Ruth E. Yoder: Faithful Wife, Mother, Educator

    Ruth Edna Yoder was born to Rev. Amos Israel “A.I.” Yoder and Saloma (Salome) Yoder on October 8, 1900 – their first child. My great-grandmother was proud to be their daughter. My great-great-grandfather was ordained to preach in the Mennonite Church while living in Tennessee and was a missionary and evangelist in Tennessee, Chicago, Iowa, and Texas. Ruth was born while Amos and Saloma lived in Kalona, Iowa. According to his obituary, while serving as a bishop for the East and West Union church in Iowa, “his counsel was sought and freely given in many of the activities of the Church throughout the congregations and conferences.” According to his obituary, he was “a kind and loving husband and father…an earnest preacher and faithful bishop…a true brother and wise counsellor…community intercessor and friend.” It is not at all surprising why Ruth admired and deeply loved her father. Both in looks and temperament, my own daughter strongly favors Saloma Yoder, whose grandchildren described her as sweet and loving. It is clear that Ruth came from a strong Christian background and a loving home.

My daughter and Saloma Yoder (2021)

    Due to Great-Great Grandpa’s missionary activities, the family never stayed in one place for overly long. By the time Great-Grandma Yoder was 9 years old, her father’s missionary work took the family to Texas, where she enrolled in school. As of the next census, in 1920, the family had made their final move to Ohio.

Great-Grandma Ruth Yoder with her parents and siblings
She is wearing glasses

    Even though her family moved to Ohio, it appears that Grandma stayed in Goshen, IN to finish her high school education at the private Mennonite school, Goshen College Academy. She seemed to be an active student, participating in the Philomatheans, the Academy’s literary society, during her junior year and as class secretary her senior year in 1920. Her yearbook described her as “…rather quiet, but she has something to say when she says it. She is full of “pep” and class spirit…one of the most active members of the class.” Ruth certainly took advantage of the new opportunity afforded to women to further her education at the collegiate level when she enrolled in Goshen College after she graduated from Goshen Academy in 1920 (maybe 1921?). According to the 1930 census, she completed two years at Goshen College before she took on her first teaching job in Ohio. Ruth grew up in a household that valued education and I am sure her parents encouraged her in this endeavor as her father, at one time, served as the Vice President of the Mennonite Board of Education as well as the Publishing Committee of the Mennonite Publication Board.

Junior Year at Goshen Academy, 1919
Ruth is in the center back row

Senior Class Photo, 1920

    Ruth only taught for a few years before she met and married a young widower, Thomas Yoder in 1925. Thomas’s first wife passed away in the last wave of the Spanish Flu in 1920 and their two-year-old son, Donald, followed a year later passing away from septicemia because of an eczema wound after a brief hospitalization in Philadelphia. By 1930, Ruth was a homemaker taking care of her growing family. My Grandma said, and census records confirm, that Ruth returned to teaching when Grandma was in 8^th grade (she had her mom as her teacher), teaching in a one-room schoolhouse called the Concord School. Great-Grandma’s obituary places her teaching in Brady Township and more sleuthing will be needed to reconcile this information. Regardless, teaching in a one-room schoolhouse in the 1940s-1950s was becoming a rarer occurrence as students began to attend larger public schools. Teaching multiple grades in one classroom was certainly not easy; however, according to my Grandma Ruby (her daughter) and my Aunt Ellen, Great-Grandma Yoder loved teaching. Aunt Ellen recalled that Great-Grandma Yoder had a heart for her students and was proud of her education and her occupation as a teacher.

Thomas's first wife, Effie. Her mother and sister were unable to attend her funeral because they were also stricken with the flu.

Thomas's first son, Leroy, aged 2.
"What an allwise Father we have, that the child need not be left without the tender hand of a mother to guide him through life."

Marriage Announcement in The Urbana Daily Citizen, July 4, 1925

     Even though she was considered well-educated for her time, Grandma Ruth Yoder did not have an easy life. Grandma Ruby (Ruth's daughter) told me that at some point, likely while Ruth was in high school, she contracted the Spanish Flu and, according to family lore, received an experimental treatment that may have been life-saving. What this therapy or treatment was, I have had no luck finding. After marriage, her family was not wealthy, and she and Great Grandpa Yoder lived in a farmhouse in rural Pennsylvania while he worked as a laborer. They had four young children during the Depression Era – when many people were choosing not to have children and finances were tight. Even in the 1960s, their farmhouse lacked indoor plumbing. According to Ellen, she never learned to drive and after Great-Grandpa passed away in 1965, Great-Grandma took a house in town – probably owing to its proximity to civilization.  Despite these trials, she is remembered as a kind, modest, and strong Christian woman who left a wonderful legacy for us. Great-Grandma Ruth lived 99 years, passing away on December 4, 1999.

