to be in a rare book by Morton Pennypacker titled, GENERAL WASHINGTON'S SPIES ON LONG ISLAND AND NEW YORK. I found the rare book at the famous David Revolutionary War Library at Washington's Crossing, Pennsylvania. The 1939 book reveals that the Pompey involved in the July 16, 1779 Battle of Stony Point with General Anthony Wayne, and who was subsequently captured by Indians, was owned by Captain (later Major) John Lamb, one of Washington's spies. There is no mention of Jacob Deckard or even a hint that he was involved in this campaign. In fact, at this time, Jacob Deckard probably was in the Northwest Territory.
A family researcher claims that the Mr. Goodbread mentioned in Morton Pennypacker's book was really Jacob Deckard. The reasoning behind this claim, according to the researcher, is that two things point to the secret identity of Mr. Goodbread as Jacob Deckard. First, a Yohannes Decker had a slave named Pompey (a common slave name at the time). And secondly, the family researcher claims that a Jacob Decker II owned land 43 years later in Lawrence County, Indiana close to an African American cemetery. When you consider this line of reasoning, you readily see its pitfalls. The claim that it was Jacob Decker II who owned land in Lawrence County, Indiana is an attempt to unite Yohannes Decker, Jacob Decker II, and Mr. Goodbread as one person. I have already addressed the Yohannes Decker issue. And the Lawrence County Court House records of land deeds reveal that it was Jacob Deckard who bought land there, not Jacob Decker II.

This contrivance of the facts in an attempt to make the Decker name fit a pre-conceived notion is not sound reasoning and doesn't work. Furthermore, Pompey was the slave of John Lamb not Mr. Goodbread. So, to claim that Pompey was the slave of Jacob Deckard would mean that the family researcher would have to contend that Jacob Deckard assumed the identity of John Lamb, the true owner of the slave Pompey. But that is not the claim. Instead, the researcher contends that Jacob Deckard assumed the name Mr.Goodbread, who didn't own a slave named Pompey. So the contention that Jacob Deckard owned Pompey and posed as Mr. Goodbread requires a good stretch of the imagination. In fact, it was impossible.

It is claimed by a family researcher that Jacob was a 32nd degree Freemason and used secret Masonic signs and symbols in covert communication. But we have been unable to document that Jacob was even a Mason at all. Much has been made of the claim that Jacob's original grave marker was in the shape of the letter "I" lying sideways in a horizontal position upon the ground. The source of this claim said that this "I" symbol was also attached to the barn of Jacob, Sr.'s son Jacob, Jr. near the supposed tomb of Jacob, Sr. The source further claimed that the "I" shape was used as a religious symbol having an ancient secret meaning. I have researched articles on symbols and occult signs and have made inquiries of Freemasons, gravestone cutters and engravers, all of which availed nothing. Even the ancient Nordic and Germanic Runic alphabet didn't fit the claim, because Runic letters purposely avoid horizontal structures in letters by using slanted lines.

Some sources claim that Jacob Deckard may have been a member of the Sons of Liberty, because at least one of his descendants is on record as a member of the Red Man Society, which was the sequel to the Sons of Liberty after the Revolutionary War. There is even a claim by a family researcher that Jacob's secret communicative skills were acquired from more ancient sources than the Masons or the Sons of Liberty. The researcher said that the secrets may have been passed down from the son of Dekar (Ben Dekar in Hebrew), touted as a possible ancestor, who was one of King Soloman's Jewish administrators. This claim has caused a rumor that the Deckard's have a trace of Jewish ancestry. But there is not the slightest evidence to substantiate this tale.

A family researcher also claims that Jacob Deckard participated covertly in a skirmish between Colonel Augustin Mottin de la Balme and Chief Little Turtle near Fort Wayne. The claim is that Jacob used the identity of Dr. Andrew Rey (also spelled Ray) on the expedition to Fort Wayne with Colonel de la Balme and was spared death by the Indians when he gave secret Masonic signs to British fur traders at the trading post. Handed over to the British as a POW, this supposedly Dr. Rey imposter wrote two letters in French to the British command complaining that he had to pay for his own upkeep in captivity. I wonder why this English-speaking captive wrote the letters in French to English-speaking British officers? The letters were signed Dr. Rey, Aide de Camp to Colonel de la Balme. As pointed out before, Jacob could not write, and the handwriting in these letters was far different from that in the letter to the British officer in Montreal regarding the slave Pompey. The documentation for this bit of information was supposed to be in very hard to find manuscripts by Dr. Lyman C. Draper held at the library of the University of Wisconsin. I located copies of the manuscripts, which made no mention of Jacob Deckard under his own name or as an imposter of Dr. Rey.

