w YODER NEWSLETTER - Yoder Family Information

t- Places
Narned_Yoder Series
YODJR . V/YOi"iING
by ilavid Luthy
(The following article, which originally appeared
in the JuLy, l9?3 issue of
"family Life", has been
-ipandec aird and updated. by its author especially
toi tne YoDER NEWST,ETTER)
Goshen County is located in the southeast
corner of n/yomlng and has within it towns named
lT,2e?Anee rr and rrYodefrr. To an Amlsh or l4ennonite
naFa^h tl-r ic urnrrld rnnorr rronrr inloroqiino fnn
}/erDvrr vu!!u vrrr6r f vt
rrcoshenrr is a town in Indiana and the hub of a
large Mennonite settfement, rrLaGrangerr is the
n:me of an ad, ioinins Tnd iana. corrntv which contains
the thlrd largest concentration of Amish
i n Amer i n: - and trYodef rr is the sec ond most c ornmon
Amish surname. Surely this v/yoming county
would seem to have real- Amish or Fiennonite roots.
The origin of the name rrGoshen Countyrr does
not, however, trace back to Goshenrlll. lt js
thought to have derived from an early trapper
namedrrGoshert. By 1846 the namerrGoshe+s Hole't
- -
ri nh irri oet.ed lar^ irn rnar D.'
wdb dPpl lcu uv d - lilf rr5 d! cd. DJ
l aBB it anneared nn i:ho m:n a s Gnshen iiof e .
S j-nce ilGoshenrr is a blblical name, lt would appear
that someone changed rrCosherr to rrGoshenrr. i
The town name rrLagrangerr also does not oriqin:fo
frnm Tnd ir-^ T! ''^^ '^-' I aftpr an car'l rr
-- -.,, *^.*^*lrd. f u wdD l44Llisu a. -'' *^- -*-'J
homesteader, Cale b La0aange . F
Last but not least is the town named rrYoderrr.
Tt does indeed haVe t
rrruu!u
trri an AmiSh Connegtign. It iS
.'l
about a m1l-e west of US Highway 85 and 2 mifes
west of the Nebraska state l-ine. fts beginning
is cl osel v I irked '.ri r-la *l-ra ph i -l i ^ r. : r I f f f P 9 Yodef
family.
Phi-1ip Yoder. was born in 1836 at Shanesville,
Ohio. He was the son of Jacob D. and Barbara
/ r , . - - \ r , .
(Mil-1er) Yoder, who are listed as rrAmishrr in
both the Christ-lan -L'isher genealogy (t,t o.Oe I t)
and the e@ genealogy (t't o.+eet).
rn 1B6i @eietfa Hattery at
Shanesville. The Barbara i'lochstedfer genealogy
l-ists them as rrlr'iennoniterr which they may have
been when married, but they did not remain so
untif death. Their first child, Benjamin, vras
born at Shanesville in 1861. Shortly thereafter
they moved to Iowa where their second chi1d,
Amanda, was born in 1865 at Swedesburg in rlenry
Countv. Fi.ve more childr:en rvere born in f owa:
Jesse- ( 1869) , oscar (?), -;fara ltels),
jda . 'ay
(1B75), and iadie (1882).
In the fall of 1881, Philip and his oldest
son, Bsnj3mi-n f . or rrFrankrr as he was called,
went to ;{yoming. Frank spent the winter there,
whife Phil1p returned to Iowa. The following
spring, Ph11ip brought his fam1ly to;/yorning:
three sons and four daughters with a fifth
daughtgrrlJina, being born there three years
Iater.)
The Philip Yoder farnily settled in Goshen Co.
on a ranch al-ong Bear .jreek. Philrp prospered in
raising eattle and horses. i{1s Amish and I'{ennonite
heritage was discarded. In l-ate 1)aJ, after
an absence of 42 years, Philip and his wife
travefed back to thelr native Ohio to visrt. I'irs.
Yoder suddenly took i11 and died in the community
ivhere she had been born. Her obituary appeared
in the ,.rm-L;h-l4ennonite nev/spapcr, The 3udget,
nrr'l-,-f i-1.rrt n+ .,,ncrnpaoL Ohio in iho'-'---;-7'
triuu_L_Lsneu aL rugar