Samuel Yoder was a political leader form Ohio in the years after the American Civil War.
Samuel Yoder was born on August 16, 1841, in Berlin, Ohio. During the American Civil War, Yoder enlisted in the 128th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment. During the war, Yoder rose to the rank of lieutenant. At the end of the war, Yoder enrolled at the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio. He later transferred to and graduated from the University of Michigan.
Yoder moved to Bluffton, Ohio, where he opened a medical practice. In 1868, he went into politics and was elected Mayor of Bluffton. He held this office for ten years and then moved to Lima, Ohio. Yoder studied the law and became an attorney in 1880. Two years later, he won election as a judge on the Allen County Probate Court. He was a judge for the next four years.
In 1886, Yoder resigned his position as a judge. He had been elected to the United States House of Representatives as a member of the Democratic Party. He served from 1887 to 1891, winning reelection in 1888. In 1891, he became sergeant of Arms of the United States House of Representatives. He remained in this post for two years and then retired from public service. He returned to his law practice, which was located in Washington, DC. Yoder died on May 11, 1921.