While in Kaskaskia, Dr. Andrew Rey had volunteered his services as field surgeon for George Rogers Clark's troops. When he didn't arrive in Vincennes at the time expected, it was reported that he had volunteered but didn't report for duty. It appears that the family researcher took this to mean that he didn't show up at all. But according to Dr. Lyman C. Draper's manuscripts # 50 J 68, on October 14, 1780, Major McCarty sent a message to George Roger Clark regarding Colonel de la Balme's planned expedition. Major McCarty reported in the message that he saw the group making their preparations and that, "Our Little Doctor Ray" was with them. Major McCarty went on to say that Captain Plassy ordered Dr. Rey to take a group of men to rescue Sergeant Meryweathers from the guard who held him under arrest as a deserter. Then Dr. Rey and these men left with Colonel de la Balme to attack Chief Big Knife's Indian warriors and the British at Fort Wayne. So, according to Major McCarty, who was present at Vincennes, Dr. Rey himself went on the ill-fated mission.

A different claim of Jacob's military adventures showed up in another writing. Here the family researcher claimed that Jacob Deckard was promoted to captain in the service of New Jersey by General Anthony Wayne and given command of Fort Industry at Toledo, Ohio. It was further claimed that Jacob held this position several years until he retired in 1812 at the age of 55. But Jacob's first child was born in Wytheville, Virginia in 1781, and he was involved in a civil court case in Jeffersonville, Indiana in October 1801. The court records gave his residence as Knox County, Indiana. Evidently, the case had gone to court at an earlier time as the legality of the judgment rendered was questioned by George Washington, who ordered a writ of error. So there is a possibility that Jacob lived in Knox County on the earlier court date but resided elsewhere by the second court date. Still, the record of the second court date in 1801 just says Jacob Deckard of Knox County, Indiana. So did he reside in Toledo, Ohio or around Vincennes, Knox County, Indiana at that time?

When I reviewed the records of Fort Industry, I did not see Jacob Deckard's name listed among the soldiers stationed there. If he had been in the service of New Jersey at Fort Industry in Toledo, Ohio those years, he couldn't have been in the service of Virginia at the same time posing as Dr. Rey in Colonel de La Balme's November 1780 campaign. And he couldn't have written letters under the name of Dr. Rey as a POW in 1781. The commanding officers of Fort Industry held the rank of colonel. For a short period of a few weeks, between commanding officers, a Captain Rhea was in charge. Did the family researcher feel there was a connection between Dr. Andrew Rey and Captain Rhea?

So, what was Jacob Deckard's role in the military during the Revolutionary War? I obtained records from the National Archives in Washington, DC that lists Jacob Deckard as a private in Clark's Illinois Regiment of Virginia Militia. He mustered out of the Virginia Militia as a private in December 1781 and not as a New Jersey captain in 1812 as claimed.

Since George Rogers Clark's Illinois Regiment was involved in campaigns in the Northwest Territory, especially around Vincennes, Indiana, I went to Vincennes to research records. I met with three National Park Rangers at the George Rogers Clark Memorial, located at the site of old Fort Sackville. In checking their records, I learned that Jacob Deckard is sometimes mistaken for Jacob Decker who was in Captain Abraham Keller's Company and died on October 7, 1780 in the Northwest Territory. I also interviewed one of that Jacob Decker's descendants, who confirmed the account. But a family researcher still claimed that Jacob Decker was our Jacob Deckard and that the report of his death was faked as a cover-up so our Jacob Deckard could go undercover posing as Dr. Rey and Colonel de La Balme's Aid-de camp. However, the military records in the National Archives document that both Jacob Decker and Jacob Deckard served in Clark's Illinois Regiment of Virginia Militia.

It appears that Jacob Deckard was a construction worker in the Northwest Territory and helped build Fort Jefferson in April 1780 at the juncture of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. For this endeavor, he was paid with a warrant for land in Virginia. Jacob remained at the fort the entire14 months of its existence. The fort was abandoned when it was no longer needed to guard that area of the Northwest Territory from attack. After that, around mid 1781, Jacob helped build boats on the Ohio River near present day Jeffersonville, Indiana. The boats were to be used in an attack on Detroit, but the plan was later aborted when the commander of Detroit, Governor Hamilton, was captured at Fort Sackville. The National Archives show that Jacob Deckard mustered out of the militia in December 1781, but didn't receive payment for the building of the boats until July 1784. The archives of George Rogers Clark and the National Archives show that Jacob received 21 pounds, 9 shillings and 4 pence in payment from Richmond, Virginia. That amounted to about $51.52 in Jacob's day. That's the true no thrills documented story of Jacob Deckard, Sr.'s military service.

