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
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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.
JOHN R. HARDIN is a farmer and stock-raiser residing on section 6, Oregon Township, where he is the owner of 120 acres, in addition to which he owns forty acres on section 5. He is a native of Sussex County, N.J., born in 1833, and is the son of Joshua and Effie (Roof) Hardin, both of whom were also natives of New Jersey. The former died in 1868, aged fifty-five and while the latter is still living in her native State.
The subject of this sketch was reared on a farm and has made farming his life's work. He came to Iowa in 1858, and settled in Muscatine County, where he remained a little over twelve years, coming to Washington County in 1871. He was married in Muscatine County, in 1867, to Julia A. Everett, a native of Iowa, born in 1844. By this union there were eleven children, five of whom are yet living—Lizzie, Harry E., Thomas, Carrie and Emma. Mr. and Mrs. Harding are worthy members of the Baptist Church, and in the work of the Church they take great delight. Politically, he is a Democrat, having an abiding faith in the doctrines of Jefferson and Jackson.
In 1863, during the darkest years of the war, Mr. Hardin enlisted in Co. A. 35th Iowa Vol. Inf. He went into the field a strong man, and but a few months passed before he was overtaken by disease, an on account of disability was discharged, after six months' faithful service. As a partial compensation for the loss of health sustained while while defending his country, he now receives a small pension. Like many other respected citizens of Washington County, he knows what it is to endure toil and privations. Commencing life in poverty, he has by his industry, good managment [management] and economy, acquired a fine property, having one of the best improved farms in this section of the county. As a Christian man he endeavors to exemplify in his life the teachings of our Savior.
OSCAR F. HAIGHT, dealer in sewing-machines at Washington, was born in Tioga County, N.Y., Jan. 27, 1840, and is the son of Thomas G. and Lutheria (Reed) Haight, both of whom were also natives of the same State. The family consisted of twelve children, nine of whom lived to be adults: Edgar now resides in Henry County, Iowa, and during the Rebellion served as a soldier in one of the Iowa regiments; Oscar F. is the subject of this sketch; Noyes enlisted in the 57th Illinois Infantry, and died from disease contracted while in the service; Laura resides in Denver, Col., and is the wife of Henry Blake; Frank resides in Appleton, Wis.; Emily is the wife of William Smith, and resides in Jacksonville, Mo.; George, when a boy of sixteen enlisted in the War of the Rebellion and served three years; he now resides in Cedar Rapids. Charles has not been heard from for years; Kate is the wife of Charles Gamble; of Henry County, Iowa; Eudora is the wife of Charles A. Swafford, of Johnson County, the same State. In 1858 the family came to Iowa and settled in Jackson County, where the mother died in 1859, and the father in 1860. She was a member of the Universalist Church.
The subject of this sketch came with his parents to Iowa in 1858, and when the war broke out offered his services to his country, but was rejected by the examining surgeon. In 1868 he located at Jessup, Buchanan County, Iowa, where he engaged in the harness trade. In 1870 he was married, in Black Hawk County, Iowa to Miss Henrietta Church, and the following year came to Washington and commenced his present business, in which he has been quite successful. He is a member of Hawkeye Lodge No. 1, A.O.U.W., and of the United Brethren Church, of which body his wife is also a member.
In politics Mr. Haight is a stanch Republican, and is at present one of he Aldermen of the city. Mr. and Mrs. Haight are the parents of two children—Walter and T.G.
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