Christopher C. Yetter

CHRISTOPHER C. YETTER, of Ogallah, has lived a great deal of history and has been a not unimportant factor in many developments and events which concern Western Kansas particularly, and in some respects the nation at large. He was a soldier and officer in the great Civil war and for forty years has been a resident in the vicinity of Ogallah, where he has had the experiences of a homesteader, farmer, business man and banker.

Mr. Yetter was born at Pleasant Hill, Ohio, March 4, 1841. His own record testifies to his Americanism, and it is further interesting to note that his great-grandfather was an officer in the Revolutionary war. His grandfather, Lewis Yetter, came from Germany with his parents when a boy, and grew up in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where he followed farming. He died there before Christopher C. Yetter was born. Lewis Yetter, father of Christopher, was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1800. He spent his early life there but after his marriage moved to Ohio, and in 1854 settled in Hancock County, Illinois, where he spent the rest of his life, dying at Carthage in that state in 1874. He was a tailor by trade but for many years followed farming. In politics he was an uncompromising democrat of the old school and was an active supporter of the Christian Church. Lewis Yetter married Elizabeth Bear. She was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1803, and died in Hancock County, Illinois, in 1870. A brief record of their large family of children is as follows: Mary, who died in Carthage, Missouri; Barbara, who died in Pleasant Hill, Ohio; Simon, who died in Indiana; Lewis, William and Catherine, all of whom died in Hancock County, Illinois; John, who died in Denver, Colorado; Christopher C., oldest of the living children; Henry C., in the drug business at Chicago; and Susie, who lives at Washington, Iowa, widow of Henry Stechter.

Christopher C. Yetter was about thirteen years old when his parents moved to Illinois. He began his education in Ohio, attended school in Hancock County, Illinois, and at the age of eighteen left his father's farm and for a year or so was an independent farmer in Livingston County, Illinois.

He served with the Union forces in the Civil war from August 2, 1862, the date of his enlistment, until his muster out June 14, 1865. He was promoted to first lieutenant of Company A of the One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Illinois Infantry. Part of the time his brigade commander was Benjamin Harrison, later president of the United States. He was in many battles and campaigns, among other the Atlanta campaign, and went with Sherman on the march to the sea and up through the Carolinas. Only once was he slightly wounded.

After the war Mr. Yetter returned to Hancock County, Illinois, and was in the brick business for a time and later a machinist. On coming to Kansas in February, 1879, he homesteaded eighty acres at Ogallah, and bought tracts of railroad and school lands. He still owns about 1,000 acres, most of it high class wheat land. He is retired from active responsibilities of farming and tenants his land. Among his improvements are fine modern residence and barn, and for a number of years was one of the lending stockmen in the county. He is vice president of the Ogallah State Bank.

Mr. Yetter is a republican, and one of the leading members of the Christian Church of Ogallah, which he serves as a deacon and trustee and to the building of which he and his wife contributed generously. He is a member of Captain Trego Post No. 197, Grand Army of the Republic, at Wakeeney, and has served many years as commander of the organization.

Mr. and Mrs. Yetter have had a happy married life of more than half a century. They were married November 7, 1867, at Pontiac, Livingston County, Illinois. The maiden name of Mrs. Yetter was Elizabeth Kief. She was born in Ireland but was reared in Ohio. Four children have been born to their marriage: Bernice, wife of Charles Benson, county clerk of Trego County; Norah, wife of W. A. Tawney, a large real estate owner and agent at Ogallah, and Mrs. Tawney for the past twenty-seven years has been railroad agent for the Union Pacific Company at Ogallah. C. D. Yetter, a clerk in the State House at Topeka; and Judd Yetter, who is connected with a newspaper at Los Angeles, California.

Pages 2269-2270.