Stephen Decatur Bross

Stephen A. Decatur
Born
Stephen Decatur Bross

November 27, 1815
DiedJune 5, 1888
NationalityAmerican
Known forpioneer settler in Nebraska and Colorado

Stephen A. Decatur (born 1813,[1] died 1888[2][3] or 1889[1]), born Stephen Decatur Bross and often referred to as Commodore Decatur,[2] was one of the earliest settlers in Nebraska. He was born and educated in the East, where he became a school teacher and started a family.

After having abandoned his wife and two children in New York in the 1840s, Bross moved west to Nebraska Territory. For the rest of his life, he used the name "Stephen Decatur." He was the namesake and one of the incorporators of Decatur, Nebraska, the second-oldest European-American settlement in Nebraska.[4] He gained his nickname of "Commodore Decatur" by claiming to be a nephew of the Naval hero of the War of 1812.

Decatur married again in Nebraska. In 1859 he abandoned his second wife and their child when he moved to Colorado Territory, where he lived in various towns for the remainder of his life. He served a term in the territorial legislature from 1866 to 1868, after the American Civil War.

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference letter was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Morton, Julius Sterling; Watkins, Albert; Miller, George L. (1911). Illustrated History of Nebraska. Vol. 1 (3rd ed.). Lincoln, Nebraska: Western Publishing and Engraving Company. p. 184.
  3. ^ "Stephen "Commodore" Decatur". Find a Grave. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
  4. ^ "Decatur, Nebraska". Decatur webpage. Retrieved 31 July 2013.