My Genealogy Hound

DAVID KING YODER, engineer, post office Hulton, is a native of Westmoreland county, Pa , born Aug. 12, 1835, a son of Eli and Hannah (Rhodes) Yoder, natives of Mifflin and Bedford counties, Pa., respectively. The father was born Aug. 17, 1807, and is living with our subject. The mother died Sept. 15, 1848, aged thirty-three years. Eli Yoder commenced wagoning in 1828. With his father’s team he hauled goods and merchandise from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh for one year. At the end of this time he purchased the team from his father, and shortly afterward became owner of a second, also a third team. These were large covered wagons, and each one was hauled by six horses. In 1835 he sold his teams, and, working in the shops at Gaysport until he understood taking care of machinery, he was placed on the Allegheny Portage railroad as engineer. He held this position until 1853, and then entered, as machinist, the Altoona shops, where he was soon after appointed engine-inspector, a position he held for a long time. Mr. Yoder’s grandfather was David Yoder, who married a Miss Riel; they were born in Berks and Chester counties, respectively. This grandfather was a farmer, and at the time of the revolutionary war volunteered his services, with four horses and wagons, for seven years. Our subject’s father is a member of the Lutheran Church and of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. David K. Yoder received his education at Gaysport, Blair county, Pa., and at fourteen years of age began firing an engine for his father, and at seventeen ran the engine during his father’s sickness. He began his first run as engineer in 1853, on the western division of the Pennsylvania railroad, continuing until 1858, when he left and went on the Columbia & Philadelphia railroad. After running an engine on this road for a year he departed for the south, and after spending a few weeks there he returned to Gaysport, his old home, and joined the Juniata Rifles, a military company commanded by Capt. A. M. Lloyd. Shortly after Fort Sumter was attacked, and a call for troops was made by the president. The captain offered the services of his company, which were accepted. On their arrival at Harrisburg they were consigned to the 3d Pa. Regt. to guard railroads. At the expiration of three months they were discharged at Harrisburg; but still being anxious to serve his country longer, he went to Washington, D. C., where he enlisted in an independent company, called Putnam Rangers. Mounted and fully equipped, they were sent out as scouts through Virginia with different army corps. When the order to disband independent companies was received, they were sent to Camp Carroll, at Baltimore, Md., and formed into the 1st Maryland regiment of cavalry. At the formation of the company Mr. Yoder was elected second sergeant, which position he held until 1863. At that time, while on picket duty near Culpeper Court House, he was taken ill. At sick call he was ordered to field hospital, and afterward to general hospital, where he was compelled to remain for several months, as the fever (typhoid) had taken a stronghold upon him. Returning again to the regiment, he was detailed as sergeant of the ambulance corps. This position he held until he enlisted as veteran volunteer in Co. G. He was transferred, however, to Co. L, of same regiment, and was appointed, April 14, 1864, quarter master-sergeant of company L, 1st Regt. Md. V. V. C, which was discharged Aug. 8, 1865, at Richmond, Va. On returning home Mr. Yoder was employed as machinist at the Altoona shops for two years, and after a trip through the west worked for two years in the railroad shops at Pittsburgh. Jan. 1, 1867, he took an engine on the Allegheny Valley road, and April 1, 1868, took the run from Pittsburgh to Kittanning, continuing on the same run for twenty years.

Mr. Yoder was married March 21, 1864, to Katharine Elizabeth Niel, of Indiana county, a daughter of Thomas and Eliza (McClellan) Niel, also natives of Indiana county. Her father, who was a farmer, died in 1881, and her mother in 1865. Her grandfather McClellan, who was also a farmer, came from Scotland. Mr. and Mrs. Yoder have two daughters: Carrie Luticia and Lula May. All the family are members of the M. E. Church. Mr. Yoder is a member of G. A. R., A. O. U. W., and is a K. T. In 1856, on the Pennsylvania railroad, he and two other engineers were snowed in near Horse Shoe Bend, with three engines, all night and the next day, suffering greatly with the cold. He lived seventeen years at Chartiers, and moved to his property in Verona in 1884. He is now erecting another fine residence on the corner of D and Fourth streets, besides his present home.