Ulster County

     I have the Davis and Devine families who I am researching in the southeast part of Ulster county, NY which is located on the west side of the Hudson River.  If I include my son's father's family then there are the Deckers as well.
     The Davises are my maternal grandmother, Eleanor's father's side of the family and the Devines are her mother's side.  MaMa's great-grandfather, William Davis was born in Milton, NY and his wife Emily Martin was born in nearby Lloyd which is about five miles away in a northwest direction.  I don't know where William and Emily met and married but they relocated south a short distance to Marlborough where they lived with their large family.
     MaMa's father, Samuel Davis married Josephine Duper.  Josie was born in Rosendale,NY which is about 24 miles from Marlborough, in a northwest direction.  Josie's cousin, Anna Devine was a teacher in a one room schoolhouse in Rifton which is about five miles east of Rosendale.  Anna is buried in St Peter's Cemetery in Rosendale.  Josie's mother, Teresa Devine, my great-great-grandmother, was born further north on the east side of the Hudson River in Stuyvesant Falls, NY which is located in Columbia county.  Her mother Emily moved down to Esopus in Ulster county, about 9 1/2 miles east of her granddaughter Josephine's birthplace of Rosendale.  The 1900 U.S. Federal Census shows Emily Devine living in Esopus with her son.  I'm sure that this is my Emily.  There is a plot for Emily, her husband Patrick and their son William in St Peter's Cemetery in Rosendale but according to the cemetery records, only William is buried there.  I don't know where Patrick and Emily are.  Josie and Teresa eventually moved down to Brooklyn, NY.  Maybe Emily moved there as well?  I'm sure that she isn't buried with Patrick because the 1900 census shows that she's divorced.  I guess I'll have to check the records for Brooklyn.
     The Deckers are a large family.  They had lived mostly in Plattekill, NY but some of them had relocated west to Marlborough and south to Newburgh in Orange county.  There are many Deckers buried in Friends Cemetery in Plattekill.

     There were Deckers who lived in Marlborough as well as the Davises.   hmmm...  were they neighbors?  were they friends?

     I checked my tree on Ancestry.com to see when both families (Davises and Deckers) lived in Marlborough.  I found that the Davises were living in Marlborough from 1850 (if not earlier) to early 1900's but the Deckers weren't there until approx 1930 (according to census records). I was a little disappointed that they weren't living in the same town at the same time.
     Why was I disappointed?  What did it matter where these families lived?  What's so special about these people?

     Well....

      and now comes the interesting part...

     While on maternity leave about 4 1/2 years ago, instead of sleeping when Gregory slept, I surfed the internet.  I established my tree on Ancestry.com and read the queries on the genealogy message boards.  Imagine my surprise when I read about the Davis-Decker feud.  I don't remember where I read that and had never written it down because I was tired.  Greg's father likes to tell me that there was no feud.  He tells me that I had 'baby brain'.  Hmmmm.....
     I had put my genealogy on hold over the years but now I'm back to seriously researching my roots.  I've been searching and searching but can't find any information about this feud.  Did my lack of sleep back then have me reading something that wasn't there?
     Well, I'm sure I know what I read and I will find the details.  Move over Hatfields and McCoys, we've got the Davises and the Deckers.

     To be continued...

                I hope.