Chapter
3 - The Deceased Officer
Benjamin Franklin Yost was born on
May 24, 1841, one of six children of his parents, Benjamin and Mary (nee Stamm)
Yost. His siblings were Sarah, Mary, Caroline, Amanda and Catharine. He had
recently married his young wife, Henrietta Wertmann, the daughter of Elias and
Catherine (nee Boyer) Wertmann, who became a widow at the age of fourteen.
The funeral of Officer Yost is
described by the newspaper The Tamaqua Item, with the following account: The
funeral of the late officer B. F. Yost took place this afternoon and was one
of the most largely attended and most solemn and impressive ceremonies of the
kind that have taken place in our city in a long time. Business was entirely
suspended during the afternoon, and our citizens seemed anxious to testify in
every way possible their respect for the deceased and their sorrow and
indignation at the brutal manner in which he was hurried into eternity. The deceased
had served honorably through the war in Company I, 48th P.V., and
the ex-soldiers of our city turned out in strong force to pay the last sad
honors to their departed comrade. A meeting of the soldiers was held at the
U.S. Hotel last evening, at which a firing squad was detailed, and all
arrangements made to carry out the military portion of the ceremonies properly.
Accordingly at one o’clock the soldiers formed at the U.S. Hotel, and headed by
the Pennsylvania Silver Cornet Band, the services of which had been very kindly
volunteered for the occasion, marched to the late residence of the deceased on
South Lehigh Street.
After
appropriate religious services at the house the remains were brought out and
the funeral cortege formed in the following order: Detachments of Police Force
of Pottsville, Mahanoy City, Tamaqua, and the Coal and Iron Police;
Pennsylvania Silver Cornet Band; Firing Squad of Returned Soldiers in Uniform;
Returned Soldiers in a body, carrying Stars and Stripes and Battle-torn Flags
of 48th P.V.; Washington Camp No. 100, Patriotic Order Sons of
America; Washington Camp No. 57, Patriotic Order Sons of America; Town Council;
Detachment of City Fire Department; Clergymen; Hearse, with Coffin – Draped
with American Flag, and flanked by six pall bearers; Comrades of the deceased
in the 48th P.V.; Family and Relatives; Friends and citizens
generally.
The
procession, which was a very large one, moved in this order to Odd Fellows’
Cemetery, where appropriate religious services were held, followed by the
beautiful and touching burial service of the Patriotic Order Sons of America,
after which the soldiers fired their three volleys over the grave of their
departed comrade, and all that was mortal of the martyred officer was laid to
its final rest.
The procession then again formed in
the same order and proceeded down Broad Street to the M.E. church, where the
customary services were held, and solemn and affecting funeral discourses were
delivered by Rev. Mr. Kline, of Schuylkill Haven, in German, and Rev. G. Oram,
of this city, in English.
On February 12, 1880, Henrietta Yost
married William Bailey, a photographer, who had worked at his father’s studio
in Tamaqua. They were quick to start a family, with children – Herbert (1880),
Estella (1882) and Earl (1886). Sometime prior to 1892, William and Henrietta
Bailey relocated to Columbia, Lancaster County. Henrietta passed away in 1924,
at the age of 64.