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