Now, let's address Dr. Percy Edward Deckard's claims about Jacob Deckard. First, he says that the surname of the Deckard brothers was Deckert and that they changed it to Deckard in America. It is true that some of the early records in America often recorded their name as Deckert. This may well be due to the fact that the "d" at the end of a German name is pronounced as a "t." During one trip to Metz, France, a retired Metz police officer named Jean Deckert said that the family name changed back and forth from Deckert to Deckard and back again as Metz changed hands back and forth between Germany and France. To show the family's loyalty, the Germans required the –ert ending on the name, and the French required the –ard ending. That is no longer a requirement today. Jean Deckert said he thought that his ancestors came from an area of Germany that is part of Poland today. The Deckard name is believed by some genealogists to have first been recorded in the German-speaking Prussian Republic. Today, part of the former Prussian Republic is in Poland.

At the city archives in Metz, I searched through records such as the census, tax lists, and land transfers under the names Deckert, Deckard, and similar names. I searched for records of the three Deckert/Deckard brothers, Peter. Jacob, and Michael, under German, French, and Latin spellings. For example, the name Jacob in Latin is Jacobus. Latin spellings of first names was popular among Catholics. But a thorough search of the records with the help of French record clerks revealed nothing. They said that many records such as births, baptisms, marriages, and deaths were kept in churches in and around Metz. But two world wars obliterated most of those records. Dr. Percy Deckard's book says that the three brothers lived near Metz rather than in Metz. Churches outside of Metz stood a greater chance of destruction during the heavy fighting that occurred around Metz during the two world wars. But there is another problem. During the lifetime of the three Deckard brothers in France, Protestants were prohibited by French law from keeping records of births, baptisms, marriages, and deaths. This also would decrease the chances of finding any records on the Deckards, who were of the German Reformed faith.

The most controversial claim in Dr. Percy Deckard's book regarding Jacob Deckard begins in Part IV on page 528. It says, and I quote, "Jacob Deckard married Mary Vance of Virginia about 1780 in Botetourt County, Virginia. She BELONGED TO the VANCE FAMILY of Washington County (at the time of her marriage was Botetourt County), Virginia, INCLUDING Samuel Vance, Colonel in the Revolutionary Army, who married Margaret Laughland on 1-8-1778." The italics are mine for emphasis. Notice that Dr. Deckard didn't say Mary Vance was the daughter of Samuel Vance, but just indicated some kind of kinship between the two contemporaries.

Dr. Percy Deckard was a Medical Doctor living in Pennsylvania when his book was published in 1932. The scope and methods of his research were limited in comparison to research capabilities today. He indicated that he secured the application of DAR member # 195379 which contained the Mary Vance and Colonel Vance information he included in his book on page 528. But on page 529, Dr. Deckard relates his puzzlement as to why three land deeds on file with the Recorder of Deeds Office in Wythe County, Virginia recorded the name of Jacob Deckard's wife as Elizabeth. He says that the deeds show, and I quote, "Jacob Deckard and his wife Elizabeth (possibly Mary Elizabeth or he was married twice and his first wife, Mary, was then dead) … sold a tract of 85 acres of land …" End of quote and beginning of controversy.

This agrees with my on-site findings. The land deeds in both Wythe County, Virginia and Lawrence County, Indiana give the name of Jacob Deckard's wife as Elizabeth. The only baptismal records of their children found are those of Zion Lutheran Church on Cripple Creek in Wythe County, Virginia. Six of their children were baptized beginning with John Deckard in 1793, and all of the records give the mother's name as Elizabeth. No certifiable record has been produced to date to verify that Jacob Deckard married Mary Vance. But that undocumented claim, along with the claim that Mary Vance was the daughter of Samuel Vance, continues to be passed along by armchair researchers. I wonder how they explain the dates given in Dr. Deckard's book? Samuel Vance married Margaret Laughland in 1778 and just two years later Mary Vance supposedly married Jacob Deckard.

Two DAR memberships of record, and maybe the only ones to date, claimed Jacob Deckard as the patriot. The application of the first DAR member, # 195379 approved in 1929, said that Private Jacob Deckard married Mary Vance, who was the daughter of Colonel Samuel Vance and Margaret Laughland. The application of the second DAR member, #523625 approved in 1967, said that Private Jacob Deckard served in Clark's Illinois Regiment of Virginia Militia and married Mary Elizabeth Vance.

These two DAR applications inadvertently give testimony to the evolution of research misconceptions regarding Jacob Deckard. The first application said that Jacob married Mary Vance. That information then went into Dr. Percy Deckard's book. But Dr. Deckard questioned why courthouse records gave the name of Jacob's wife as Elizabeth and therefore offered possibilities as to why that might be. Family researchers of succeeding generations have been unable to find records to explain why both Mary and Elizabeth have been mentioned as possible wives for Jacob. So many of the researchers chose the alternative possibility offered by Dr. Deckard and said Jacob's wife was Mary Elizabeth and considered the problem solved! But the name Mary Elizabeth can't be certified at this time and remains unfounded until valid documents of proof are presented to substantiate the claim.

