My Genealogy Hound

CAPT. HORATIO D. YEAGER, a veteran of the late war, is a native of the Lehigh Valley, and is a resident of Bethlehem, occupying at the present time the responsible position of Weighmaster with the Bethlehem Iron Company. He is very popular among his fellow- townsmen, and particularly among the Grand Army boys, who have a warm place in his heart. In politics he is a Republican of the truest stamp, and has been active in the ranks of his party.

The paternal grandfather of our subject, Rev. John Conrad Yeager, was educated in Philadelphia for the ministry of the Lutheran Church, and after his ordination was the pastor of St. James Church, in Warren County, N. J., and also held pastorates in Hecktown, Shoenersville, Allentown and Friedensville. Later he returned to Hanover township, where he owned a home, having been in active pastoral work for thirty years. His death occurred at the age of sixty-four years. His father, who was a tobacco spinner by trade, had settled near York, coming from Switzerland. His only brother, who was in the Revolutionary War, died while a prisoner in the hands of the English.

The father of our subject, George Yeager, was born in Warren County, N. J., and became a farmer in Hanover Township, Lehigh County, where he owned a piece of improved land of one hundred and thirty acres. In 1858 he retired, living in Catasauqua until his death, in 1877, when he was nearly eighty-five years of age. He was a Whig, and later a Republican, and religiously was identified with the Lutheran Church. His wife, formerly Susanna Rohn, was a native of Hanover Township and a daughter of Daniel Rohn, who owned and operated a farm of three hundred acres on the Lehigh, below Catasauqua, which had formerly been owned by his father. He divided his land into two farms, one of which is now in the possession of his grandson, Asa Rohn. Mrs. George Yeager died in 1876, at the age of seventy-eight years, leaving to mourn her loss six of her seven children. Two sisters, Mrs. Eliza Fenstermacher and Mrs. Susan Nagle, reside in Catasauqua, and two sisters in Philadelphia, Mrs. Mary Loder, and Caroline, the wife of Rev. C. Becker. William R., a brother, is engaged in the lime business in Bingen. The Captain, who is the youngest of his father’s family, was reared on the farm until his eighteenth year. He received a good common-school education, and later entered VanKirk’s Academy, on Main Street, Bethlehem, where he completed a course in 1851. Two years later he went to Catasauqua, clerking for different men until 1858, when he started in business for himself as a member of the firm of Loder & Yeager, doing a general mercantile business on Front Street. At the end of two years he went to Philadelphia, being with a wholesale firm for about a year.

At the first tap of the drum in 1861 Mr. Yeager, entered the First Pennsylvania Artillery Regiment, but as they could obtain no guns, they entered the infantry, being assigned to Company F, Seventeenth Pennsylvania Volunteers. They were mustered in at Philadelphia, and were stationed in Virginia until the time of their service closed, when they were mustered out. Captain Yeager returned to Bingen, where he engaged in merchandising until September, 1863, when he joined Company C, One Hundred and Fifty-third Pennsylvania Infantry, being made First Lieutenant. This regiment took part in the battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, and during the first days of the last-named engagement he was wounded by a minie-ball in the left hip, the thigh bone being broken. He stuck to his post, nevertheless, but was captured by rebels in a farm house. It was three days before his wound received attention, and then his sister, Mrs. Fenstermacher, nursed him tenderly for six weeks.

On his return home, Captain Yeager engaged in running a lumber-yard with Mr. Swartz, and in 1864 erected a sawmill, engaging in the lumber and coal business for several years, during which time he was a member of the firms of Yeager & Wint, in 1871, then Yeager, Wint & Cyphers, and on the death of the latter partner a year later the firm became H. D. Yeager. As such he did business until 1874, when he sold out to F. W. Wint & Co., and built a saw and planing mill in Catasauqua, the only one there to-day. In 1875 he came to Bethlehem, buying a sawmill on Sand Island, which he operated until 1878, when he sold the same. At that time he went to Kansas, engaging in the livery business for two years in Osborne.

In 1881 the Captain, returning to Bethlehem, entered the employ of the Bethlehem Iron Company as Weighmaster, in which capacity he has since served, steady and faithful at his post. During each month he weighs over a million tons of material, both raw and manufactured, and is considered one of the most reliable employes of the company.

In Hunterdon County, N. J., the Captain was married, November 1, 1864, to Mary C., daughter of Isaac T. Riegel, a native of Riegelsville, N. J., of which place her father was also a native. Her grandfather, Hon. Benjamin Riegel, was engaged in the lumber business and in farming in Riegelsville, Bucks County, Pa., of which he was the founder, and served in the Legislature. His father was killed in the War of the Revolution while acting as a teamster. Isaac T. Riegel, like his father, engaged in agricultural pursuits and in the lumber business, and retiring during his last years died at the age of seventy-four, in 1892. His wife, Sarah M., was the daughter of Isaac N. Carpenter, and was born in Warren County, N. J. Her grandfather was the founder of Carpenterville, and was a farmer and miller. Going to Easton, he engaged in milling on Bushkill Creek, at the foot of College Hill. He died at the age of seventy-seven years, having been for many years an Elder in the Presbyterian Church. Mrs. Yeager’s mother died in her sixty-second year. One of her four children, Benjamin O, is an engineer at Lehigh University, and a daughter, Mrs. Carpenter, resides in Carpenterville, N. J.; another daughter, Mrs. Dr. Hulshizer, being a resident of Philadelphia. Mrs. Yeager was reared and educated in New Jersey, and has become the mother of three children: Annie, George C. and Joshua R.

While living in Catasauqua the Captain served as School Director for eight years, and was President of the board. He helped to organize Fuller Post of that place, of which he was commander for three terms, and now belongs to J. K. Taylor Post No. 182, G. A. R. One of the organizers of the First Presbyterian Church, he served as Chairman of the Building Committee, and has been an official member. In local politics he has been active, being a member of the County Republican Committee, and in 1876 was nominated by the Republican party for State Senator. He ran ahead of the ticket by six hundred, but the county having a Democratic majority of thirty-five hundred, his election was impossible.