Caroline Meyers Yoe
Here's more about Caroline Yoe's life than is available from any other known source. The author is Lina Rogers Kemp, a respected local historian who, from her childhood until 1922, knew Mrs. Yoe well-as you will discover below. Mrs. Kemp gave this talk on Yoe Day probably in 1931. The original is in a collection of Lina Kemp's work at the Milam County Historical Museum in Cameron. The text below is a copy of the complete essay as written by Mrs. Kemp.
MRS. CAROLINE MEYERS YOE
By Lina Rogers Kemp
Each year in Cameron, we celebrate "Yoe Day" as a memorial to our benefactors, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Yoe, though whose generosity Cameron can boast of a high school building which has been our pride since its first occupancy, ten years ago.
I have been asked to tell something of the life and character of Mrs. Caroline Yoe. Mr. and Mrs. Yoe were so deeply devoted that it is hard to speak of one without mentioning the other. If he had lived the longer, Mr. Yoe would have built, equipped, and dedicated the same school to her memory that his wife placed here to honor him. It was their joint purpose, often discussed, to do something memorable for the children of their hometown, Cameron.
After the passing of her husband, Mrs. Yoe still carried on and Yoe High School is the fulfillment of their dream. She stipulated in her will that flowers be placed on the Yoe graves in Oak Hill Cemetery, and we gladly comply. I think Mr. and Mrs. Yoe were impressed with a similar memorial observed in New Orleans and transplanted the beautiful idea to Cameron.
German Pioneers in Texas
Mrs. Yoe's family, the Meyers, were among the real pioneers of Cameron. Her name, Caroline Meyers, is found on the first census taken after the founding of Cameron in 1846. The inscription on her monument reads:
Carrie Yoe
Born Feb. 8, 1850
Died June 24, 1922
In the seventy-two years of her life in Cameron, she was a factor for good, and a generous, loyal citizen.
On April 20, 1871, Charles Yoe and Miss Caroline Meyers were married in Cameron. At that time, Mr. Yoe was a blacksmith and had seven men employed in his shop. His wife began her married life as a real helpmate. Since accommodations for working men were meager here, she took them all to board in their first home, thereby appreciably increasing the family budget. Later, Mr. Yoe contracted and built Cameron homes. While our present home, the Jeff T. Kemp house
at 404 Travis Avenue, was being remodeled, Mr. Yoe told me that he built the house for the Homans more the 30 years before we bought it in 1910. He examined and found his construction stable still.
Yoe's Business Interests Grow With Cameron
In 1878, Mr. Yoe entered the mercantile business in Cameron and accumulated a competency during thirty years which later was augmented by fortunate investments. The store was moved more than once as the business district of Cameron enlarged. It was once located where the Robert McLane Wholesale House now is [Ed. Note: This is the location of the Milam County Tax Office in the 21st Century]; and when Mr. Yoe retired, it was located in the corner brick building owned by Dr. Tom Denson, where Dr. Valenta has his Dental Office. The second story of that building was the first Opera House in Cameron, and wonderful events happened there.
Mrs. Yoe was nearly always to be found at her husband's place of business, and on Saturdays she was seldom absent. I loved to buy things there. The holiday season always brought attractive wares, and I like to remember the wax dolls, baskets, Bohemian Glass vases, and other pretty things that my parents bought for us at Christmas time. I remember well a beautiful doll that Mrs. Yoe dressed in white swiss with pink ribbons and lace galore that was displayed in the Yoe show window and was the desire of every little girl's heart in Cameron. When Christmas came, my sister received it, and how happy the award made her.
After Mr. Yoe retired from active business, he served Cameron as mayor. He and his wife were often to be seen driving in a nice buggy, [drawn by] a good-looking horse, up and down the streets of Cameron. Later, they had one of the first automobiles in town, a nice garage in which to house it, and a colored chauffeur.
Mr. and Mrs. Yoe were members of the Presbyterian Church, and Mrs. Yoe remembered the church in her will. The organ music there is a result of her gift.
Caroline's School and the Meyers Family
Mrs. Yoe was the daughter of Fred Meyers and his wife, Elizabeth, who came with relatives from Germany to Galveston in 1845. Three children died in an epidemic of yellow fever after they reached Houston. The family later moved to Cameron where Caroline Meyers was born. At seven years of age, she entered school. Mr. W.B. Streetman was her teacher, and the log schoolhouse was on the same lot where the Cameron Post Office is now located [Ed.'s Note: The Post Office of 1917 remains the Cameron Post Office]. It had rude log benches and was poorly equipped. She completed her education in Cameron in the Academy School on the lot where the old school building is located [Ed. Note: This is the parking lot today for school buses in downtown Cameron]. It is said that she graduated at the age of fifteen at the head of her class.
For the five years following, she took home training. Her mother was a partial invalid, and many household cares were hers. Those who knew her then say that she was a sweet and charming girl, a regular attendant at church and Sunday School, and a social favorite. Five months before her marriage to Mr. Yoe, her mother passed away; and two years later, her father died. Her parents left five orphan boys, and to these Mr. and Mrs. Yoe gave home, love, and care.
