 |
Yoder History
The following was written by George Monroe Yoder and appeared in a six-part series in the "Hickory-Times-Mercury" Newspaper July-August 1901. Copied from N.C. State Archives microfilm on file at the Catawba County Library, Newton, N.C. by Derick S. Hartshorn, 4 October 1995.
GENEALOGICAL HISTORY
Of The YODER Family In The United States
By G.M. Yoder
 Colonel George M. Yoder
23 August 1826 - 12 March 1920
When we make a rigid and thorough examination of the immigrant register that contains the names of 30,000 immigrants who landed at Philadelphia from 1727 to 1777, we find the name of Conrad Yoder (Swiss) who came on the "Queen of Denmark" and landed at Philadelphia on Oct. 4, 1751, which is nearly 150 years ago. When he left Switzerland he bid his father and mother, brothers and sisters and near relatives a long farewell. Jacob Yoder also came on the same ship. It is supposed that they were brothers.
Jacob remained in Pennsylvania and Conrad came South between the years 1755 and 1760. He came to Henry Whitener's [Heinrich Weidner] where he had his home--until he bought 200 acres of land from Whitener at the South end of his large entry on both sides of the Jacob's Fork river, for which he paid forty-five pounds sterling money, amounting to about $112 in our currency. Upon this fertile farm he erected a house sometime in 1762. Afterwards he married Bostain Klein's [Sebastian Cline] daughter [Christina]. On act. 26, 1764, a son was born to them who was the first white child born on the Jacob's Fork river, and was named John. Jacob was born 1767; David in 1770. His wife died and in a few years he married a Miss Sides, who died shortly afterward. A few years later there came a young lady directly from Germany to this section of the country with whom he fell in love on first sight and married. Her name was Catherine Huffman and they had the following children: Elizabeth, born 1776, who died young; Elias, born 1777: Daniel, born 1780; Catherine, born 1782; and, Adam, born 1785.
Conrad Yoder died about 1790 and was buried at the Yoder grave yard at the farm. No headstone marks the grave. His last wife survived him about twenty years and died at the home of her daughter, who married John Baker. She was buried at the Baker graveyard, near John W. Helton's.
John, the oldest son, married Mary B. Reep, who was raised on the South Fork river, near Lincolnton. She was about 16 years old when that famous Tory battle was fought at Ramsour's mill on the 2Oth of June 1780. She often said that she head the first gun fired and saw the Tories in full retreat pass her father's house. This marriage took place about 1790. The children were as follows: Christian, born 1791; Mollie, born 1794; John, born 1795; Jacob, born 1798; Michael, born 1798; Henry, born 1803; Peter, born 1805; Barbara, born 1807. Henry was drowned in the spring when a baby.
John Yoder was a very popular man in his day. He was a surveyor and did a great deal of work in this line. He was a militia captain a long time and had volunteered in the American army at the age of 16 years. He was appointed by the Legislature with Pearson, of Burke county, to establish the line between Lincoln and Burke counties. He was an Elder of the Reform congregation at Grace church when he died in 1835. His wife, Barbara, survived him about six years and was about 78 years of age.
John Yoder was opposed to slavery and would never invest any money in slave property. He always invested in real estate, so when he died he had over 1,000 acres of fertile land. So it was with his son, John, and all his brothers, they would never invest any money in Negro property. They always said that the time would come that a Negro, as property, would not be worth more than a dead cow.
John, his oldest son, married Sallie Whitener. She died in 1869. He died in 1878. Both were buried at Grace church grave yard. Jacob, the second son, married Catherine Hahn and died Nov. 24, 1867, aged 67 years and was buried at Zion Church graveyard. His wife survived him about 6 years and died in her 67th year. She was buried at the same place. They had four sons and two daughters.
Michael, the third son, died in 1874 at the age of 75 years. The writer is a son of his and the only one living and is nearly 75 years old. He married Polly Deitz, who died a long time before he did. The writer was just six years old when she died. She was buried at Grace church.
Peter, the forth son, married Rachel Hahn and went to Missouri, where she died. He then married a Miss Covington. He died in 1888, aged 82 years. He had thirteen children. Mollie married Caleb Deitz and died in 1874, aged 81 years.
