# Charles M. Decker



## Wheelah23 (Jan 20, 2012)

I ain't posted too many of my local additions in a long time... And I ain't got the time to anyway! Figured I'd post these though, I'm very happy to have gotten them. They're the first local stoneware and the first local whiskey I've added, and they're from the same company to boot!

 Charles M. Decker ran a very large grocery chain here in the Oranges, obviously in direct competition with S. Scheuer & Co. There's a lot of contemporary information about him, so I'll just post one extensive biography from 1921.

 "DECKER, Charles Martin, 

 Man of Affairs. 

 Standing throughout his life for the best in business relationships in home, civic and community life, Charles Martin Decker was a man whose life was at once an example and an inspiration. A successful business man, he had become head of a great commercial enterprise by foreseeing the changing trend of retail merchandising and by possession of an ability to reorganize, plan and meet these changes with progressive, modern methods and make the changes a benefit to him and those who looked to him for service. He never lowered his standards of business integrity, but raised them higher if possible, and won the confidence and respect of all with whom he had dealings. To his work Mr. Decker gave the best that was in him. After half a century of constructive, successful labor, he was still giving to the great enterprise which bore his name his thorough attention and careful thought. He never shirked a duty and rounded out to the full a life of service. His was a genial, generous nature, happiest amid his beautiful home surroundings, but his keen mind and dominating personality were exerted in behalf of civic and community life, and his interest was keen in the political life of the borough. Madison, New Jersey, was his well-beloved home, and it had no more devoted supporter.

 Charles Martin Decker was born in Wellsburg, Chemung county, New York, November 1, 1850, a son of Harrison and Harriet (Tubbs) Decker, of Chemung county, New York, his father a merchant and farmer. He spent the first fourteen years of his life in his native place. He died in Madison, Morris county, New Jersey, August 28, 1920, having been a resident of Madison for twenty-eight years preceding his passing. At the age of fourteen he left home and became a grocer's clerk in New York City, later moving to East Orange, New Jersey. He showed great business adaptability and rose rapidly to the rank of merchant, forming a partnership with Abraham Johnson when barely of legal age. They bought out the store of their employer, at Main and Washington streets, East Orange, in 1871, and operated it for three years. In 1874 Mr. Decker bought his partner's interest, and after becoming sole owner moved to the Washington place corner. That store, established in 1871, was the first of a chain of grocery stores which dot Essex, Union and Morris counties, owned and operated by the Chain Grocery System, Charles M. Decker, president, until his passing away. For nearly half a century, 1871-1920, he catered to the public tastes, and each year saw him in a stronger, more impregnable position in the good will and confidence of the people he served.

 Mr. Decker was the sole head of his business until 1882, when he admitted his brother, Caton L. Decker, to a partnership. In 1889 another brother, Guy Decker, was admitted and the chain store idea was first given expression. The first of the chain was a second store located in Orange in 1889, a business which so prospered that in 1892 it was housed in a new building, which remains, a quarter of a century later, one of the handsomest business blocks of Orange. Continued and growing success resulted in the incorporation of Charles M. Decker & Brothers, grocers, and subsequent expansion resulted in many stores in different parts of the three counties above named, some of them, in suburban towns, located in special buildings erected by the corporation. Cooperation was a keynote to the success of Mr. Decker's enterprise, the men who worked with him knowing him not as their employer only, but as their friend and adviser. It is a striking fact that there were men in his employ who had been with him for forty years, others for thirty years, and many for a long but a shorter term than thirty years.

 In 1893, Mr. Decker became president of the Orange National Bank and began his career of distinction as a banker. He was president of that bank ten years, 1893-1903; vice-president of the same bank from 1903 until his passing in 1920; a director of the Savings Investment and Trust Company of East Orange, and of the Trust Company of Orange. An ardent Republican, and keenly alive to his responsibilities as a citizen, he never sought nor accepted public office, but as a private citizen worked for party success, and wielded an influence for good in the party. He had no fraternal nor society relations, and but one club, the Essex County Country, of Orange. He was a Presbyterian in religious faith.

 Charles M. Decker married, in East Orange, New Jersey, in 1871, Harriet Louise Jones, born in East Orange, in 1848, died in Madison, New Jersey, in 1913, daughter of Alfred and Margaret E. Jones. East Orange was the family home until 1892, when Madison was chosen as the home town, and there theDecker home on Madison avenue became a center of hospitality and social life. Charles M. and Harriet Louise (Jones) Decker were the parents of nine children, as follows: Mrs. Margaret (Decker) Baker, of Madison, New Jersey; Harrison Decker, of Stamford, Connecticut; Mrs. Harriet (Decker) Sears, of Madison, New Jersey; Arthur M. Decker, of Madison, New Jersey; Mrs. May (Decker) Keeler, of Yonkers, New York; Richard F. Decker, of Summit, New Jersey; Katherine, wife of James H. McGraw, Jr., died December 25, 1918; Charles M. Decker, Jr., deceased; and Lawrence Decker, deceased.

 On the day of Mr. Decker's funeral all the stores of the Decker chain were closed in respect to his memory. The Orange National Bank and the Trust Company of Orange, and all merchants of the Oranges, for a period of five minutes stopped all business activities as a mark of respect to their most successful and respected merchant."

 Whew! Did ya read all that? Doubt it. Anyway, the guy ran a very successful, long lived business, so I am sure I'll find many more items in the future from his company.


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## Wheelah23 (Jan 20, 2012)

I like dem jugs.


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## Wheelah23 (Jan 20, 2012)

Nice handle and shiny glaze.


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## Wheelah23 (Jan 20, 2012)

Just as nice, a likely 1890's amber whiskey "fifth". First I've seen, that form was not very popular around here. It has a cool eagle logo and "C. M. D. Co. & BROS" monogram.


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## Wheelah23 (Jan 20, 2012)

Crude lookin' neck.


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## Wheelah23 (Jan 20, 2012)

I hope this ain't a bruise... Not sure if it's damage or not. Paid around $50 for it anyway...


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## epackage (Jan 20, 2012)

Looking good dude...


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