w YODER NEWSLETTER - Yoder Family Information

A WORD TROH TIIE EDITORS
BEII IODER
does dePend on You too'
To set You at ease regarding the two of us'
both Yodersr we want to introduce ourseLves to
our readers. We hope and PraY this venture will
be the first of r"ty tot" to come, but this
I am Ben F. Yoder, resident of Goshen'IN"
to.i i" Middlebury,IN' ln l-gl-r' I am a retired
teacher. My church affiliation for over 45
vears has been with the Goshen Christian lleforned
bnurch. Since a6e 10 Irve worked in grocery
6tore6r factorles, ice and ice cream plantr
coal oifice, and as a real estate salesman'
ou.i"S WI'JII; I Eerved the United States coast
.Guardl both ashore and asea, aa a Radioman'
ai;;;'the war, I reenterecl Goshen College received
a degree and entered t'lestern lvtichigan
University tetting a l'iasters while teaching' Irve
aiso "ttenaia s"U State, Indiana state' and
Indiana Universities. Several years a8o I retired
fron teaching of which ti-rrl: years were spent as
aa elenentari school principal' Ijlnce then Irve
aDent five years aa part-time courier and custoai""
"t the salen Bank & Trust Co'r from which
I retired in Iate 1982.
Irve the Privilege of enjoyin6 over 4l years
of happiness with nY good and faithful wife, Ne1l
(Hoogenboon). Together we spent happY years
raised four children.
through the DePression and
Irra the eighth of nine children
and Laura v. (uifter) Ioder, both
thJ.s countY.
Both Chrie and I were strangers until Rache1
Kreider got us together' Rachel (wel"l-k'nown to
r"r" .l ]ou) t". long been steeped in loder
fareily lore and is well-done and ready to serve'
We riil look forward to Rachelrs literar;l contributions
j'nforming afl of our rich heritage and
roots.
rler knowlidge of the very early Yoders in
Switzerland should be enri'ching'
But we look to each Yoder (and related readers)
to nake contributions of anecdotes, family jokes'
lecends. etc.' which wil). put life in the pages
oi"rrtu"" issues. Therers a lot of "ti6don and
wit out there. Letrs preserve it for the future'
Itrs up to all 6f us. Letrs do itl
CIIRIS YCDER
of Harvey M.
natlves of
My name 1s Chris Yodet, and Itm a descendant
of Clristian Yoder, one of the early Amish
Yoder inrnigrants nentioned elsewhere in this
newsletterl I was born in Knoxville' TI{ and grew
up in: DavenportrlA; Mt. LebanonrPAl and Tokyo'
.fapan. Itm the son of Otho ts' Yoder and Phyllis
(P'anrperien) Yoder. I have a BS fron the University
of Arizona in Tucson in Political licience
urrd'iti"toty. As an enrployee of the Departrnent of
Defenser I-rve been stitioned at: Texarkana, T:{;
-C"tpU"flrKI;llg!,
fi.
CumberlandrPA; Ft' Xnox,KY;
iitring"or',{est Gerrnanyi and currently ilattle
Creek. MI.
My vrlfe Carroll and I have
age 6, and a-daughter Jerusha,
was named after the irnmigrant
Yoder ']ine.
a eon Chlistial'
age 4. Chri6 tian
ances tor
Continue on next column
I first began studying Yoder family history
in L9?3 while llving near the Fennsylvania State
l,ibrary at HarrisburS. My interesL was rekindfed
in 19BO after returning from an ae;signment
-,Jere
in Germany to MichiSan.
I have ea-sy accesc
to the genealogical collection at the Allen
Corrnty l'rhlic Libraryr Ft. ;'ayner,aJrd to the
nany recordo avaiLable at Goshen Coll'ege'
Currently, I am compilin6 a directory of
all the descendants of my 6randfathcr's
grandfather, Reuben'foaer (t8,t-1912) ar:
[6is6-llennonite of LaGrange County,I;' It has
been very rewarding to find hundreds of cousins
vlho f never knew existedi and to receive the
help of 5o nany in trackin;1 down various family
lines.
liy primary interest in this newsletter is in
the tpportunity it present6 for sharing our
i"riri'iti"tory and lor expanding th-e frontiers
of or" knovrledge in thls iespect' Ljen- nentioned
the help we are Sertina fr9-m.Racfgl.lireider'
one of ihe rnost respecied Yoder historians in
the country. :'Je have also received a rrcoun'u me
inil from Dr. Don Yoder, current editor.of the
genealgrric+I
*
&nnsvlvalia
llanazing: i:
authority on rennsyFnla German immigrants'
i(nowledge aboul our fanily is not-confined to
r"tof""i .such as these, and I would hope that
"ii ort readers will see fit to share from
their own traditions a4P lore'
--- ooo uooo---
LMI{G TRE/rSUllES
rt
How many of us have told ourselves I wish
I'd written down some of the stories my grand-
;";";l; used to tellt' or
.I wish Itd thought to
i"x"sr."Jt"ther about...'r ? l'Jith the passing of
each generation we can so easily lose a precious
.""tfI" of our heritage. Cur senior Yoder Seneration
is indeed a living treasure '
There are many ways in which you can preserve
yorr tt"rit"ge tor thtse who 1alff f6ll6r;' Ask
i;;; ;i;;" iamilv members about their parents and
crandparent6; extend your family by locatin6 and
i;;;ig in touch with second and third cotrsinsl
ii"ri p!.ioaic reunions and get togethersi Sather
old family photos and put together a-genealogy
iot yout "ttitdt".,, "ouiinst etc'.(aII you need
-- i6 a typewriter and a Xerox machine)'
ir vi, are a member of our senior gen:ration
take sorne tine to write or tape record thin86
"[""t-V.r" family which would be of interest to
;;;;; i; follow.-r donrt mean just names and dates
""a-pf"i"", but also stories of human inlerest
whicir will make the Past generations come alive'
I treritage of love and humor and pleasant memories
is sornethin6 we can aII hope to leave after
,n. Donrt forget to-include stories about your
"i" "-p""i"ncis, l'lho can better preserve those
things about your own life vrhich might be of
irl"-"".t and vaLue to Seneratigls
yet unborn'
Be assured that even if your efforts ate noE
i*t.ai"t"fy appregiated, they wilI be some time
in the future.
7
---ooo0000---
llhe herit,ailc o{ tlre past i*
}n': . =:::l:
that brings J ortil titp liarvr's u or rrr\:'
i utur'e .
---ooo0oo()---
Senc'your ir'ca.s in' lerllaf s you ila'v€)
"";;"stions
=;;"
that will malre this
f-, i151,1riiii worthrvhile '