Christine died in 1877, aged 83 years, and was buried at Wesley Chapel. Her husband, Jacob Weaver, is also buried there.
Barbara married David Reep and died at the birth of her first child. She is buried at the Yoder grave yard on the old farm.
[End of Part 1- Hickory Times-Mercury, July 3, 1901]
John and George Yoder were officers of the Pennsylvania Battalion of the militia to harass the King's royal army. My grandfather at the age of sixteen volunteered in the American army in 1780 but was never in a battle. As he was a man of small stature the others thought he could not stand the turmoil of camp life and told him to remain at home, a while yet. A. A. Yoder, of Hickory , is a fair specimen of my grand father.
Jacob Yoder, of Berks county, Pennsylvania, was a soldier in the American army from 1775 to 1777. In 1780 he left Berks county and went in the Monongahela river and then constructed himself a flat bottom boat on the Ohio river, loaded it with grain and sailed down the river in 1782 to the Mississippi river, then down to New Orleans. The first white man to sail down the Mississippi to New Orleans. He returned up the river and stopped in Spencer county, Kentucky, where we will notice him again further on. We think all his children were girls. The Hendersons of Missouri are some of his descendants, and also the Penniroils, of Kentucky.
The Yoders who first settled in America claimed that they were persecuted on account of their religious faith as they were followers of Menno Simon, the great leader of the Amish or Mennonite church. The great majority of the Yoders in the Northern and Western States are of that faith which you can readily see from the number of Mennonite preachers. There are twenty-nine of them. I will give all their names further on. There were a few German Reformed and Lutherans among them. There is one Lutheran minister. They are principally farmers, some few are bankers, merchants, lawyers and doctors. William L. Yoder, Matatawney [sic] City, is a banker; Hon. S[amuel] H. Yoder, now dead, was also a banker; Lorenzo, at Pittsburg, is a successful candy manufacturer; Dr. Daniel Yoder, of Catasuequa, Lehigh county, Pa., is an eminent physician; Samuel S. Yoder, an ex-Congressman, is a lawyer; and, Charles T. Yoder, of Pittsburg, is an eminent lawyer.
Christian and Jacob Yoder came to America in 1742 and Yost Yoder in 1744 with their families, to Berks county. There is a town in that county called Yoderstadt (Yodertown ). History tells us that a snow fell in Pennsylvania in 1740 to a depth of four feet and it fell so fast and heavy upon the small pines that the branches were bent together which formed great caves under which the deers would collect for shelter. Yost Yoder was a great hunter and he captured seven at one time in one of these caves. He was always fond to relate the hunting experiences he had passed through, which are still this day told in Pennsylvania.
It seems that all the Yoders when they came to this country went to Berks county, Pennsylvania and that they loved to dwell together. This county was the headquarters of the Yoders and from it they spread out allover the United States.
[End of Part 2- Hickory Times-Mercury, July 10, 1901]
France and Switzerland join and are separated by an imaginary line. Some of the Yoders live on one side of the line and others on the other side. Those who came from France spelled their names Jodre or Joder, using the letter J, instead ofY. But now in these latter days it is spelled Yoder throughout the United States.
I have a history of Freesburg charge in my possession. That charge is composed of six churches which were built over a hundred years ago. The constitution for the government of the different congregations is a joint one. In this history I find that some of the Yoders had taken a very conspicuous part. I find that Melchor Yotter (Yoder) had two brothers named Jacob and Daniel, and a sister named Eve, who left Switzerland and landed at Philadelphia and settled in Montgomery county. One of them settled at a place called Drop, where he erected a factory of some kind, which he afterwards sold and went to Northumberland county. About 1765 Melchor Yoder, Sr., in Snyder county bought a large tract of land on a creek that extended several miles. About 1799 Melchor and John Yoder, Peter Godshalk and Samuel Moyer were elected Trustees to solicit subscriptions to rebuild St. Peter's or Seibers church and a school house which was the custom in those days in Pennsylvania. On this list I find John Yoder, Peter Yoder, Jacob and Henry Yoder; and, Melchor Yoder Jr.
