Excerpt from The Heritage of Blue Earth County by Julie Schrader, Topic 77, available in the Research & Genealogy Center.

“Decoria Township is bordered by the Big Cobb and LeSueur Rivers. It lies north of Beauford Township and was the last settled township in the county, not being open to white settlement until 1864, a year after the Winnebago Indians were removed. It was given the name Decoria Township by the county commissioners on April 6, 1858.

“The name Decoria has an interesting history. Sebrevior DeCarrie, a Frenchman, married a Winnebago princess in 1729. Their son Chonkeha DeKaury was a well-known chief of the Winnebagos in the early 1800s and was principally responsible for a treaty signed in 1816 in St. Louis, Missouri. Chonkeha had five daughters and six sons, the most noted being his eldest son Konoka DeKaury, who signed the Treaty of Prairie Du Chien in 1825 on behalf of the Winnebago. Another of his family was Wachon DeKaury, who was known as “One-Eyed Decorah” by the white, having only one eye. He was a prominent chief when the Winnebagos were removed to the reservation in this area and it was his name that gave the name to Decoria Township.

“The first white settler was Joshua Ady, who purchased land in Sections 2 and 3 and moved his family into a log house on January 1, 1865. Soon after followed Frank Kennedy, John S. Larkin, Jacob Muntschinck, Samuel D. Brown, William Autry, John Rhodes, S. Quimby Larkin, Asa McCullom, Abraham Marbes and George Todd. Other early settlers were A.H. Matteson, D.W. Burlison, Henry Wilcox, Charles Rundquist, Calvin Smith, W.A. Sellers, John Roerig, S.J. Mace, George McKee, William Waddell, B. H. Gerlich, Henry Weber and John Malony.”