Clarence Yonk
Biography
As published in
"The City of Kenosha and Kenosha County Wisconsin: A Record of Settlement,
Organization, Progress and Achievement"
by Frank H. Lyman Vol. 2, The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, 1916.
Clarence Yonk, who is successfully engaged in general merchandising in Woodworth
and also owns land within the town limits, was born in Amsterdam, Holland on the
13th of December 1869, a son of Henry and Annie (Dexter) Yonk, who emigrated to
the United States and located at Union Grove, Wisconsin, when our subject was
but three and a half years old. He entered the public schools at the usual age
and devoted much of his time to the acquirement of an education until he was
fifteen years old. For the following nine years he worked as a hired hand but at
the end of that time rented one hundred and sixty acres in Bristol Township
which he cultivated for three years. For a similar period of time he operated an
eighty-acre farm belonging to a Mrs. Joslyn and then rented two hundred and
forty acres of L. P. Devlin. After farming that place for five years he
purchased eight acres of land in Woodworth. In addition to cultivating this he
ran a threshing machine for three years, but at the end of that time disposed of
his outfit and built a business block, in which he has since conducted a general
store. His stock is selected with a view to the needs of his community and as
his business policy is liberal and reliable, and he has built up a good
patronage.
Mr. Yonk was married on the 23d of November, 1893, to Miss Anna Lindquist, a
daughter of Victor and Johanna Lindquist, natives, respectively, of Sweden and
Denmark. In 1869 they came to the United States and located in Pleasant Prairie
Township, Kenosha County, Wisconsin, but after farming for four years the father
went to Truesdell and built a feed mill patterned after the mills of Holland. He
operated this for many years and it became one of the landmarks of the locality.
He died in 1905 but was survived by his wife until 1912. Both are buried in the
cemetery at Kenosha. They were the parents of four children, namely: Victoria,
now the wife of John Clausen; Sarah, deceased; Anna; and Oscar, a resident of
Laporte, Indiana, who married Miss May Bronson, a native of London, England. Mr.
and Mrs. Yonk have two children, Jessie and Grace Victoria.
Mr. Yonk is an advocate of Republican principles, but believes that the
qualifications of a candidate are of greater importance than his political
allegiance and accordingly votes independently. He is identified with the Masons
at Bristol and belongs to the Modern Woodmen. He has demonstrated his enterprise
and sound judgment, for he began his career empty-handed and has through his own
unaided efforts gained a substantial measure of prosperity.
Typed by: Michelle Laycock