Bedford County PA Archives Biographies.....Yohn, Charles R.    
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Judy Banja jbanja@msn.com May 2003


CHARLES R. YOHN, master mechanic of the Huntingdon & Broad 
Top Mountain Railroad and Coal Company's shops at Saxton, 
Pa., is a native of this State.  He was born August 6, 1838, 
in Montgomery County, which was the birthplace of his 
father, Henry B. Yohn.  The latter was a farmer, and engaged 
in agricultural pursuits in Montgomery and Chester Counties. 
 His wife, whose maiden name was Sarah Burns, was born and 
brought up in Chester County, Pennsylvania, and was of 
Revolutionary stock.
  Charles R. Yohn during his early years attended the 
district schools of his neighborhood in Montgomery County.  
Having much natural mechanical ingenuity, and not content to 
spend his life as a farmer, he looked about in search of 
congenial employment, and on April 4, 1858, began working 
with a bridge-builder's gang on the Philadelphia & Reading 
Railway.  Two years later he became fireman for the same 
company, and, soon after the breaking out of the Civil War, 
he was promoted to the position of engineer.  In this 
capacity Mr. Yohn remained nineteen consecutive years, 
during which he ran his locomotive day after day, with 
neither mishap nor accident, a remarkable record for so long 
a time.  In 1881 he accepted his present position with the 
Huntingdon & Broad Top Railway Company as master mechanic, 
having charge of their many shops at Saxton.  He has proved 
himself a most efficient superintendent, and to a marked 
degree has won the confidence and esteem both of those above 
and those below him.  He is a Republican in politics, a 
member of the Baptist church, and is held in high regard as 
a man and a citizen.  He is a Mason, belonging to Chandler 
Lodge No. 227, in Reading, Pa.
  Mr. Yohn married on September 22, 1863, Miss Hannah R. 
Lewis, of Reading, Pa.  Her grandfather, James Lewis, was a 
first cousin of General Anthony Wayne, of Revolutionary 
fame.  They have three children living, namely: Mrs. John M. 
Sanderson; Mrs. C. H. Jones; and Ambrose E., who is a 
graduate of the Mechanical Engineering Department of the 
Lehigh University.


Source: Bedford Biographical Review, 1899, Bedford Co., Pa