Melchor Yoder, Sen., came to Northumberland county with his wife, Anna, in 1749 and bought 103 acres of land from Judah Roberts. His children were Melchor, John, Peter and Abraham. John married Catharine Hart. Their children were Nancy, who married a Mr. Woodling; Elizabeth, who married George Shack, and Samuel, who married Sarah Helbish. John Yoder died Oct. 20th, 1832. Peter lives on the old homestead. Melchor Yoder, Sen., was the father of Melchor, Jr. George Shack, who married Elizabeth, came in possession of the upper part of the farm.
The sister, Eve, who came with them, married a man named Longacre and remained in Montgomery county. So did Jacob and Daniel. Some of their descendants live in Lancaster county. As I continue this historical sketch of the Yoders as I pass along with it; I will often refer to Christian, Yost, Daniel, David, Melchor, Abraham and Barbara Yoder , as it seems from various historical points that I have in my possession, the descendants of the Yoders run back to these old pioneers as the Progenitors of the Yoders.
Simon P. Yoder, who lives in East Lewistown, Ohio, who is a poultry and Apiary keeper, gives me the following genealogical history of the Yoder family that he is a descendant of. He says my mother's father, Christian Yoder, was born in Miffiin county , Pa. Then she must have been a Yoder. Christian Yoder married Esther Hertzler, of Lancaster county, Pa., and was the son of John Yoder who married Magdelina Mast. The last named John Yoder was a son of Barbara Yoder, widow, whose husband died on the sea on his way from Switzerland to America.
[End of Part 3 - Hickory Times-Mercury, Jul17, 1901]
The Yoders in Snyder county, Pa. and around St. Peters or Seibers church, near Globe Mills, were German Reform. Of this congregation, the Lutherans number about 200, and the German Reform about 25 members. This is a union church, and the constitution is a joint one, and a strict one, too. No other minister was admitted to preach in St. Peters, or Seibers church, unless he was a Lutheran or German Reform. Samuel Yoder was a son of Melchor Yoder, Sr. He married Sarah Helbish, and was a German Reform member at this church as well as his sons, Ron. Samuel H., Peter and Emmanuel Yoder. Samuel Yoder was born Apri1 17, 1835 and died May 28, 1898 of Typhoid fever, aged 56 years. He married Barbara Walter (now dead [1901]), a daughter of Christian Walter, and went into the mercantile business for about 20 years. He afterwards sold out and bought David Meiser's mill property at Globe mill. Meiser worked in the railroad. In a few years they had built a three-story brick building with a roller mill in it, the capability of which was 10 barrels a day. He had three sons--Grant, Banks and John, the last a Lutheran minister. He had four daughters and Peter, a brother to Samuel Yoder who died on the old homestead and a dealer in agricultural implements. His son, A. A. Yoder, was an eminent physician living in Snyder county, Pa. Emmanuel is an old bachelor. Jacob had once taken a great interest in getting a subscription to rebuild the Seibers church, near Globe mills. He subscribed and paid $42 for material for the church. In a few years he left there with his family, and moved to Greene county, in the south-western portion of the State. He had nine children--John, William, George, Elizabeth, Daniel, Joseph, Malan, Lindsay and Jacob.
The descendants of these children settled in Greene and Washington counties. John, the oldest son, went to Ohio.
William also went there. One of his sons married Elizabeth Marsteller. These descendants in Greene and Washington counties, of Jacob Yoder, numbered about 40, and these have married and increased their number considerably.
Jonas Yoder is, I think, a son of David Yoder and is a dentist in Lancaster, Pa.
This David Yoder, now dead, was a lumber dealer in Berks county. Aaron and William Yoder, who live in Dublin, Bucks county, are following the shoe-making business and have a large establishment. John S. Yoder of Lewisburg, Union county, is engaged in some business matter. Martin Yoder, now dead, of Olney, Berks county was a dealer in agricultural implements; and Mayberry Yoder, same county, was a tin smith.
Moses Yoder, of Manatawney, Berks county, is a tin and stone manufacturer; George B. Yoder, Lyons Station, Berks county, is a hotel keeper; Marion Yoder, White Dearmilk, general store; W.H. Yoder, Trexeltown, Lehigh county, hotel keeper; Fanny B. Yoder, Allentown, Lehigh county, dry goods store; Lorenzo Yoder, Pittsburgh, Allegheny county, a wholesale dealer in confections; S.C. Yoder, Sharon, Mercer county, is a hotel keeper; Cyrus S. Yoder, Reading, Berks county, also a hotel keeper; Samuel A. Yoder, Reading, a dealer in wines and liquors.
