Reuben Reifsnyder Beecher ^{2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11}

   Other names for Reuben were Reuben Beacher ^{3 12} and Reuben Bucher.¹⁴

   FamilySearch ID: MZFD-RQP.

  Christening Notes:

Sponsor: Peter Leininger

  Burial Notes:

Reuben's surname is Bucher on his tombstone.

  Noted events in his life were:

1. Census in 1850 in Lower Heidelberg Twp., Berks, PA. ¹² William Beacher, age 33, blacksmith, is living with wife Sarah, also 33; Reuben, 11; Mary, 7; John, 3; Levi, 1. Also in the home are William's sister, Mary Beecher, 23; and William's brother Harrison Beecher, 17, also a blacksmith. Everyone was born in Pennsylvania.

2. Census in 1860 in Lower Heidelberg Twp., Berks, PA. ³ William Beecher, 42, blacksmith, is listed in the 1860 Census in Lower Heidelberg Township in Berks County with real estate valued at $350 and possessions worth $175. With him is Sarah, 43; Reuben, 21, mason; Mary, 17; John, 13; and Levi, 11. Everyone was born in Pennsylvania. The post office is listed as Stouchsburgh.

3. Census in 1870 in S. Heidelberg Twp., Berks, PA. ⁵ Two Beecher households are found on as neighbors in the 1870 Census in South Heidelberg Township in Berks County. The post office is Wernersville.

William Beecher, age 52, blacksmith, is living with wife Sarah, 52; Levi, 21; and Levi's wife Ellen, 16. With them is a Sarah Strunk, age 4, and Harrison Beecher, 37, no occupation listed. William's real estate is valued at $1,800 and his possessions worth $400.

Reuben Beecher, 30, farm laborer, is living with wife Emma, 26, and George L., 7 months old, born in Oct. 1869. He has no real estate and $400 of possessions. Everyone was born in Pennsylvania.

4. He appeared as a sponsor at a baptism on 22 Sep 1878 at Wernersville: St. John's (Hains) Reformed Church, Berks, PA. ¹⁵

5. In 1879 in Hamburg: Trinity Lutheran Church, Berks, PA. ¹³ His burial record in the Trinity Lutheran church book:

Reuben, son of Wm. & Sarah Beecher, husband of Emma Yocum (thyphoid fever). Born Febry 27, 1839, died Dec 26 1878. 39 yr. 9 m. 27 d. Buried Jany 1st, 1879 at Sinking Spring.

6. Obituary: Reading Adler: obituary of Reuben Beecher on 4 Feb 1879 in Reading, Berks, PA. ⁹ BEECHER - on December 26th, in Wernersville, of typhoid fever, Reuben, son of William and Sarah Beecher, husband of Emma Yocum, aged 39-9-27.

7. Book: Historical and Biographical Annals of Berks County Pennsylvania, 1909. ¹⁶

The early history of the Yocom family will be found in the sketch of Harry Y. Yocom, grandson of Nicholas Yocom.

George Yocom, son of Nicholas, was born in Cumru township Oct. 3, 1803. He was an iron worker by trade, and he and his father bought the old Spohn estate in Lower Heidelberg township, consisting of 101 acres of the best land in the county. Here he engaged in farming until his son Benjamin took charge, and he then retired to Sinking Spring, where he died Aug. 17, 1881, aged seventy-seven years, ten months, fourteen days. He is buried in the cemetery at Sinking Spring.

His wife Catharine Hemmig, daughter of John and Susanna Hemmig, was born Dec. 23, 1805, and she died April 21, 1874, aged sixty-eight years, three months, twenty-nine days. Their children were: William, a farmer near Stouchsburg, married Mary Potteiger; Aaron, a flour merchant in Reading, married (first) Hannah Manery and (second) Kate Heffer; Sarah married Frederick Graeff; Amanda died unmarried; Amos, a shoemaker and farmer, married Isabella Miller (1843-1885); Benjamin is mentioned below; Lizzie married Aaron Fox, a butcher at Sinking Spring; Anna married Reuben Beecher, formerly at Wernersville.

Reuben married Emma Yocum, daughter of George Yocum and Catharina Hemmig, on 27 Aug 1864 in Reading, Berks, PA.^{1 2} (Emma Yocum was born on 16 Sep 1843 in S. Heidelberg Twp., Berks, PA ^{1 5 17 18 19}, christened on 16 Jun 1844 in Reading: Trinity Lutheran Church, Berks, PA,¹⁸ died on 31 May 1912 in Millmont, Berks, PA ^{17 19} and was buried on 5 Jun 1912 in Sinking Spring: Sinking Spring Cemetery, Berks, PA ^{17 19 20}.)