Their Only Child, a Girl Named Laura
In 1872, their only little girl, Laura Yoe, was born. She was my little playmate, and I remember with the keen anguish of childhood her passing away from congestion. She was only six years of age when she died. My older sister died about the same time, and both were buried in the Old Cemetery on the Bridge Road [Ed. Note: Today this is called the Old Cameron Cemetery and is in plain view along Highway 36 and 77 west of Little River Bridge]. Our families often rode out to the Cemetery on Sundays to visit their last resting places, and I often visited Laura's grave and loved the little white headstone with a lamb on it, which was a few years ago removed with her remains to the [Yoe] family burial plot in Oak Hill Cemetery.
Mrs. Yoe was very lonely after the death of her little girl. She always seemed to have an especial love for me, her little daughter's friend and playmate.
Homes of Mr. and Mrs. Yoe
My earliest recollections take me back to frequent visits in the Yoe home, which was not far from the house of my parents and was reached by a walk through pasture and woodland. Many adventures en route are recalled. The first snake I ever saw was along that path. The beautiful wild foxglove grew in great profusion on the hillside near the Yoes' home, and I would make nosegays.
The Yoe house was a story and a half structure, painted white on the outside. The lower rooms were ceiled and painted, but the attic was unfinished. A winding stairway led to and from it, and Mrs. Yoe would let my brother and me slide down that stairway as often as we liked. I tremble to think of how nerve wracking that must have been to her, but she was always kind to her young visitors, and, too, had something good for them to eat and gave them pretty flowers when they left. In the yard she had planted a Spanish Dagger, and we loved to write our names on the leaves.
We were often there to take her Harper's Bazaar in exchange for The New York Ledger which I always read for the romantic stories, such as "Capitola," or "The Hidden Hand" by Mrs. E. D. N. Southworth, a beloved fiction writer of that time.
The Yoes sold that home and later lived opposite where Mr. and Mrs. Dan Gunn now reside.[212
Crockett in 1935] The parlor at that place with its pretty lace curtains was very attractive to me. There was a gaily colored card-board basket suspended from the center of the room, a lamp with crystal pendants, a plush photograph album on an easel, and a sterescope with sets of pictures in an armadillo basket lined with red on a marble top table, and vases of bright paper flowers and other curios on a whatnot. A sofa and period chairs made the room comfortable.
Mr. and Mrs. Yoe later lived in a brown house on the present Grant Lumber Company lot.[300
W. 2nd St. in 1935] I loved to visit them there, also. Their last home was on the hill not far from this building [Yoe High School] where Miss Edna Sprinkel and Mrs. Sprott now live [Ed. Note: In 2002 this is the house still standing on the block bounded by Travis and Houston Avenues, 9th and 10th Streets.]. It was a sad day for me when I attended the auction sale of Yoe household goods after the death of Mrs. Yoe in 1922. The passing of the home of my dear friends cast a gloom over my spirit. I bought a few household articles which I still cherish in memory of the beautiful home life which I should enjoy no more.
End of Their Days
The last year's of Mrs. Yoe's life were marked by illness. I remember a visit to Mr. and Mrs. Yoe while they were at the Sisters of Mercy Hospital in Galveston. Mr. Yoe met us and took us up in the automatic elevator to Mrs. Yoe's room. Despite her illness, Mrs. Yoe smiled her welcome. While we were there, they related many interesting things about their trip to Europe, which had included a visit to Carlsbad so that Mrs. Yoe might drink the health-giving waters. Mr. Yoe told many stories about their excursions to various cities and quite a bit about his aged mother whom they had visited in her German home.
Mrs. Yoe never fully recovered her health; but Mr. Yoe passed first, leaving her alone, but strong in her purpose to build into a school her love for the children of Cameron. On the day of its dedication, I was present, and Mrs. Yoe spoke to me of her hopes for its future usefulness and of her pride in the building which Cameron enjoys.
This day we dedicate to her whose loving kindness made this building a reality.
It is impossible to bring to you the charm of her personality, but I would like to leave in your minds the thought that the Mrs. Caroline Yoe whom I remember was gentle, pure, true, and good-a noble type of calm, heroic, loving, womanhood.
I add my tribute to yours as we place flowers on the graves of the Yoes at Oak Hill Cemetery:
To the Myrtle and the Ivy,
I would add Pansies -
That's for thoughts;
And here's Rosemary - that's for remembrance;
And, in affection, a Texas rose,
Remembering always the kindness of the Yoes.
[Editor’s Note: C. H. Yoe High School, Cameron, Texas, has continuously observed
Yoe Day yearly to the present. It is a school holiday , as always. The school
was dedicated in 1921. Addresses added to Mrs. Kemp’s essay in brackets [ ] are
taken from City Directory, Cameron, Texas, 1935.]
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