YARD, M. D.

YARD, BENSON, ROWND, WALDRIDGE, DEETER, BYERS, COUCH

Posted By: Norma Jennings (email)
Date: 10/25/2011 at 22:28:54

M.D. YARD, Township Trustee, and a resident on section 1, Jackson Township, was born in Venango County, Pa., and is a son of Rufus and Sarah A. (Deeter) Yard.Rufus was a native of Pennsylvania, and a son of John Yard, of Trenton, N.Y. John Yard married Hannah Benson in Philadelphia. She was the daughter of a Swedish sea Captain, whose life was lost on the ocean. Sarah Deeter was born near Danville, Livingston Co., N.Y., of German ancestry. The Yards are of English origin.

Rufus Yard was by trade a mason, and also engaged in the mercantile business. He was married in Venango County, Pa., and four children were born to them in that county: Milton D.; Wilmot, deceased; Louisa, the wife of C.P. Waldridge of Nebraska, and Sarah A. The latter died in infancy. The death of Mrs. Yard occurred in 1860, and in 1861 Rufus Yard was married to Mrs. Christina (Byers) Couch. In 1865 the family emigrated to this county, settling in this township. After farming for several years, Mr. Yard removed to Washington and engaged in the mercantile business He removed to Nebraska in 1874, and thence to Illinois, where he yet resides. To the second marriage one son, Elmer M., was born, who is now in the employ of the C., B. &t; Q.R.R. One daughter, Marie Antoinette, was born to Mrs. Yard by her first husband. She is now the wife of John Young, by profession a teacher, but now the owner of a fine farm in Bureau County, Ill., where he resides. Rufus Yard was a man well known to the citizens of this county, and this brief mention of him will be appreciated by them.

Our subject was carefully educated at an academy, and by a private tutor. He completed his business education at Hillsboro, Pa., when eighteen years of age, and after coming to this county, in 1865, taught his first school in Jackson Township, at the Fairview School. This profession was followed during several successive winters in this and Highland Townships, with the recreation of farming during the summer. In 1868, his marriage to Miss Irene A. Rownd was celebrated. The history of her father's family will be read elsewhere. The young couple began domestic life in a tenant house upon her father's farm, and in 1870 removed to Marion County, where Mr. Yard took charge of the Island Mills, which he managed for three years, when the property was disposed of and they returned to Jackson Township, and were permanently located upon a delightful farm adjoining the paternal homestead.

Since the wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Yard, five children have gladdened their home—Clarence B., Lilian M., William R., Arthur W. and Sarah L. The scholarly attainments of Milton Yard made him a prominent candidate for Township Trustee in 1884, to which office he was re-elected, and is one of the present incumbents. He had previously served as an appointee in the same position, and his official acts have been appreciated by the residents of the township. For more than ten years Mr. Yard has served upon the School Board, and all his acts, both private and public, have been such as to commend him to the people as a scholar, a citizen and gentleman.

Portrait and Biographical Album, Washington, Iowa pp 189 - 191