So I might go on and give you names of Yoders, in various and other departments. There is a Jasper Yoder living ill eastern North Carolina, who was appointed a Democratic justice of the peace--1 think it is in Chowan county--by the last legislature.
There was a James Yoder living near Asheville, who was a millwright, and came there from Berks county, but is now dead. His widow and children live in Asheville. I will give the names of the Yoders who are ministers of the gospel and their post offices: Daniel Yoder, Oakland, W. Va., Phinehas Yoder, Hazelbridge, Tenn., Elias Yoder, Meyerdale, Pa., Daniel B. Yoder, Bellville, Pa., John Yoder, Bellville, Pa., Christian Z. Yoder, Bellville, Pa., Menno Yoder, Bellville, Pa., Bellville, Pa., John S. Yoder, Mathawanna, Pa., Michael Yoder, Mathawanna, Pa., John Yoder, Morganton, PA., Joel Yoder, Saltillo, Ohio, Noah Yoder, Wellman, Iowa, Moses Yoder, Arthur, III., Moses Yoder, Grantsville, Mo., D.F. Yoder, Garden City, Mo., D.C. Yoder, Emma, Ind., Daniel Yoder, Linn Grove, Ind., Elias Yoder, Leo, Ind., Samuel Yoder, Elkhart, Ind., Abraham Yoder, Farmerstown, Ohio.
[End of Part 4- Hickory Times-Mercury, July 24, 1901]
Jacob Yoder, the second son of Conrad Yoder was born Dec. 13, 1767. He married Catherine Dillinger, daughter of Jon Dillinger, who was in that famous Tory battle on the 20th of June, 1780, at Ramsour's mill. He it was that piloted Col. Lock to the place where the Tories had assembled, as he was raised in that neighborhood. After peace was restored, he married Barbara, the oldest daughter of Henry Whitener, the original pioneer to this section of the country. After Jacob Yoder married Catherine they settled on the lands that Henry Whitener had willed to her. After a time they sold this farm to Jacob Shuford, Sr., who gave it to Abel Shuford, Sr. This land is now owned by Humphrey Hoyle's heirs. Jacob Yoder moved to Brown county, Indiana, where he died. His children were: George, who married Betsy Short; Henry , who had six children; Emanuel, who married Rachel Shirley , had four children and moved to Floyd county, Iowa; Israel, who married Betsy Jackson; Jacob, who married Catherine Tull; Polly, who married Comad Yoder, of whom we will speak further on under the head of David Yoder's family; Barbara, who married George Henkel; Sallie, who married John Jackson. Some of them are living in the Dakotas, some in Iowa, some in Missouri and others are scattered in various sections of the United States and we cannot give much about them.
David Yoder was born April 3, 1770. He married Elizabeth Reep, a sister of his brother John's wife. The had the following children: Comad, Adolph, David, Solomon, Eli, Andrew, Betsey, Catherine, Fannie and Sarah. He was a stone mason by trade, by occupation a farmer. Some time after the war of 1812 he sold the farm he had inherited from his father and intended to move to the state of Georgia. He went to Georgia but after looking around did not like the place and came back to North Carolina and bought a farm from Jacob Shuford, Sr., on Pott's creek, where he lived. He died at the age of about 94 years and was buried at Grace church. His wife died some years before and was also buried at Grace. The both belonged to the German Reform church up to about 1832. They withdrew on account of their pastor's Negro proclivities.
Conrad, the oldest son, was a soldier in the war of 1812. After peace was restored he went to his uncle Jacob Yoder's in Indiana. There he married Polly, a daughter of Jacob Yoder, and lived several years years. He then moved to Missouri, where he died at the age of about 87. His wife also died there. His descendants are living in that State.
Adolph, the second son, was also in the war of 1812. After peace was restored he enlisted in the regular United States Army. There all trace of him is lost.
David, the third son, married Ruth Wilson, an Irish lady, and settled on her land on Pott's creek. He died in his 98th year and was buried at Thesalonica church. His wife is also buried there. They were Baptist by faith. They have two daughters living.