Sources:

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/46563697/donald-leroy-yoder: accessed 13 December 2022), memorial page for Donald Leroy Yoder (6 Dec 1918–18 Mar 1921), Find a Grave Memorial ID 46563697, citing Allensville Mennonite and Amish Cemetery, Allensville, Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, USA; Maintained by Mona Anderson (contributor 46620248).

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/46563699/effie-mae-yoder: accessed 13 December 2022), memorial page for Effie Mae Zook Yoder (6 Feb 1897–7 Mar 1920), Find a Grave Memorial ID 46563699, citing Allensville Mennonite and Amish Cemetery, Allensville, Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, USA; Maintained by Mona Anderson (contributor 46620248).

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/19471469/amos-israel-yoder: accessed 13 December 2022), memorial page for Rev Amos Israel “A.I.” Yoder (5 Jan 1866–27 Nov 1932), Find a Grave Memorial ID 19471469, citing South Union Mennonite Cemetery, West Liberty, Logan County, Ohio, USA; Maintained by Tom Crago (contributor 46845398).

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/42181348/ruth-edna-yoder: accessed 13 December 2022), memorial page for Ruth Edna Yoder Yoder (8 Oct 1900–4 Dec 1999), Find a Grave Memorial ID 42181348, citing Allensville Mennonite and Amish Cemetery, Allensville, Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, USA; Maintained by Mona Anderson (contributor 46620248).

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/42181333/thomas-brian-yoder: accessed 13 December 2022), memorial page for Thomas Brian Yoder (14 Sep 1894–14 Jun 1965), Find a Grave Memorial ID 42181333, citing Allensville Mennonite and Amish Cemetery, Allensville, Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, USA; Maintained by Mona Anderson (contributor 46620248).

Goshen College. The Maple Leaf Yearbook. 1919. Photograph. Family Search Digital Archive. Allen County Public Library. https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/viewer/425353/?offset=&return=1#page=82&viewer=picture&o=search&n=0&q=ruth%20yoder.

Goshen College. The Maple Leave Yearbook. 1920. Photograph. Family Search Digital Archive. Allen County Public Library. https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/viewer/417773/?offset=&return=1#page=60&viewer=picture&o=info&n=0&q=ruth%20yoder.

Ohio. Logan County. Marriage Records, 1774-1993. Ancestry.com, Lehi, UT. Film 000534842. AncestryLibrary.com.

Snyder, Ruby. 2022. Interview with Erin Parker. Dec. 13. Phone.

Summy, Ellen. 2022. Interview with Erin Parker. Dec. 13. Phone.

U.S. Census Bureau. United States Federal Census, 1910. Prepared by AncestryLibrary.com. Accessed Dec 13, 2020. https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/imageviewer/collections/7884/images/4454395_00839?pId=145659858.

U.S. Census Bureau. United States Federal Census, 1920. Prepared by AncestryLibrary.com. Accessed Dec. 13, 2022, https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/discoveryui-content/view/79540709:6061?tid=&pid=&queryId=4c62cb92dc9b53eeb9b7fc825208131c&_phsrc=tWQ27&_phstart=successSource.

U.S. Census Bureau. United States Federal Census, 1930. Prepared by AncestryLibrary.com. Accessed Dec. 13, 2022, https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/discoveryui-content/view/51708920:6224?tid=&pid=&queryId=4c62cb92dc9b53eeb9b7fc825208131c&_phsrc=tWQ26&_phstart=successSource.

U.S. Census Bureau. United States Federal Census, 1940. Prepared by AncestryLibrary.com. Accessed Dec. 13, 2022, https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/discoveryui-content/view/19099271:2442?tid=&pid=&queryId=4c62cb92dc9b53eeb9b7fc825208131c&_phsrc=tWQ26&_phstart=successSource.

U.S. Census Bureau. United States Federal Census, 1950. Prepared by AncestryLibrary.com. Accessed Dec. 13, 2022, https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/discoveryui-content/view/243948011:62308?tid=&pid=&queryId=4c62cb92dc9b53eeb9b7fc825208131c&_phsrc=tWQ26&_phstart=successSource.

"Were Married." The Urbana Daily Citizen, 4 July 1925, p. 12. Newspapers.com. Accessed Dec. 13, 2022. https://www.newspapers.com/image/880259364/?terms=thomas%20b.%20yoder&match=1.