member of the Topeka Mennonite
Church, but Yoder also had ties to
Maple Grove Mennonite and was instrumental in its founding. When his
estate was settled generous gifts of
$25,000 were given to both churches.
According to Topeka Mennonite’s
history their funds were used in
1926 to construct their current
meetinghouse on the corner of Lake
and Harrison in Topeka. How ironic
that these two churches with pacifistic roots should be the beneficiaries
of a Civil War veteran.
Nancy Stoltz Sutton says that
her father John C. Stoltz loved to tell
the story of what Grandpa Yoder said
about buying a gravestone. Yoder
was financially blessed and owned
the farmland around what locals call
“Buttermilk Corners” (State Road
5 and the LaGrange-Noble County
line). According to Nancy’s father, old
Jonathan said that “he didn’t know
whether to buy a small monument
and be called a cheapskate or a big
one and be called a spendthrift……so
protecting him and the others. But,
Dana never shared any details of
the hardship they suffered for their
convictions. It is said that several
World War I
local leaders went to Kansas and
On June 5, 1918, Secretary of War talked with the commander. The
Newton Baker drew the first number of commander was promised that if
the World War I draft. Some 1,374,000 Hartzler and several