Brief Record of Four Pioneer Families of St. Joseph County, Indiana [ Yoder-Webster-Swaim-Hunt]

Sixty-seven years ago, St. Joseph County resident Charles Marvin Yoder compiled and published a 59-page family genealogy booklet entitled A Brief Record of Four Pioneer Families of St. Joseph County. The four pioneer families’ surnames featured in the booklet included: Yoder, Webster (mother’s surname), Swaim (wife’s surname), and Hunt (wife’s mother’s surname). Per his forward, Charles gathered information through word of mouth from family members, an old account in the Illustrated Historical Altas of St. Joseph County, Indiana 1873, records from his grandfather Andrew Yoder’s (1825-1918) family Bible, the Swaim family Bible, a book about the Hunt family, information from old gravestones, correspondence with distant relatives, and old newspaper articles. His introduction stated:

“I am recording [information] herein in the hope that it will prove of interest to future generations and will present a brief picture of the part their ancestors played in the great western migration, and preserve, in a small measure, some of the memories of pioneer days in this atomic age.”