THE YOCOM - YOCUM - YOAKUM FAMILY
At the October, 1920, meeting of the Historical Society of Berks County, Pennsylvania, Dr. Charles A. Yocom of Reading, Pa., presented the date-stone o the house built by his great-great-great-grandfather, "Jonna" (John) Yocom, to the Society, and gave a brief history of the family.   The date-stone (a block of brown sandstone, newly cleaned, wth indented letters and date on the face of it), an outline, or fac-simile, of which is shown below was displayed on a stand in the front of the meeting room.
   Presenting the stone, Dr. Yocom read a paper on the "Yocom Family."
  Dr. Yocom, a member of the Scandanavian Society of Philadelphia, and well-versed in Scandanavian lore, explained the origin of the name Yocom, and its different spellings as changed from the Scandanavian tongue. The first section of the Yocom house was built 1703, and to it a portion was added in 1723, in which was placed the date-stone.
Dr. Yocom's paper:
"To give the history of a family who have been living in a country for 282 years would be a very difficult task, and probably a very tiresome ordeal for the audience, so I will endeavor to make this sketch as brief as possible.
  "The first account which is given of any person by the name of Yocom settling within the limits of the United States of America, was that of Peter Yocom and Julia (Judith) his wife, who came to America with the Swedish Settlement at Philadelphia in 1638.  The colony, numbering several hundred souls, was sent here by Gustavus Aldolphous, then King of Sweden and Norway." (the wife of Peter Joccom, who came to America as the immigrant, was Margaret.  Judith was the wife of Peter Peterson Yocom, the third of the name and second of the line in this country. (H.C.S.)
   "Peter and (Judy) Judith) had nine children born unto them, seven sons and two daughters, and from this family, it has been declared, on very high authority, all of the people by the name of Yocom in the United States, Mexico, Canada, Cuba and South America have descended.
  At this point, Dr. Yocom produced the following record of the names of the nine children of Peter and Julia (Judith) Yocom, and the year of birth of each:
    1678--Peter of Upper Merion (1712)
    1679--Mouns, Mounce or Moses
    1682--Catharine
    1683--Charles
    1686--Swan, of Kingsessing
    1688--Julia (Judith?)
    1690--Jonas, of Manatawney
    1694--Andrew
    1696-- John, of Amity
"The builder of the House", Dr. Yocom continued, "from which this stone has been taken, was Jonna (Otherwise Jonah). He was (the son of) Jonas, of Manatawney, because he was the first person by the name of Yocom to settle along the Manatawney Creek, wchich empties into the Schuykill River at Pottstown, Pa. He--Jonas--came to Pottstown in 1703. (See Anachronisms- page XVII(H.C.S.))

  "The house he built in 1723 was probably an addtion to a house which is much larger than the one which he built it against and which is thought to have been a block-house, and which probably was built some time between 1860 and 1700, making it the very oldest building standing within the limits of Berks County. It is very strongly built, the walls being 24 inches in thickness. The floors are of white oak, and the stair steps are of black walnut.
   "Although this house is somewhere between 225 and 230 years of age, it is still in a fine state of preservation.  It is situated on the Perkiomen and Reading turnpike, about two miles east of Douglassville, on the north side, at the intersection of the turnpike and the Squirrel Hollow road,wchich leads to Rattlesnake Hill. It is owned, at present, by Messrs. Applegate and Reed , of Pottstown. These owners are very courteous gentlemen and do not consider it any trouble to have interested people come to see the premises.
   "Peter Yocom, the forefather of all the Yocoms in the Wester Hemisphere, was a military man, and for a while was captain of the Swedish battalion at New Sweden (now Philadelphia) My great-grandfather. John Yocom, who was born November 18, 1752, lived in this house.  My grandfather, Daniel Yocom, was born in this house on the 15th of May, 1775.  His mother's name was Mary Yoder, and her parents lived in the lower end of Union township, Berks County.
 <deleted...information on Dr. Yocom's family. Email page author for this information. Thanks, Rajean.>
..." I have now given a short sketch of the modern history of the Yocom family, and before closing I will give you a little of their ancient history. The name has been spelled differently in various periods of the family's history. In the year 1300, before Christ (1st Chronicles 4:22-23) we are told that Yokim was one of the tribe of Judah and had dominion in Moab.  His people were the potters and those who dwelt among the plants and hedges. There they continued with the king for his work.
   "Again, we are informed in the Apocrypha, under the history of Susanna, that Yoachim dwelt in Babylon three thousand years ago under the reign of Nebuchadnezzar; that he was a great and rich man; that his wife's name was Susanna, and that she was very beautiful.   "Also, that the elders of Israel (who were in captivity at the time) charged her with a crime of which she was innocent, and had likewise ordered her to be put to death.<(*)> Daniel, the prophet, was informed of her danger, and interceded on her behalf, saved her life and reputation and destroyed her accusers.
  "Hence the family of Yocom have greatly honored Daniel for thus saving Susanna.  It is a significant fact that in many of the Yocom families,  as far back as we can trace them in the last 300 years, there have been sons named Daniel and daughters named Susannah, presumably in honor of our great-grandmother Susannah of 3000 years back, and the great prophet who saved her from her enemies.
  "Some of the greatest Hebrew scholars in America have informed me that all of the Yocoms, though their names may have been variously spelled in different ages, are descendents of the Yocom family who lived in Babylon 3,000 years ago."

HC Smith attributed this story as "Reported in the Reading EAGLE, Sunday, Oct. 17, 1920."
HC then gives more information regarding the first Yocom, Peter and his wife. If you are interested in this information, please email me. (Rajean)  To continue into the section titled "Mutations of Spelling Surnames" and to read Guy D. Yoakum's letter to Dr. A. Yocom about his research on the Yoakum Family, please  click here
<(*)>This is commonly known in the Christian world as the story of "Susannah and the Elders." You can find different versions of this story on the internet and in the Bible.