The Person
Charles Frederick Deiker was born April 4, 1832, in Langenalb, a village in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. In 1846, when he was 14 years old, he began serving an apprenticeship one hundred miles away from his home in a pottery factory in Strausburg. After serving for three years, Deiker, who was facing conscription into the German Army, left Germany forever and sailed for America.
After eight weeks sailing, Deiker, and his sister Magdalena, finally glimpsed the New York Harbor. The Deikers first stepped on American soil at Baltimore, Maryland. According to The Baltimore Sun, immigrants were screened for trachoma and given an imbecile test. While not as well-known as Ellis Island, 1.2 million immigrants came through Baltimore, with Germans being the largest ethnic group. At one point, one quarter of Baltimoreans spoke German as a native language. This port-of-entry was so busy, that the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad built an immigration pier and extended the railroad to the pier. It is unclear when the spelling of Decker’s name changed from the German, Deiker.
Decker first settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he worked for Richard C. Remmey’s stoneware manufacturing company. Remmey was a descendant of John Remmey who came to New York from Germany and started a stoneware factory around 1735. Three generations later, Henry Remmey opened a factory in Philadelphia in 1820. It was reported in Popular Science Monthly as the largest stone-works in the United States. Here are manufactured fire-bricks...and porcelain ware of every description, some of the vessels having a capacity of two hundred to five hundred gallons...the factory produces a large line of household utensils...ten large kilns are taxed to the utmost.
Decker was also involved in the community. He was a volunteer for the local Fire Department, and was a member of the delegation to the funeral of Abraham Lincoln. Decker met, and then later married, Catherine (last name unknown) in 1855. They had their first child, Charles Frederick, Jr., in 1856.
Around 1866, during the time of Reconstruction, the Deckers made their way down the Great Wagon Road or the Philadelphia Wagon Road, through the Shenandoah Valley, also called the Great Valley Road, to Washington County, Virginia. Decker's reasoning for choosing Abingdon may have been that many German potters had already migrated to this area, as there was demand and plentiful materials such as clay and salt. The road could only accommodate wagons as far as Abingdon, and may have been Decker’s reason for choosing to settle at the Mallicote place, five miles north of Abingdon, on the Salt Works road. It was here that Decker met James H. Davis, another potter from the north, who was his neighbor, and would later relocate and work for him in Tennessee.
During Reconstruction, pottery was an essential commodity in communities trying to rebuild in the aftermath of destruction caused by the war. H. E. Comstock classified the years between 1870 and 1930, The Golden Age of Pottery. A 2005 investigation into the Mallicote-Decker kiln established the site as a unique example of a post Civil War regional pottery. The report states Decker's role as a potter in Washington County reflects one part of the historical evolution of the Great Valley Ceramic Tradition. For more information about the historical significance of the Mallicote-Decker Pottery see, the full report here: Mallicote-Decker Kiln.
According to Barbara H. Magid, quoted in the Chipstone Foundation report, Decker began producing drainage pipe, tobacco pipe, and preserve jars in order to remain "viable" against the industrialized pottery of producers, particularly the Mason jar. Decker produced pottery in Abingdon until Mallicote's death in 1873.
The excavated remains of Decker's Kiln in Abingdon may be viewed here: Ceramics in America 2005/The Stoneware Kiln of Charles F. Decker in Washington-County, Virginia.
In August 1886, after 26 years of marriage and two children, Decker’s second wife, Sophia died.
In 1887, Decker married his third wife, Susan Elizabeth Broyles.
Charles Decker and his sister, Magdalena "Lena" Decker traveled to America together from Germany in 1848 through Baltimore, Maryland. When Decker decided to move south, his sister stayed in Pennsylvania. Lena married George Hassert, a successful pioneer mine car manufacturer. The Hasserts first visited Decker in August, 1894, and were well-pleased and complimentary of Decker's situation. She died in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, October 25, 1914, only seven months after her brother Charles.