By Fred Steiner

This is the first in a series of “Famous from Bluffton” features from www.blufftonforever.com. 

Samuel S. Yoder’s name does not register in the minds of many, if any, Bluffton residents today.

However, this one-time Bluffton mayor, former business owner and Civil War veteran, once served Ohio’s 4th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives.

He also served as the sergeant of arms in the House. He died in May 1921 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Yoder’s Bluffton ties may be forgotten, but during his professional career he was Bluffton’s most recognized citizen.

Here’s his story:

Yoder was born to an Amish family on Aug. 16, 1841, in Berlin, Ohio. On April 19, 1862,  he joined the Union army in the Civil War.

Enlisting in the 128th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment he rose to the rank of lieutenant. He served until the war ended.

Following the war he enrolled at the College of Wooster. He later transferred to and graduated from the University of Michigan. 

In 1868 Yoder moved his family to Bluffton, where he opened a medical practice.

In 1870, he married Minerva Maxwell and the couple had five children, only three of whom survived infancy. 

Besides his practice of medicine, which included work as a dentist and druggist, Yoder also served as a Bluffton councilman and, in 1874, was elected mayor.

­He was Bluffton’s mayor for 10 years and in 1878 moved his family to Lima to study law, where he was admitted to the bar in 1880, when he was close to 40 years old.

Yoder was a member of Bluffton Masonic Lodge, No. 432, of which he was the first elected master, and was master for nine years.

After moving to Lima, he won election as a judge on the Allen County Probate Court. He was a judge from Feb. 1882 to October 1886. From 1883 to 1885 he was a member of the Democratic State executive committee.

In 1886, he ran for a congressional seat as a Democrat and won. He served from 1887 to 1891, winning reelection in 1888. ­­He served in the 50th and 51st Congress, covering the period of March 4, 1887 to March 3, 1891.

He was not a candidate for renomination in 1890.

In 1891, he became sergeant of Arms of the United States House of Representatives, serving from December 8, 1891, to August 7, 1893.

He remained in this post for two years and then retired from public service, returning to his law practice and also engaged in the real estate business, which was located in Washington, D.C., until his death in May, 1921.

On Oct. 25, 1891, the (Lima) Times-Democrat reported, “Judge Yoder, to whom the people of this city are indebted for the public building, has no opposition for the position of Sergeant-at-Arms of the House. Everybody rejoices in all his good luck, and wish that more may come to him.”

Yoder also maintained his affiliation with a variety of voluntary organizations. He served as commander in chief of the Union Veterans Union from 1891 to 1893 and was a longtime member of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of Union veterans.

You may read the entire story, which includes links to other Samuel Yoder articles and additional photos here: 

www.blufftonforever.com/post/famous-from-bluffton