Benjamin F. Yule 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.




Benjamin F. Yule is the owner of thirty-six acres of land in and near Somers. He formerly conducted farming interests on a much more extensive scale and for a long period he was identified with industrial activity as a carpenter. His birth occurred in Somers November 17 1851, his parents being Alexander and Jane (Watson) Yule, who were natives of Scotland. Leaving the land of hills and heather, they arrived in the United States in 1840 and almost immediately afterward settled in Somers Township, Kenosha County, Wisconsin, where Mr. Yule purchased two hundred and forty acres of land, then largely wild and undeveloped. He bent his energies to its cultivation and for twenty years engaged in farming upon that place, but desirous of putting aside the more active duties of agricultural life, he left the old homestead and made an investment in a small tract of land of thirteen acres, upon which he lived until his demise. He was married twice and by his first union had seven children: William, James, Alexander, George, John, Couts, and Beatrice. The children of his second marriage were nine in number: Mary, Joseph, Thomas, Ann, Henry, Robert, Andrew, Benjamin, and Edward. Mr. Yule was a Democrat in his political views, and a Presbyterian in religious faith, and his upright, honorable life won him the respect and goodwill of all with whom he came in contact.

His son, Benjamin F. Yule, attended the common schools to the age of seventeen years, afterward spent one term in the high school at Racine, and then began learning the carpenter's trade, at which he worked for forty years. He next engaged in farming, making investment in one hundred and ten acres of land, which he cultivated for a considerable period, but afterward sold eighty acres of that tract. He now owns thirty-six acres of land in and near Somers, and gives his attention to the development of his farm. His has been an active and useful life, crowned with a substantial measure of success, and his record proves what may be accomplished when energy and laudable ambition lead the way.

In 1878 Mr. Yule was married to Miss Jessie M. Strang, a daughter of Robert Strang. and they have become the parents of six children: Mabel, who is the wife of Edward Longmore and has one child; Blanche, who is the wife of James Thom and has four children; Clarence, a resident of Iowa; Edith, who married C. A. Jensen and has three children; Earl, living in the town of Somers; and Everett, at home.

The religious faith of the family is that of the Presbyterian church, and they are interested in all those forces which work for the moral development of the community. Mr. Yule is a Mason, loyal to the teachings of the craft, and is also identified with the Modern Woodmen. His political endorsement is given to the Republican party and, while he does not seek nor desire public office, he has never been remiss in the duties of citizenship, but supports those measures which are matters of civic virtue and pride.

Typed by: Michelle Laycock