William Brown Yeagley - Civil War Soldier Buried in Farmer Cemetery

William Yeagley once described himself as a "capitalist," and he surely was.  He bought and sold land, ran a farm, worked as a surveyor and invested in a canning factory.  William was a Pennsylvania man, born on November 15, 1833, to Andrew and Catharine (Dougherty) Yeagley.  



When he was 21, he married Margaret Hendershot, but after settling the family in Dekalb County, Indiana, and starting a family, he enlisted in the Indiana Volunteer Infantry - Company H, 88th Regiment.  He was twenty eight years old and had three children (and possibly one on the way) at the time of his enlistment on August 12, 1862.  Organized at Newville, Indiana, the 88th met together in Fort Wayne before marching together to Louisville.  They pursued Bragg through Kentucky and Tennessee, losing fifty-six men at the Battle of Stones River.  They were involved in the horrendous battle at Chickamauga, climbed Lookout Mountain with Hooker by November 24th, and then fought at Missionary Ridge on the next day.  They were heavily involved in the fighting on Sherman's march to the sea.  Later, William would name his son, born in 1863, Sherman, in honor of the general he admired.  

By 1870, William and Margaret had settled in Center Township, Williams County, where he farmed.  Their children, at that time, were Blanche, 14; Park, 13; Lottie, 8; and Sherman, 7.  The first two children were born in Ohio and the second two in Indiana.  

Washington Township, Defiance County, was the family's home in 1880.  Little Madge, who was 5 then, was now in the family.  Park and Sherman helped their father on the farm.  In 1886, William purchased 80 acres in Farmer Township from Allen Barrows, and at some point the family moved there.  William not only farmed, but he was a businessman, too, investing in and serving on the board of the Farmer Canning Company.

Defiance Weekly Express, August 10, 1899

In the 1900 census, William, then 66, gave "capitalist" as his occupation, as did his sister, Catharine J. Britton, a widow, who lived with him.  Margarette, 62, also had Madge, 25, single, at home, and Ella B. Tharp, 22, a granddaughter.  Madge worked as a saleslady in a grocery store and Ella was a dressmaker.  It was noted that Ella was married less than a year, but her husband's whereabouts...and name...are unknown.

About 1901, Madge married Vernon E. Cunningham, a house painter, and the couple lived with her parents.  William was then 76 and Margaret, 72, in Farmer Township.  

William died on February 19, 1915.  His obituary appeared in the Crescent-News on March 5, 1915:

Daniel D Diehl, comrade of William Yeagley in Company H

Margaret Hendershot Yeagley lived on another ten years, passing away in February, 1925.  Her obituary appeared in the Crescent News on February 7, 1925:

Farmer Cemetery