Brown-Monroe County IN Archives Biographies.....Yoder, James M. 1843 - 
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Author: B. F. Bowen (1904)

JAMES M. YODER.

   As long as history endures the American people will acknowledge their
indebtedness to the brave heroes who between the years 1861 and 1865 fought for
the preservation of the Union and the honor of the flag which has never been
trailed in the dust of defeat in a single war in which the country has been
engaged. Among the gallant boys who wore the blue during that dark and
troublesome period was the well known gentleman whose name introduces this
sketch, now a leading farmer and stock raiser of Brown county, also one of its
most enterprising and public spirited men of affairs. James M. Yoder is a native
of the Hoosier state and the son of Jacob and Mary (Jackson) Yoder, the father
born in North Carolina, the mother in Indiana.

   Conrad Yoder, James M.'s grandfather, came to Indiana some time in the
twenties and settled near Bloomington, Monroe county, where he cleared a farm
and spent the remainder of his life, dying about 1853. Jacob Yoder accompanied
his father to this state and lived in Monroe county until 1853, when he moved
his family to Brown county, settling and improving a farm at Nashville, near
where he lived until two or three, years before his death, which occurred in
Jackson township in 1885. He was a man of excellent character and enviable
standing, a prosperous farmer and a devout member of the Christian church, to
which religious body his wife also belonged. This worthy couple reared eight
children, all of whom are living, five brothers and one sister residing in
Oklahoma and one in South Dakota, the subject, who is the oldest of the number,
being the only representative of the family in Brown county.

   James M. Yoder was born April 21, 1843, six mites north of Bloomington, in
Monroe county, Indiana, and at the age of two years accompanied his parents upon
their removal to Brown county, where he grew to young manhood on the farm,
assisting the meanwhile with its improvement and cultivation. He enjoyed the
advantages of a common school education and in his nineteenth year responded to
President Lincoln's call for volunteers by enlisting in Company D, Eighty-second
Infantry, under Captain W. W. Browning and Colonel Morton C. Hunter. Mr. Yoder
experienced all the terrible realities of warfare during the ensuing three
years, and proved his loyalty and devotion to his country in a number of noted
campaigns in Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia and other states, participating in
some of the bloodiest battles of the rebellion, among which were Perryville,
Stone River, Tullahoma, Chickamauga and many others, both regular engagements
and skirmishes, passing through these fiery ordeals without injury and being
seldom absent from his post of duty. Honorably discharged with the rank of
corporal in June, 1865, he at once. returned to Brown coujity and, purchasing a
farm near Georgetown, addressed himself industriously to the pursuit of
agriculture, which he carried on in that locality until 1890, when he sold out
and bought the place near Nashville which he has since made his home and on
which he has achieved marked succcess as an enterprising tiller of the soil and
raiser of live stock. His farm consists of one hundred and seventy acres of
excellent land, is well improved and, being cultivated according to modern
methods, yields abundantly of the crops usually grown in this part of the state.
Mr. Yoder is familiar with the nature of soils and by systematic rotation of
crops he has not only retained the original fertility of his land, but has
greatly enhanced its productiveness, having long been considered one of the most
successful farmers of the township in which he resides. He also has an enviable
reputation in the matter of his live stock, horses, cattle and hogs being of the
best obtainable, and his activity in this direction has had no little influence
in inducing his neighbors to improve their breeds of domestic animals.

   In the year 1869, shortly after his return from the army, Mr. Yoder entered
the marriage relation with Miss Catherine Waltman, daughter of Michael Waltman,
of this county, the union being terminated by the death of his wife three years
later, April 25, 1872. On September 12, following, he contracted a matrimonial
alliance with Eliza, daughter of Jacob and Eliza J. (Snyder) Baughman, who has
proven a faithful wife and helpmeet, presiding over his household with the
devotion characteristic of true American womanhood and co-operating with him in
all of his undertakings, contributing not a little to the success which he has
achieved.

   Mr. Yoder is the father of eleven children, namely: Jacob I., Ida, Myrtle,
Edith (deceased), Maude, Daniel B., Leroy, Ralph, Dorval J., John and Pearl, the
three oldest married and well settled in life, the others at home. The two
children of the first marriage were Marion E. and a girl baby which died a few
weeks after its mother. Marion E. is located at Indianapolis, where he is
engaged in teaming. Jacob I. is farming near Georgetown; Ida is the wife of John
Prosser; Myrtle married Joshua Bond.

Mr. Yoder is stanchly and uncompromisingly Republican in his political
sentiments and for a number of years has been a recognized leader of his party
in Brown county. His activity and influence have made for the strength of the
ticket in a number of campaigns and his efforts have been duly recognized and
appreciated by the leading party workers in his own county and elsewhere. In the
year 1898 he was appointed by the Republican state central committee to canvass
Brown county for a list of old soldiers and to ascertain how each would vote at
the ensuing election, and he performed this duty so thoroughly and efficiently
as to gain the approbation of the committee, besides receiving letters from
Governor Durbin and Mark Hanna and other leading men of the party commending his
work. He is now serving for the second time as chairman of the county central
committee and is devoting considerable attention to the details of the campaign
of 1904.

   Mr. Yoder has been interested in all enterprises and movements having for
their object the material development of Brown county, and every progressive
measure for the welfare of the people has had his countenance and support. He is
a friend of education, stands for law and order and lends his influence to
whatever makes for the moral and religious advancement of his community. He and
his wife are identified with the Baptist church, both being influential workers
in the local congregation to which they belong, and fraternally he is an active
member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and Grand Army of the Republic,
holding at this time the office of commander in Jackson Wood Post, No. 512. He
keeps in touch with his old army comrades, serving as president of his
regimental association and having attended the various local and national reunions.

   Mr. Yoder has been quite successful in the accumulation of material wealth
and is today one of the well-to-do men of Brown county. He is highly regarded
for his sterling integrity and many admirable qualities of mind and heart, and
his commendable course in life has won for him an abiding place in the
confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF BARTHOLOMEW COUNTY
INDIANA

INCLUDING BIOGRAPHIES OF THE GOVERNORS AND OTHER REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF INDIANA

ILLUSTRATED

1904

B. F. Bowen PUBLISHER


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