The record of the Yoe brothers in connection with The Tribune is one of special interest to Kansans. W. T. Yoe was born at Port Republic, Calvert County, Maryland, March 26, 1845. The Yoes were an old Maryland family, having come from England with Lord Baltimore and most of the descendants of the first emigrants still live in Maryland. Walter Yoe, father of the Yoe brothers, was born in Maryland in 1800 and died at Rushville, Illinois, in 1867. He was reared and married in Maryland, and in 1848 moved to Rushville, Illinois. He followed his trade as carpenter and builder, was a republican in politics, served a time as a member of the Illinois militia. His wife was Elizabeth William Harris, who was born in Virginia in 1818 and died at Rushville, Illinois, in 1859. Her family came from the North of Ireland, and her brother, Rev. William Harris, was a Baptist minister, served as a colonel in the Confederate army, and died in Shelbyville, Kentucky, in 1870. Walter Yoe and wife had three sons: W. T., Charles and Franklin F. Franklin is a druggist at Independence, Kansas, and thus all three of the brothers are identified with that city.
Charles Yoe, the younger of these veteran publishers, and the president of the company, was born at Rushville, Schuyler County, Illinois, September 22, 1849, the year following the removal of his parents to that locality. Gaining his education in the public schools there, at the early age of sixteen he started for himself and found employment at various seasons as a farmer, in sawing wood, peddling ice and in printing offices. For a time he was office boy for the Rushville Citizen, and was paper carrier. For about five months he was with John Nicholson on the Illinoisan at Beardstown, Illinois, and in 1868, as already stated, became associated with his brother and others in the management of the Shelby County Herald at Shelbina, Missouri, and from there accompanied the plant and paper to Independence, Kansas.
Mr. Charles Yoe is a republican, and served on the State Board of Charities under Governor Stanley and in 1910 was supervisor of the census. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Among other business interests he is president of the Independence Building & Loan Association.
On August 8, 1880, in Montgomery County, he married Miss Agnes Overfield, a daughter of Thomas and Margaret Overfield. Her father was a farmer and is now deceased, and her mother resides in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Yoe, and is eighty-five years of age. The Overfield family came to Kansas from Massachusetts in 1854, and were among the pioneers of the territory and had their part in the struggle for the free state movement.