Menno Peter Yoder
The family of this name became identified with Wayne county at an early period by the incoming of the founder, who was among the first settlers of Wayne county. Samuel Yoder, a son of this first settler, was a boy at the time his father arrived. The latter bought land in section 30, Greene township, and after spending his life in farming ended his days on the old home stead. Samuel was born in Mifflin county, Pennsylvania and remained with his parents until of age, when he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land west of Weilersville, Ohio. He spent much labor in clearing this tract and eventually converted it into a valuable home. He died March 3l, 1878, aged seventy years, four months and twenty days. In early manhood he married Catherine Naftziger, a native of Germany,who died September 4, 1892, aged over seventy-five years. They had eleven children: Bene, married and both are deceased; Jonathan, who was a farmer and horse dealer in Greene township, first married Leah Stoltzfus, of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, who died in 1881, and second, Mary Zook, of Goshen, Indiana, who again resides at that place, and he died November 4, 1896; Barbara is the wife of David Hostetler; Jacob N. is a resident of Greene township; Levi N. is a farmer, at Holden, Missouri; Elizabeth (deceased), wife of A. K. Kurtz; Martha is the wife of Ames Smucker; Samuel D. died June 2, 1873, aged twenty-two years; Menno P.; the tenth child, David V., died in infancy; John A. married Sarah Newhouser and is a farmer in Wayne township.
Meno P. Yoder, ninth of this family, was born in Wayne county, Ohio, March 24,1856. After securing a fair education he taught three terms of school in Greene township. In 1878 he located on section 15, in Wayne township, where he has since resided. On January 22, 1878, he married Veronica Yoder, of Wayne township, daughter of Joash and Catherine (Smucker) Yoder. Mr. Yoder has no children. He has been engaged in farming all of his life and has met with a fair amount of success. He is a member of the Oak Grove church in Greene township.
About the year 1720, Barbara Yoder, widow of a man who died at sea on his way from Switzerland to this country, arrived at Philadelphia. This was one of the first Amish Mennonite families that came to Pennsylvania, and they located in the eastern part of the state, either in Lancaster or Berks county. She was the mother of eight sons and one daughter, the latter becoming the wife of Christian Byler. Seven of the sons married and reared families. Christian had eleven children, Jacob, Anna, Christian, John, Fannie, Elizabeth, Barbara, Henry, Yost, Joseph and David. The latter was the grandfather of Joash Yoder. His first wife was Jacobin Esh, who also came from Switzerland and arrived at Philadelphia in 1780, after a long and perilous passage of over six weeks on the ocean. She had three sons and five daughters: Daniel, born 1791; Rebecca, wife of Jacob Zook, born October 18, 1793; Jonathan, born September 2, 1795, married Magdaline, daughter of Zacharius Wagner, who was brought to this country from Hesse, Germany, during the Revolutionary war and died in Berks county, Pennsylvania; Joseph, born September 13, 1797, married Catherine Lantz, of Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, where he lived many years and taught English and German schools. In l838 he moved to Juniata, Pennsylvania,and in 1846 to McLain county, Illinois, where he bought a farm on which he lived until his death, in February, 1888; Magdaline, born April 23, 1799, married John Lantz and died in 1832; Fannie, born April 11, 1802, married Joel Yoder, of Center county, Pennsylvania; Maria, born April 11, 1804, married John Yoder, of Center county, Pennsylvania; Leah, born December 8, 1806, married Yost Yoder, of Center county, Pennsylvania. In 1849 she and her family moved to Juniata county and from there to McLain county, Illinois, still later to Kansas. David Yoder, grandfather of Joash, went with his family from Berks county, Pennsylvania, to Mifflin county in 1811. He bought a large farm, which after the death of his wife he lost as the result of financial disasters, and died in 1820. His son, Jonathan, who became the father of Joash, was a man of great strength and more than ordinary intelligence. Though he had little schooling, he could read and write German and English, and could solve many difficult problems. When about thirty years old he was called to the ministry of the Amish Mennonite church and served in that capacity to the end of his life. He received no compensation, but worked for the love of the cause, and showed a great deal of ability. He worked for fifty cents a day, yet by industry and the help of his good wife they lived comfortably. Eventually he owned a small home place, four miles west of Lewistown, Pennsylvania. Shortly after his marriage he learned the carpenter's trade and made his living chiefly by that kind of work for some time. In 1828, when his son Joash was ten years of age, he removed to Half Moon township, Center county, Pennsylvania, and bought one hundred acres of land on which he lived eight years and then removed to Juniata county. Jonathan and Magdalena died in Center county. Nine children grew up, married and reared families, their names being as follows: Leah, born March 28, 1818; Joash, born December 23, 1819; Elias born October 16, 1821; Elizabeth born January 5, 1828; Jonathan, born September 21, 1830; Magdaline, born July 13, 1832; As, born January 24, 1835; Catherine born September 10, 1836, and Annie, born February 7, 1840.
In 1846 Elias removed to McLain county, Illinois, near Bloomington, and afterwards other members of the family joined him. In 1850 Jonathan and his wife followed with the remainder of the family. The parents died and were buried there. When fourteen years of age, Magdaline Yoder was bound to Christian Smucker, of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. Her master removing to Mifflin county, she accompanied him and remained with him until eighteen years old. She early became a member of the Amish Mennonite church and was a kind and benevolent woman, as well as the most loving of mothers. She spun all the cloth used by her family, from shirts to overcoats, and wove all of the clothing with her own hands and made all the clothes for the family.
Joash Yoder was born December 23, 1819, in Derry township, Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, and remained at home until twenty-one years old. He did all kinds of farm work, went to the log school house and had all the experiences of the pioneer boy. He studied hard and could read and write English and German. An unusually good scholar at the age of nineteen, he began teaching and kept this up for several years. In 1841 he married Barbara Kaufman, daughter of Christian Kaufman, of Mifflin county. He left Juniata county and lived in a small log house, fourteen by fifteen feet, which belonged to his father-in-law. He cut wood and cleared for fifty cents a day, which was the prevailing price in those times. He had only one son, Eli L., who now lives in Nebraska and has seven children. His wife died October 12, 185l, and in the fall of 1853 he married Catherine Zook, a widow and daughter of Christian Schmucker. She had three children by her former husband and two by Joash Yoder: Veronica, the eldest, is the wife of Menno P. Yoder; Amos died when four years old.. Catherine (Zook) Yoder, when married, was living on the farm later occupied by herself and Mr. Yoder. The farm belonged to her three sons, but she owned a life estate. Later Mr.Yoder bought this farm and devoted the rest of his life to its cultivation after he came to Wayne county, and ended his days on this old homestead. He was one of the most prominent and esteemed men in the township. He had an excellent memory and was well posted on current events. Of amiable disposition, fair and just in his dealings, he had many friends.
From The History of Wayne County, Ohio, Vol. 1, B. E. Bowen & Co., Indianapolis, 1910