My Genealogy Hound

SHERMAN E. YEAGER, a wholesale liquor dealer and business man of Pottstown, was born September 27, 1852, in Reading, Berks county, Pennsylvania. He is the son of George and Elizabeth (Sherman) Yeager.

Michael Yeager (grandfather) also lived in Reading, where he was engaged in the mercantile pursuits. The Yeagers are a family of note, descended from prominent European families. Today members of the family are some of the largest property owners in Reading and Pottstown. Michael Yeager married Mary Evans, and they had the following children: John, still living in his ninetieth year; George (father); Mrs. Henry W. Raudenbush, aged eighty-seven years, and Joseph E., who died at the age of sixty-two, and is buried in Pottstown.

George Yeager (father) was born December 25, 1815, at Reading, and is still living with his son, Sherman E., in Pottstown. He was superintendent of the Union Canal for thirty-eight years, and was also at different times engaged as contractor, stone cutter, mason, and cabinet-maker. He controlled the canal for many years. He married Elizabeth Sherman, who died in 1852, at the age of forty-one years, and is buried at the Charles Evans cemetery, Reading. He married (second wife) Miss Ellen Hains, of Reading, also deceased. Mr. Yeager belongs to Lodge No. 62, Free and Accepted Masons, Reading, and is also an Odd Fellow. George and Elizabeth (Sherman) Yeager had four children: Evans, George, Morris (deceased), and Sherman. George and Evans served in the rebellion. George and Ellen (Hains) Yeager had one child: Helen, deceased. He married (third wife) Catharine Fichthorn, by whom he had three children, Lehman, Harry, deceased, and Annie. His wife died about 1886.

Sherman E. Yeager completed his education when he was fifteen years of age, and immediately entered into the mercantile business. He was troubled with rheumatism which has disabled him through life. He was employed by Amos W. Potteiger, and was again taken sick. On recovering he engaged in the cigar manufacturing business, remaining so until he formed a partnership with P. H. Hench to carry on the tobacco business. The firm was dissolved after the panic of 1873, and Mr. Yeager went into business for himself on Penn street, Reading. At the end of two years he entered the firm of Rahn & Yeager, tobacconists, where he worked for two years. After a prolonged sickness of two years he was employed as manager of the wholesale liquor business of John M. Bowman, in Reading, for ten years. He traveled and attended to the business in general, but close application brought on an attack of sickness such as to reduce his weight from one hundred and sixty to one hundred and ten pounds, and he was obliged to travel. He spent seven months in the west, and after his return opened the same business in Pottstown, buying out F. E. Hudson, and conducting the establishment successfully. He closed out his business in Pottstown in November, 1903, and is now manager of Geiger & Hines’ wholesale liquor store.

In 1874 Sherman E. Yeager married Miss Emma Strohacker, daughter of Edward and Ellen (Hafer) Strohacker. Mr. Strohacker was a merchant in Reading until his death about 1885. His wife is still living in Reading. The children of Sherman E. and Emma Yeager: George E., born in 1875, married Miss Kelly, of Reading; Charles S., born in 1878, married Miss Wentzel, daughter of Augustus Wentzel, a prominent resident of Reading; Wayne C., born 1882, unmarried; Edith May, born November 10, 1888; Rosie E., born July 22, 1891. George E. Yeager graduated at the Reading high school, and immediately entered the employ of the Standard Oil Company. He has been with the company for thirteen years, and is now chief clerk of the Camden office. He and his wife have one son, George K. Charles S. Yeager and his wife live in Reading, where he is the foreman of the Reading Engraving Company. They have no children. Wayne C. lives at Easton, where he has charge of the Easton division of the Standard Oil Company. He was in charge at the age of twenty, and has a very bright future before him. When he was eighteen years of age he arranged a stock sheet which the Standard Oil Company now issues all over the world. Edith May Yeager resides with her parents. She is an accomplished musician. Rosie E. Yeager is a student in the Pottstown public schools.

Sherman E. Yeager is a Republican, but has never held office. He is a member of the Lutheran church of Pottstown. He belongs to the following organizations: Free and Accepted Masons, No. 254, Pottstown; Chapter Hood, No. 271, Pottstown, Elks, No. 814, Pottstown, P. O. S. of A., Camp 509, of Reading, and is also a past member of K. of P., Reading. Mr. Yeager is one of Pottstown’s leading citizens, and a general business man. He at one time had charge of a drug store in Reading for eight years.