JOHN YAGER

John Yager is one of the enterprising and progressive business men of Yellow Springs township, connected with farming and stock-raising interests. He is a native of West Phalen, Germany, his birth having occurred in Usinger. He was brought to America by his parents when only six weeks old, and the family located near Dodgeville, Franklin township, where they lived for some years. The father had previously learned the butcher’s trade in Germany, and after coming to the New World he worked as a laborer by the day. Later he was employed at the plaster mason’s trade, and helped to build the old stone mill at Dodgeville, which was the first work he did in the State of Iowa. He afterward took up his abode in Burlington, and followed butchering in the winter months, while in the summer season he was employed as a builder in mason work. He had a family of eleven children. John Yager spent the days of his boyhood and youth in his father’s home, and was early inured to labor, it being necessary that he provide for his own support, as his father had a large family, and was in limited financial circumstances. There were only three stores in Burlington at the time the family home was established in this part of the State, and Mr. Yager has since been a witness of the development and growth that have wrought a wonderful transformation here. None of his brothers and sisters have ever married. He and his brother John are connected in their business interests, and their sister Mary Maria acts as their housekeeper. She was born Nov. 16, 1843. Mr. Yager and his brother are now building a suspension bridge from the top of one hill to another. The bridge is about two hundred feet long, and about twenty feet and five inches high, and is constructed of wire cables. They are well known in connection with industrial life in this part of the State, and are known as enterprising business men, giving their undivided attention to the interests entrusted to their care and to their private business concerns.