Solomon, the fourth son, was a farmer by occupation and married Sallie Seagle. They had twelve children. He died at the age of 56 from typhoid fever. His wife survived him about twenty years. Their son, Alfred, was killed in the late [civil] war.
Their youngest son, Rev. R.A. Yoder, D.D., is president of Lenoir College, Hickory, N.C. at this writing. They are all of the Lutheran faith. Eli Yoder, their fifth son, married Betsey Detter and went to Tennessee where he died at the age of 84.
Andrew, the sixth son, was a farmer by occupation. He married Anna Kistler and had ten children. Three of his sons were in the late war; one died and is buried at Grace church, and one of them was accidentally killed at a chopping, a tree falling on him. He died in his 89th year and was buried at Grace church. His wife is still living and is about 89 years of age. Betsey, the oldest daughter, died at 89; Catherine, 94, Fannie, 86, and Sarah at about 70 years of age. All are buried at Grace church. None of them ever married.
[End of Part 5 - Hickory-Times-Mecury, August 21, 1901]
Elias Yoder, the fourth son of Conrad Yoder, was born Oct. 31st, 1777, and married Utilla Hahn, an aunt of Christian Hahn of Hickory township. After his marriage he settled on a portion of land inherited from his father-a 500 acre tract at Baker's Mountain, near where Calvin Baker now lives. He was a deputy sheriff in his day, a school teacher and a foot racer and ran many a foot race. By occupation he was a farmer. He sold his farm to his brother-in-law and went to Indiana about one hundred years ago [1800] with his two brothers and brother-in-law-Henry Reep and a Mr. Marks. He also owned a farm near the White Sulphur springs, joining lands of E.O. Elliott.
David, the fifth son, was born June 18th, 1780, and was a soldier of the war of 1812. After peace was restored he married Christopher Klein's daughter, a niece of Conrad Yoder's wife, and settled on the mountain land near Mountain Grove church, where some of the old apple trees are yet standing. He sold this farm to his brother-in-law, John Baker, and went to Indiana about 100 years ago [1800], where his descendants are now living.
Catherine, the only living daughter, was born June 21st, 1782 and at the age of fifteen married John Baker, a Dutchman, who was but a poor young man. He had nothing but a small pony and his blacksmith trade. She received some means from her father's estate which they invested in lands near where John W. Helton now lives, on which they settled and erected a blacksmith shop, which was the only shop in all that country then. As a smith he soon became very popular. He worked altogether on axes and his apprentices worked on wagons. People would come twenty miles to have their axes made at one dollar per axe. He ran three fire places. Their children were Elizabeth, Susan, Catherine, Polly, Eliza, Adeline, David, Solomon and John. Two daughters married Warlicks--one John and the other Philip Warlick. Catherine married Jacob H. Shuford, the father of A.A. Shuford and Rev. J.H. Shuford. Polly married George P. Shuford and died at the birth of her second child. He afterwards married Eliza.
David married a Miss Sanborn. After her death he married Sallie Abernethy who was the mother of Calvin Baker. Solomon first married a Miss Rockett and after her death he married Anna Hoover. John was a crazy man. Their father, John Baker, died very suddenly while comparatively young, and was buried on the farm at the Baker graveyard. His wife, Catherine, died at Geo. P. Shuford's. She was about 82 years old and was buried at Thesalonica church. They formerly belonged to the Tankara or Dunkard denominaltion, but after the death of John Baker they went over to the Baptist. David and his first wife are buried at the Baker graveyard. Solomon and wife are buried at Thesalonica church.
Adam, the last son, was born June 23rd, 1785, which is now over 116 years ago. He married a Miss Davis and settled on his portion of Mountain land. They sold it, I think, to Miles Abernethy, the father of Albert Abernethy. At least, he lived there. Adam moved to Haywood county and from there to Tennessee, where all trace of him and family were lost.
The Congressman A. C. Shuford's grandmother was the daughter of Conrad Yoder .
The writer of these historical sketches is nearly 75 years old. It may contain many imperfections but gotten up as best he could under the existing circumstances.
[End of Part 6- Hickory Times-Mercury, August 21, 1901]
 |
|