My Genealogy Hound

JACOB R. YOST. The immigrant ancestor of the Yost family of middle Montgomery county was Jacob Yost, who came from Germany in 1727, and purchased a tract of land in the township of Whitpain. In 1732, he married Elizabeth Shambough, also of German descent. He is named in the assessment list of Whitpain in 1734 as owning eighty acres of land, some of which is still in the possession of lineal descendants. There were at that time but twenty-four land-holders in the township.

Jacob Yost had several children, among whom was Daniel Yost, great-grandfather of Jacob R. Yost, subject of this sketch. He was born on the homestead at no great distance from where is now the village of Centre Square. He was reared on the farm and engaged in the business of weaving, then carried on by the family, who introduced it into the township, it having been established at first in a small log house, before the purchase of the farm in 1732. After that time it was carried on still more extensively. The Yosts were also famed far and near for their sickles, scythes and edge tools, which they manufactured from 1760 to 1816 at the old homestead in Whitpain. These implements were all forged by hand, and had an excellent reputation wherever they were used. The Yosts were among the earliest members of Boehm’s Reformed church at Blue Bell, in Whitpain township, and they appear to have arrived in the colony somewhat earlier than any of their German neighbors. The name Yost is found on some of the most ancient tombstones in its interesting old burying ground. Two of the members of the family who lie buried there, held the office of county commissioner, namely: Jacob Yost and Daniel Yost. Six or seven generations of the family have been members of the church-including Jacob R. Yost.

Daniel Yost (great-grandfather) was born March 14, 1736. He married Elizabeth Spear, also of that section of Montgomery county. They had a number of children, one of whom was Peter. Peter Yost, born on the homestead, January 28, 1765, was a farmer, and also engaged in the manufacture of scythes and other edge tools. There was a saw mill on the property, which has long been in ruins. Peter Yost married Elizabeth Ziegler, of a well known Montgomery county family of German descent. Among the children of Peter and Elizabeth Yost was Isaac (father). He was born at Crooked Hill, Limerick township, was educated in the schools of the vicinity, and followed farming on the homestead for some time, and learned the tanner’s trade with his uncle, Abraham Ziegler, near Skippackville. Later he removed to Berks county, where he followed tanning for seven years, then returning to the old home near Centre Square, and in 1873 removed to Centre Square, where he died at the age of eighty years, and where his widow yet resides, at the advanced age of ninety- four years. She was Miss Mary Reiff, of Skippack township. The children of Isaac and Mary Yost were: 1. Abram, died in 1892; 2. Michael, who died in 1871; he married Mary Fetter, and to them were born the following children: Annie C., who married Reuben C. Beyer, and they have one child; and J. Irwin, single. 3. Jacob Reiff Yost.

When Jacob R. Yost was about eight years of age, his parents removed from the upper end of the county where the father had been engaged in business as a farmer, and returned to the homestead near Centre Square. He was born in New Hanover township, May 16, 1843. He was educated in the schools of Whitpain, and completed his education at Freeland Seminary, now Ursinus College. He then entered the store at Centre Square, kept at that time by Ephraim Shearer, and remained there about three years. He then engaged in the coal, feed and machinery business at Gwynedd station, on the North Pennsylvania Railroad, where he was very successful and had an extensive and profitable trade. Having an opportunity to dispose of his business, he sold out, purchased the store at Centre Square of Mr. Shearer, his former employer, and conducted that business until the autumn of 1881. Mr. Yost was a very active Democrat, which party had at that time long been in the ascendant in Montgomery county, but from the year 1872, when the celebrated Grant-Greeley contest had undermined Democratic strength, was gradually losing its prestige. Mr. Yost in 1880 was nominated by way of recognition of his efforts in behalf of party success, for the office of county treasurer. After a most active and energetic canvass of the county on both sides, Mr. Yost was elected by one majority over his Republican competitor, Samuel S. Daub, of Pottstown, in a poll of nearly twenty-five thousand votes. He entered upon the duties of the position on the first Monday of January, 1881, and, after closing out his business at Centre Square, removed with his family to Norristown, where he has ever since resided, occupying a handsome residence, No. 536 Swede street. He served three years very acceptably in the position of county treasurer, and after the completion of his term, was retained for another three years in the office as deputy treasurer by his successor, Henry A. Cole. He then engaged in the real estate business with Edwin S. Stahlnecker, who had filled the office of sheriff of the county, as his partner, the firm being Stahlnecker & Yost, with offices on Penn street, near Swede, Norristown. The firm was a success from the start, Mr. Yost’s extensive acquaintance throughout the county and his knowledge of the value of property contributing greatly to their prosperity. The firm continued until 1893, a period of six years or more, and was then dissolved by mutual arrangement, Mr. Yost purchasing his partner’s share of the business, and continuing it on his own account. He is one of the most successful real estate dealers in Norristown, and is often called upon to testify as to the value of land and other property in suits for damages and other cases where it is necessary to have the judgment of experts, there being few men in the county whose knowledge in such matters is equal to his own. Mr. Yost has since removed his office to No. 305 Swede street, in the Albertson building, having a very complete and well equipped suite of offices.

Mr. Yost married, in 1876, Miss Josephine V. Smith, daughter of Lorenzo D. Smith, a well known resident of Whitpain township. Mrs. Yost was born June 2, 1846. Her mother was Jane Supplee, of an old Montgomery county family, who are descended from Andreas Souplis (Andrew Supplee), a French Huguenot, whose ancestors were driven from their native country by religious persecution, and who settled in Germantown in the time of William Penn. They have one child, Miss Mary, who is an artist of considerable ability.

Mr. Yost is one of the best known citizens of Norristown. Although a lifelong Democrat he is not a partisan, and enjoys the confidence and esteem of the whole community. He remembers being told by his great-aunt, who lived to an advanced age, many interesting traditions of Revolutionary times. His ancestors at the old homestead manufactured rifles as well as edge tools during the contest with the mother country, and these weapons were used with good effect on the patriot side. Some of these antique guns still remain in the neighborhood, although, unfortunately, none of them are in the possession of the family. A tool used by the Yosts in Revolutionary times in reaming out the barrels of the rifles was sold recently at a public sale in the neighborhood for a few cents. At the time of the attack by a band of Tories on the house of Captain Andrew Knox, in Norriton township, February 14, 1778, an alarm was given to the surrounding country, and a member of the Yost family set out for the beleaguered mansion, but the enemy had been driven away before he reached it with a stock of rifles intended for purposes of defense. The marauders had retreated, and several of them were afterwards captured, two of them being hanged for their share in the transaction.

Mr. Yost is a member of Boehm’s Reformed church at Blue Bell, but his wife and daughter are adherents of the Methodist faith, being members of the First Methodist Episcopal church of Norristown. Mr. Yost’s ancestor, Jacob Yost, the immigrant, was a brother-in-law of the Rev. John Philip Boehm, the founder of the church, and the Yost family have always been among its strongest and most influential members.