Yuncker – iSeeAncestors

Was Grandpa a Northern Secessionist?

In a previous essay I explored whether my great great-grandfather, Jacob P. Yuncker (1837-1905), served in the Civil War. Apparently he was drafted in August 1863, but I could find no record of him actually serving. I concluded he was probably granted an exemption to care for his sick wife Rosa. Or perhaps he had already left the area either coincidentally or to avoid the controversial draft. I have since discovered more of his story.

An 1855 plat map of Erie County, New York shows the house where Jacob’s parents lived, and no doubt where Jacob and his siblings grew up. ¹ It is a nondescript community half way between Lancaster and Alden, just east of Buffalo, New York. The map indicates it is “Town Line” post office and it does straddle the boundary of both Lancaster and Alden townships.

A Curtiss JN-4 Jenny

Curtiss Jenny My great-granduncle John Yuncker was a piano sales manager in Los Angeles during the early 20th century. Here he participated in aviation history by taking one of the first-ever commercial passenger trips on August 30, 1919. As I describe in a previous post, he flew from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara to close on the sale of a very expensive piano.

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In the Shadow of What Was

Mom Remembers As a descendant I am of course detached from the ancestors I never met. I’ve undoubtedly inherited their physical characteristics and probably even their mannerisms. My history is somehow connected to them. I am their future. We also share a common future, one none of us has lived, or will live, to see.

Thus I think it’s fun to see what once was, and what it has become. I inherited this sense from my mother, Ruth (Stewart) Voisin, who always took time to connect the present to the past. Here she is as a twenty-year old standing with a friend in Pensacola, Florida and later, at the exact same spot, in her late fifties. It is not the plaque she is revisiting, it is a particular moment from her past, a memory of who she was, and who she had become. It is a connection in time at an ordinary place she went out of her way to revisit.

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Yuncker Legacy

In another post I described the accomplishments of my great-granduncle, John E. Yuncker, who owned J. E. Yuncker Music Company in Los Angeles. His wife Bessie (Zander) Yuncker was an accomplished pianist and music teacher. She died in December 1962, a mere month after her husband died.

A couple years later, Bessie is mentioned in connection with a new American Red Cross Service Center. In her will, she donated over $200,000 to the Red Cross for the express purpose of buying land, constructing and furnishing the new center. ² That was over two-thirds of the project’s cost. Today that would be about $1.5 million dollars.

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Civil War Draft

An article in the August 12, 1863 edition of the Buffalo Daily Courier lists names selected for conscription in the federal army during the Civil War. ³ Included was the town of Alden, near Buffalo in Erie County, New York. A Jacob Yuncker is listed among the 57 names selected in the previous day’s draft.

Since he was living in Alden, this is very likely my second great-grandfather, Jacob P. Yuncker. In the 1855 New York state census, 17 year old Jacob is listed as living in Alden with his parents Hubert and Barbara Yuncker. ⁴ A few years later, several tax assessment rolls ⁵ from the Internal Revenue Service show Jacob P. Yuncker paid taxes on boots and shoes, which were probably part of his shoe making business. These rolls span from September 1862 to June 1863 and they show his business was at Alden, New York. Jacob was a shoemaker like his father Hubert.

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And My Love To You Shall Never Fail

It’s been one hundred thirty-one years now. Proof enough that death does do us part, but that love lives on and never fails.

This story begins in 1881 when Mr. Jacob Yuncker purchased farm land near Beal City, Michigan. It happened to be across the road from a then 23-year old pioneer farmer named Joseph Voisin. Mr. Yuncker had a daughter, Mary Ann. She lived with her extended family on her grandparent’s farm down in Westphalia, Michigan near St. Johns.

Mary probably visited her father in Beal City and at some point she met Joe Voisin. They probably met a few times more. Joe played music at Indian dances and at square-dances. Mary attended some of these social gatherings, but since Joe was playing, they couldn’t spend much time together. This probably went on for some months.

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Tokens of the Past

Trade Token Another of my great-granduncles, Louis William Yuncker (1877-1963), was my paternal great-grandmother’s younger brother. He is mentioned in his mother’s 1921 obituary as living in Saginaw, Michigan. A quick search online revealed unique items with a connection to the past.

Two trade tokens bear the name L. W. Yuncker’s. ⁶ It turns out Louis William Yuncker owned a meat market in Saginaw. He undoubtedly used these very same tokens in the family business.

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A Brush with Aviation History

John E. Yuncker circa 1923 — John E. Yuncker
circa 1923

One of my great-granduncles, John Ernest Yuncker (1881-1962), was my paternal great-grandmother’s younger brother. He is mentioned in his mother’s 1921 obituary as living in Los Angeles, California. I had found him listed in the California death index years ago, but I never traced him further. I recently did so and I found that he made quite a name for himself and even had a brush with history.

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