BIOGRAPHY: David YODER, Mifflin County, PA

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The Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of the Juniata Valley, Comprising 
the Counties of Huntingdon, Mifflin, Juniata, and Perry, Pennsylvania.
Chambersburg, Pa.: J. M. Runk & Co., 1897, Volume I, pages 595-596.

  DAVID YODER, Kishacoquillas, Mifflin county, Pa., was born on the homestead in 
Brown township, April 23, 1827.  He is a son of John and Sarah (Yoder) Yoder.  
His paternal grandparents were Jacob and Catherine (Plank) Yoder;  his 
grandmother was a native of Lancaster county;  her family name was formerly 
spelled Blank.  They settled near Cedar Hill Springs, at the head of Coffee run, 
in Mifflin county, during the latter part of the eighteenth century, where Mr. 
Yoder passed the remainder of his life in farming, only removing in their 
declining years to the homestead in Brown township.  Their children were:  John;  
Jacob, father of the Rev. John Yoder;  Nicholas, married Leah Yoder;  Solomon, 
married Sarah Zook;  Christian, married Lydia Yoder;  Martha (Mrs. Christian 
Beiler);  Catherine (Mrs. John Beiler);  Nancy (Mrs. Jacob Kurtz);  Phranie;  
Lydia (Mrs. Joseph Werra);  and Barbara (Mrs. Isaac Plank).  Mr. Yoder was a 
prominent man, useful and respected;  he and his wife were members of the Amish 
Mennonite church.  Both died in Brown township, Mr. Yoder when he was seventy 
years old, his wife also at an advanced age.  Their eldest son, John Yoder, 
attended the schools of the neighborhood, and on his father's farm acquired a 
practical knowledge of the art of cultivating the soil, which was his lifelong 
employment.  He was very successful, and being sensible and honorable, was held 
in high esteem by his neighbors and acquaintances.  His wife Sarah was the 
daughter of Peter Yoder; one of their children died an infant;  the others are:  
David;  Lydia (Mrs. Samuel P. Lantz), has three children;  Mattie, died at the 
age of fourteen;  Fanny (Mrs. Jacob S. King), had one child that died while 
still very young.  Mrs. John Yoder died November 16, 1835;  Mr. Yoder died May 
20, 1852, while on a visit to his daughter, in Champaign county, O.;  his age 
was about sixty-two years.
  The common school education which David Yoder received in his boyhood has been 
supplemented by his association with men of intelligence and experience.  He has 
obtained much general information, and is a skilful farmer and business man.  He 
assisted his father in farming until he reached the age of twenty-five, at which 
time he began on his own account, on the old homestead;  he has been prosperous, 
and his farm is among the most productive and best regulated ones in the 
Kishacoquillas valley;  it is near the location of the old seminary.  David 
Yoder was married, January 25, 1852, to Salome, daughter of Joseph and Martha 
(Yoder) Zook.  One of their children, Sallie, died in early childhood;  the 
others are:  Mattie S.;   John D., married Rachel Yoder, had five children, 
Effie May, Frederick R., David Homer, died one month old, Jesse Barr, and one 
died in infancy;   Joseph Z.,, married Nancy A. Plank, has two children, Mattie 
S. and Alpheus D.;   Fanny R. (Mrs. Israel Zook), has six children, Mattie Maud, 
Salome Grace, David Homer, Thomas Edwin, Fanny Charlotte, and Mary Ruth, who 
died when about six months old;   and David F., married Barbara E. Plank, has 
one child, Jonathan Edwin.  Mr. Yoder is a Republican.  He and his family are 
honored members of the Amish Mennonite church.