Decker

Decker

(Severin)

Biographies Alf. L. Scott and T. J. Westerberg

This community is located about eight miles east of Austin on a rolling plain cut through by the little and big Decker creeks, from which the community has gotten its name. The actual name of the prairie was McElroy League.

The first settlers in the area were Swedes, who moved there in the 1870’s at the same time as New Sweden was founded. Cultivation was perhaps more difficult here than in other areas, partly because the forest had been cut down and the land was filled with tree-stumps and shrubs. Nothing could deter these people from Småland, however; the howl of the wolf, the cry of the owl, the rattle of the rattlesnake, tree-stumps and rocks, it was all the same to them, they all had to be cleared. A stranger who comes to this area today and sees the well-tended farms and attractive homes can hardly guess at the toil of the first settlers. You can now travel on wide graveled roads in six-cylinder automobiles at a speeds of forty miles per hour, where fifty years ago an ox-cart was the mode of transportation, and the roads were ‘cow-trails’.

Among the first Swedes to buy land here in the 70’s were Oscar Monson, who built the first settler home, Gustaf Lundell, F. G. Swenson, John Lundell, Claus Lundell, J. A. Skylt, J. Alexius Johnson, August Ekdahl, Olaus Nelson and Ljungren. In the 80’s, the settlement went faster, and the community grew in all directions.

Because of the proximity to the capital, the inhabitants of Decker have become involved before others in political battles in Travis County. They have been prominent in the temperance movement, which in later years has played such an important role in the state. At the latest election, when Travis County became a ‘dry county’, every vote from Decker was on the side of prohibition. The first Swedish cotton-gin in Decker was built by Claus and John Lundell, an installation that still serves its purpose in the community.

Religious work is carried out by the Methodist Church and the Free Church, which both have their own building.

Extracted from: Swedes In Texas In Words and Pictures,

English Translation, 1838 - 1918