Virtual Gift Exchange -- Jeremiah and Agnes Hildebrand Decker, of Pennsylvania, Iowa and California. Thanks for the opportunity to provide this information on Jeremiah Decker and wife, Agnes Hildebrand. I recently obtained a selected Civil War service record and pension file for Jeremiah Decker, born in 1841 in Snyder County, PA, while doing research on my Decker family from Adams County, PA. Regretfully Jeremiah and Agnes are not in my direct line, so perhaps the following summary will be a holiday gift to one of their descendants. Jeremiah Decker enlisted as a private at the age of 22 years on the 24th of February 1864 at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He originally enlisted for a term of three years with the 44th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, Company C, but was assigned to Company D, First Pa. Reserve Cavalry. His physical description was: light complexion, blue eyes, auburn hair, 5 feet 11 inches. His occupation was laborer. Jeremiah was born in Snyder Co., Pa. He was to receive a bounty payment of $300.00. An initial hospital record, dated June 4, 1864, from Mt. Pleasant G. H. in Washington, D. C., indicated that Jeremiah was married and wife, Agnes H., resided in Milroy, [Mifflin Co.] Pa. (Note: two affidavits in the widow's pension file from attendants/relatives stated their marriage date was 6 October 1862 in Pa.) This same record revealed that Jeremiah was wounded by a "minnie ball" at "Salem or Old Church" in Virginia on May 28, 1864, sustaining a wound in the right scapular region. Jeremiah stated in his initial pension affidavit: "I was struck by a minnie ball, in the back between the spinal column and the right shoulder blade and about six inches below the neck and passed through the body emerging directly under the right arm." Jeremiah was confined in the U.S.A. General Hospital at Beverly, N.J. beginning June 1864, first as a patient and then in August as a convalescent guard. On September 9, 1864, Jeremiah was transferred to the First Pennsylvania Cavalry Battalion to serve out his enlistment. Muster rolls through January 1865 recorded him as absent, sick in U. S. General Hospital. A later muster roll for March and April 1865 indicated he was at "Dismtd Camp City, Pa." He appeared on the muster-out roll for Company H, 2nd Provisional Pa. Cavalry Regiment of August 7, 1865, Louisville, KY. After the war, Jeremiah and wife, Agnes, relocated to Iowa. Jeremiah applied for an invalid pension on 7 August 1869 stating his residence as Pleasant Valley, Johnson County, Iowa; occupation -- farming. Periodically, from 1869 until his death on 10 January 1892, Jeremiah applied for increases to the pension stipend (certificate no. 111388). Agnes Hildebrand Decker, born 7 March 1844 in Huntington Co., Pa. [probably a daughter of David and Martha Hildebrand -- see 1850 census McVeytown, Mifflin Co., PA]. She was still receiving a widow's pension in October 1926 (Certificate no. 368094). That was when Agnes Decker received an increase from $30 to 50.00 per month. Her last known residence was 411 Crane Ave, Turlock, [Stanislaus Co.] California. Census records indicate that Jeremiah and Agnes had just one son, John, born about 1863 in Pennsylvania. John; his wife Sarah; and their children, Walter, Raymond, Ethel, Bernice, Sheldon; along with mother Agnes can be found in the 1910 census of Pleasant Valley Twp., Johnson County, Iowa, ED 86, pg. 114b. The family moved from Iowa to Turlock, Stanislaus Co., California by 1916 (widow's affidavit, dated 24 September 1916). See 1930 census, ED 44, page 15 (2a), Turlock, Stanislaus Co., California for John and family with Agnes, age 86. This and the 1920 census show another son, Maynard, was born to John and Sarah about 1912. Possible relatives of Agnes, who signed affidavits in Iowa related to her widow's pension included: Martha P. Hildebrand, age 79 on 2 August 1892 [mother?], Elizabeth Hildebrand Barber, sister, age 40, on 3 October 1892; Thomas B. Hildebrand, [brother?], age 50, on 20 August 1894. If this is your Decker line and you would like a copy of this selected service and pension record (about 30 pages), please e-mail me directly. Happy Holidays! Judy Baker