GEORGE
W. YEAGER, physician and surgeon, was born in 1824, in the
borough of Mercer. His father, Michael Yeager, was a native of
Montgomery County, Penn., and came to this county in time to serve in
the War of 1812, under Capt. Clark. Cynthia Fell, the mother of Dr.
Yeager, came to Mercer County when a child with her father, Nathan
Fell, who is mentioned in the history of West Salem Township. She was a
native of Bucks County, Penn. By her union with Michael Yeager she had
the following children: Mary A. (married Dunlap McLaughlin), Elizabeth
(married B. F. Baskin, Esq.), George W., Emeline (married James C.
Eyster, of Chambersburg), Imelda (married Josiah McJunkin); Jane A. and
Agnes are dead. Michael Yeager was once a trustee of the old Mercer
Academy, and was appointed a marshal to take the census of 1850. He was
identified with the Whig party during its existence, and drifted into
the Republican party. During his latter days he and his wife worshiped
at the Methodist Church, of which he was for many years a trustee. Our
subject was educated in the Mercer Academy, under the instructions of
D. B. Cook, William Stephenson, D. H. A. McLean, Samuel Griffith and
others. He was employed, for many years, as a clerk for his father and
others in Mercer. He began the study of medicine in 1847, with Drs.
James and Beriah Magoffin, and attended a course of medical lectures at
Cleveland, Ohio, in 1848. In 1849 he went to California, and two years
later returned and resumed his studies, and in 1852 he graduated from
the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, at
Philadelphia. He at once began the practice of his chosen profession at
Mercer, which he has continued ever since. He was appointed the first
physician to the county poor-house. He was married to Miss Sarah E.
Amberson, daughter of Dr. T. B. Amberson, who practiced here for many
years. She was a native of Butler County, Penn. By her he has been
blessed with eight children: Cynthia (married Dr. F. M. Temple),
Emeline (married William V. Galbraith), Margaret (married James
Miller), Mary A. S. (married R. Robinson), Sadie (died in infancy),
Caroline and Nancy F. (twins) and Michael George. Dr. Yeager was early
identified with the medical society of Mercer County. He was a surgeon,
in 1864, in the Union army, being located at the Soldiers’ Rest
Hospital, at Alexandria, Va., and the King Street Hospital, at the same
city. He afterward had charge at Forts Whipple, Cass and Tillinghast,
of the defenses of Washington.
History of Mercer County, 1888, page 701-702
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