Joseph C. Yetzer

Joseph C. Yetzer is a native of Richland county, Ohio, where he was born June 9th, 1835. He took up his abode in Lewis in the spring of 1856. He is a carpenter by trade, and his first job was to shingle a house for C. E. Woodward, the house in which Dr. Findley afterward resided. For his work he got $2.50 per day in gold. He did not intend to remain in Lewis when he first stopped, but disappointed himself in that respect. He and Dan Bryan built the store house in Lewis now occupied by Childs & Reinig. In 1861 he worked at building bridges on the Des Moines Valley railroad between Eddyville and Ottumwa. In 1862 he opened a grocery store in Lewis, running it for a short time, when he sold out and enlisted. Being rejected on account of sore eyes he returned to Lewis and in 1863 he bought his former grocery, and since that date has been a merchant. His business success has been remarkable. He at present has stores in Lewis and Atlantic, and is President of the Cass County Bank, of Atlantic.

From "History of Cass County, Iowa Together With Brief Mention of Old Settlers," by Lafe Young, Atlantic, Iowa, Telegraph Steam Printing House, 1877, pg. 60.