Could the information in the first DAR application be wrong? Jacob Deckard was the great grandfather of that DAR member, who may have gotten her information from her elders. But would they know? According to Dr. Deckard's book, one of the DAR member's elders, her great uncle Michael Deckard, Jr., Jacob Deckard's grandson, gave information regarding his grandfather Johann Daniel Hilgenberg that has been proven entirely and certifiably wrong beyond any doubt by esteemed genealogists. Another of the DAR member's elders, her first cousin once removed, gave information regarding his grandfather Johann Daniel Hilgenberg that was completely different from that of Michael Deckard, Jr., but also has been proven entirely and certifiable wrong beyond any doubt.

Washington County, Virginia was formed from part of Botetourt County, Virginia in 1776, leaving a smaller Botetourt County. I have done extensive on-site research in both counties, and the 1780 county marriage records are still on file. But I found nothing in the marriage records, church banns, or marriage bonds regarding the marriage of Jacob Deckard. Records were available, but Jacob's name was not in them. This poses the question as to how, and if, the DAR information was properly documented with valid records.

Samuel and Margaret Vance lived in Abingdon, Washington County, Virginia, where their lives are well documented in authentic records. According to those records, Samuel Vance and Margaret Laughlin did not have a daughter named Mary or Mary Elizabeth. But they did have a daughter named Elizabeth who was born about 1798. eighteen years after the the 1780 date that Jacob is said to have married. This Elizabeth Vance married Abraham Bradley and died before 1820.

Some researchers claim that before he married Margaret Laughlin, Samuel Vance first married Agnes Penquite and had daughters named Elizabeth and Mary. But these daughters would have been only seven and ten years of age in 1780, when Jacob is said to have married. And too, the dates and location of this Samuel Vance raises questions as to this being the same Samuel Vance who married Margaret Laughlin in 1778 in Washington County, Virginia.

I have researched all the Mary Vance's of record I could find, but have located no Mary Vance that fits into the timeframe and locality and no Mary Vance whose spouse is unaccounted for. But I agree with Dr. Percy Deckard on one point. The records both he and I observed show the name of Jacob Deckard's wife as Elizabeth. Virginia and Indiana land deeds, as well as Virginia baptismal records, all give her name as Elizabeth. However, Elizabeth who remains a mystery.

Samuel and Margaret Vance were prominent citizens in Abingdon, Virginia, and that is why their lives are well documented. The couple are buried with well-marked tombstones at Sinking Springs Cemetery in downtown Abingdon. According to local records, the tombstone engraver misspelled Margaret Laughlin's name as Laughlan. Then, the information in Dr. Percy Deckard's book, from DAR application # 195379, misspelled the already misspelled name as Laughland. And ever since, many armchair researchers have continued to pass the doubly misspelled name along as Laughland. But the errors do not stop there.

Dr. Percy Deckard's book, on page 528, says that Samuel Vance, who married Margaret Laughland (Laughlin), was a colonel in the "Revolutionary Army". But the documents on record in Abingdon, Virginia make it clear that the Samuel Vance who married Margaret Laughlin was a civil servant in some sort of judiciary capacity and registered in the local Virginia Militia for call to duty as needed, which occurred three times. He served as a supply sergeant during a stint in Lord Dunmore's War against the Shawnee Indians, at the Battle of Point Pleasant, and at the Battle of King's Mountain. However, his pension was drawn as a wartime civil servant rather than as a sergeant.

The Samuel Vance in the Virginia Militia who made colonel lived in Augusta County, Virginia and was married to Sarah Bird (Byrd). He was made a colonel in the Virginia Militia by court action in Augusta County immediately before the British surrender at Yorktown. He was given command of troops and sent to Yorktown at the surrender to usher British captives to the arranged quarters. For further reference that Colonel Samuel Vance is not an ancestor in the lineage of Jacob Deckard see SAR membership # S1882.

Taking Dr. Percy Edward Deckard's book as gospel and failure to thoroughly research the added claims of family researchers has allowed unfounded information to creep into Deckard genealogy. And with the handy availability of the internet, the misinformation is beginning to abound far and wide. I would hope to leave as clear a record as possible of my lineage from Jacob Deckard, Senior. But it increasingly appears that half-truths, exaggerations, fantasies, and fictitious stories are spreading faster than substantially documented facts. My vexation does not end with me. I am also concerned for you and your descendants. How sad that future generations will be left with glorified fiction!

Ron E. Deckard

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Indiana Patriot Graves - Indiana State SAR

Family links:
Children:
Sally Deckard Arney (1807 - 1851)*

*Calculated relationship
Burial:
Deckard Tomb
Smithville
Monroe County
Indiana, USA
Created by: WDK
Record added: Feb 06, 2011
Find A Grave Memorial# 65270621

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