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Submitted by Cheryl VanWormer 


					EDWIN S. YEOMANS
			       MRS. ETTA (KITSON) YEOMANS (1st wife)
				MRS. OLA (SNELL) YEOMANS (2nd wife)

	The dairy business has long been an important industry in Michigan.  One of the farmers 
of Ionia county, who has been carrying on this department in connection with general agricultural
pursuits with pronounced success, is Edwin S. Yeomans, of Easton township.  He was born on 
September 19, 1867, on the farm where he now lives.  He is a son of Sanford A. and Marietta A. 
(Stebbins) Yeomans.  A full record of the father is to be found on another page of this volume.  
Subject's mother was born in Franklin county, Massachusetts, March 6, 1829, and is a daughter of 
Chauncy and Sophia (Rice) Stebbins.  Chauncy Stebbins was born in Massachusetts in 1807, and was 
a son of Chester and Nancy Stebbins.  In 1827 he married Sophia Rice, who was born in Conway 
county, Massachusetts, in 1809, and was a daughter of Benjamin and Anne (Monard) Rice.  Her 
mother's father was a soldier in the Revolutionary War and her own father, Benjamin Rice, served 
in the War of 1812.  Chauncy M. Stebbins came to Ionia county, Michigan, during the thirties, 
being among the earliest settlers here.  He made a little clearing in the great woods and erected
a small log cabin and a log barn.  This land is now within the limits of the town of Ionia.  
Later he moved to Clinton county and lived in Essex township until 1844, when he returned to 
Ionia county, when his daughter, Marietta, was about fifteen years old.  He settled where the 
reformatory is now located.  Marietta A. Stebbins grew up in a frontier environment and her 
brothers had Indian boys for playmates and the language of the red men was familiar to them.  
Bear, deer and other wild animals were common in this locality then.  By her marriage to Sanford 
A. Yeomans five sons and one daughter were born, among them being Frank H. and Edwin S., of this 
sketch.
	Edwin S. Yeomans attended the schools of Ionia and Poucher's Business College, and he 
remained on the home farm until the death of his father, working with him, then took charge of 
the place which he managed on his own account and has continued on the homestead ever since, 
having made many improvements and kept the place under a fine state of cultivation.  Three years 
ago he added dairying to his general farming and has been successful in both lines.  The home 
place contains four hundred and ten acres.  There are three tenant houses, and the family home is
a large handsome residence in the midst of pleasant surroundings.  Several large barns and 
convenient outbuildings are also to be seen on the place.  Part of the buildings were demolished 
by a tornado in September, 1915.  Besides the home farm, Mr. Yeomans owns other farms, 
aggregating two hundred and fifty acres, in Easton township, and town property in Ionia, among 
which is the American House.  He also owns Grandfather Yeoman's old homestead, same being 
situated on West Main street.  He has been very successful in a business way and is one of the 
substantial men of his county.
	Mr. Yeomans was married, first, to Etta R. Kitson, who died on October 28, 1901.  By this 
union two children were born, both deceased; they were named as follow:  Dorothy, who died on May
24, 1900, and Sanford K., who died on December 7, 1901.  On February 16, 1904, Mr. Yeomans 
married Ola M. Snell, who was born in Easton township, Ionia county, and is a daughter of George 
A. and Catherine A. (Powilson) Snell.  Mr. Snell was for many years a prosperous farmer of Easton
township, but now lives in Ionia.  He was born in Seneca county, New York, June 29, 1844, and is 
a son of Sylvanus T. and Susan (Tunison) Snell, both of German ancestry and natives of New 
Jersey.  Slyvanus T. Snell came to Ionia county, Michigan, first, in 1836, only three years after
the first establishment of this county, and here he bought three hundred and twenty acres in what
is now Easton township, for which he paid six dollars per acre, but he did not begin developing
this land into a farm until 1849, when he removed here with his family, and by hard work cleared 
it up and put it in cultivation.  He erected a small log cabin that served as the family home for
some time.  His death occurred two years later, leaving a widow and six children.  The widow 
survived until June 28, 1884, dying at the age of seventy-five years.  These parents were both 
active workers in the Baptist church.
	George A. Snell grew up amid pioneer scenes, and on New Year's day, 1870, married Ann 
Powilson, who was born in Benton county, Arkansas, December 16, 1850.  She is a daughter of Isaac
V. and Elizabeth (Allen) Powilson.  Her father was a native of New Jersey and the mother was born
in the state of New York.  These parents removed to Kalamazoo, Michigan, when their daughter, 
Anne, was young in years.
	George A. Snell continued farming in Easton township on the homestead which his father 
had bought in the early days, and developed an excellent farm of one hundred and twenty acres 
here, remaining on the farm until March, 1906, when he moved to Ionia, where he bought his 
present home.  Mrs. Yeomans grew up on her father's farm and was educated in the public schools.
	to Mr. and Mrs. Yeomans three children have been born, namely:  Russell E., who died 
March 25, 1911, at the age of four years; Edwin R. born on September 19, 1909, and Gerald D., 
born on December 25, 1911.



This biography is taken from "HISTORY OF IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN:
HER PEOPLE, INDUSTRIES AND INSTITUTIONS," 
by Rev. E. E. Branch.  Vol. II.  Indianapolis, Indiana:  
B. F. Bowen & Company, Inc., 1916.  Pages 93-95.