Michael J. Yoakim
Michael J. Yoakim, a progressive farmer of Jackson township, Allen county, Ohio, was born in Knox county, July 8, 1830, and is of remote German extraction. Michael Yoakam, grandfather of our subject, was born in Virginia of an old colonial family, was married in that state and was one of the early pioneers of Knox county, Ohio, when the county was in its primitive condition, and the forest filled with game and Indians. He was commissioned a captain in the militia, served in several Indian wars, and his family, on more than one occasion, were compelled to desert their cabin and seek the protection of the block-house for shelter from the savage foe. He died in Knox county, Ohio.
Michael Yoakim, Jr., father of our subject, was born in Virginia in 1803. He was a young man when he came to Ohio with his parents, reached his majority among the pioneers, and there married Sarah Bird, who was born in Pennsylvania, January 28, 1809, a daughter of Burtis and Jemima (Fullerton) Bird, to which union were born the following children: Jacob (deceased), Michael J.(our subject), Sarah (deceased), Whitefield, Allen, Charles, and Millie (deceased). After marriage Mr. Yoakim lived on his farm of forty acres, in Knox county, for a few years, and then settled in Jackson township, then a land of forests and swamps, filled with deer, turkeys and a few bears. He entered a tract of 326 acres, and eventually became a leading farmer and an influential citizen. He lost his wife in 1872; she died a member of the Methodist church, a truly christian and noble womanm who endeavored to rear her children to become an honor to the family name; the death of Mr. Yoakim took place in 1883, a self-made man and an honored and venerated gentleman.
Michael J. Yoakim, whose name opens this biography, was reared on his father's farm. He received his primary schooling in a private class before free schools were introduced, and has lived to see the township transformed from a wilderness into one broad expanse of waving grain. When he first came here there were hardly any roads, the cabins of his neighbors were widely scattered, and markets at a great distance from his pioneer home. But he has done his share in making the township the prosperous and happy land it now is, and is duly honored and respected for the immense amount of labor he has performed and the many hardships he has undergone. His present farm comprises ninety acres, is improved with a good house and barn, and is under a high state of cultivation, comparing favorably with any farm of like dimensions in the township.
Mr. Yoakim first married Miss Clarissa Millican, daughter of Thomas B. and Elizabeth (Moore) Millican, and to this union was born one child--Stanton E., who conducts a hack line in Lima, Ohio. The mother of this child died a devout Methodist--a sad loss to her husband and son and a large circle of devoted friends. The second marriage of Mr. Yoakim was with Miss Mary E.Bowers, who was born March 10, 1840, a daughter of William P. and Amy (McClain) Bowers, and the children that have blessed the union were born in the following order: Almond (deceased), Alford (deceased), Clarissa, Margaret, William, Arthur, Eve, Lulu, and Mabel. William P. Bowers, the father of Mrs. Yoakim, was born in Richland county, Ohio, August 29, 1810, and his wife was born in the same county, July 17, 1814, of Irish descent. They were married in Richland county, September 11, 1832, came to Allen county in 1841, and settled in Monroe township (then in Putnam county). Their children were born in the following order: Annie, William, Henry H. (deceased), Sarah, Mary E., Elizabeth, and Solomon F.S. The mother of this family having died March 28, 1846, Mr. Bowers married Sarah A. Fuller, November 4, 1846, this union resulting in the birth of Eliza E. (deceased), and Abel. The mother died July 12, 1852, and the father January 4, 1891--both worthy members of the Methodist church. William H.H. Bowers was killed on the field of battle during the late Civil War, and his brother, Solomon F.S., was mortally wounded during the same conflict. Jeremiah Bowers, grandfather of Mrs. Yoakim, was a soldier of the war of 1812, was an early settler of Richland county, Ohio, married a Miss Pool for his first wife, and for his second Margaret Walker, both dying in that county, respected and honored by all who knew them. Than the Yoakim family none ever stood higher in, nor deserved, the respect of the residents of Jackson township, and the farm of Mr. Yoakim today stands as a monument in commemoration of his early pioneer labor and more recent industry as a true husbandman.
From A Portrait and Biographical Record of Allen and Van Wert Counties, Ohio, 1896