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Below is a family biography included in the book, Portrait and Biographical Record of Johnson and Pettis County Missouri published by Chapman Publishing Company in 1895.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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GEORGE C. DECKMANN, President of the Sedalia City Council, was honored with this responsible position in the spring of 1894, being elected to the same on the Republican ticket. He is a member of the Second Ward Committee, and in 1892 was elected from that ward to serve as Alderman, being the only Republican ever elected to that office from the Second Ward, and this in view of the fact that his nomination was unexpected and unsolicited by him. In 1894 he was re-elected and served as Chairman of the Streets and Alleys Committee. During his first term as Alderman he was Chairman of the Committee on Public Buildings, and was a member of several other committees.

The grandfather, Charles Deckmann, a native of Germany, emigrated with his family to Philadelphia, where for a time he followed the shoe-maker’s trade and later worked at the same near Paris, Ohio. Thence he removed to West Lake, Steuben County, Ind., where he died at the age of seventy-five years. Our subject’s father, Conrade, was born in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, and learned the moulder’s trade in Philadelphia. Removing to Canton, Ohio, he entered the employ of C. Altmann & Co., and afterward was employed at Crestline, Mansfield, and other places, but is now working at his trade at his former home. Canton. June 5, 1861, he enlisted in Company C, Twenty-second Ohio Veteran Reserve Corps, and served until honorably discharged, in June, 1864. His wife, Sarah Ann, was formerly a Miss Bowman, of Philadelphia, and her death occurred in 1858. She was a member of the Methodist Church, while the father was a member of the Catholic Church.

George C. Deckmann was born on the old Germantown Road in the Quaker City, October 14, 1853, and is the only one of his parents’ children now living. His boyhood was mainly passed in Canton, Ohio, where he attended school about a year and a-half. From his fifteenth year until reaching his majority he followed the moulder’s trade, which he learned of his father. In 1875 he came to Sedalia, and after graduating from the Western Telegraphic School was an operator for three months at Otterville, Mo. Then, entering the employ of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, he helped in its construction between this point and Otterville for nearly two and a-half years. Returning to Sedalia, he had charge of the United States Mail for the Missouri Pacific Road for six months, and his next position was as a clerk in the store of that road. For five years more he clerked in the grocery of Scally & Son, at the corner of Fifth and Engineer Streets, and was then with V. P. Hart in the same business on Third Street for a year. For one year he was bookkeeper for B. S. Rembaugh, and later we find him a clerk for Mr. Weyman, a coal and wood merchant. For seven years he worked for Mr. McEnroe, in whose employ he is at the present time. He is also interested in the Sedalia Horse Collar Factory, which he helped to organize.

The pleasant residence of Mr. Deckmann, which is located at the corner of Hill and Boonville Streets, is presided over by his accomplished wife, formerly Miss Caroline Gast. They were married in this city December 3, 1876. Mrs. Deckmann was born in Neaderotterbach, Bargzabern, Bayern, Germany, and remained in that country until twenty-four years old, when she moved to Canton, Ohio, and in 1876 came West. Her parents were John and Barbara (Schuler) Gast. The former, who was a son of Cornelius Gast, was a farmer in Germany and died in that country. Mrs. Barbara Gast was a daughter of Mathias Schuler, a German merchant. Mr. and Mrs. Deckmann are regular attendants at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church of this city. They have no children.

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This family biography is one of the numerous biographies included in the Pettis County, Missouri portion of the book,  Portrait and Biographical Record of Johnson and Pettis County Missouri published in 1895 by Chapman Publishing Co.  For the complete description, click here: Pettis County, Missouri History, Genealogy, and Maps

View additional Pettis County, Missouri family biographies here: Pettis County, Missouri Biographies

View a map of 1904 Pettis County, Missouri here: Pettis County, Missouri Map

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