One of the substantial and influential business men of Farmland is Charles F. Yount, hardware merchant. Mr. Yount was born in Darke county, Ohio, June 13, 1879, and is the son of  Eli and Rebecca (Martindale) Yount. He was educated in the local schools till 16 years of age and then attended for two terms the Versailles high school. After that, he taught school two years and was four and a half years in his brother's hardware store at Portland. He went on the road for the Home Pride Range Company and was subsequently superintendent of its factory for two years. Then he went to Farmland and bought a half interest in a hardware store. In 1907, at the end of three years, he bought out his partner, which gave him the sole ownership of the leading hardware store in Farmland. The measurement of floor space is 7,200 feet.
            Thus it will be seen that Mr. Yount's career, from his earliest school days, has been one of continual advancement. It will be noticed that there has been no deviation, no waste of time on side issues. The schooling was ample and the foundation of the business career of the character that made the achievement of success easy and certain. His principle of business seems to be extensive sales on small profits. Nobody goes away from Farmland to the larger towns to buy hardware, but the circuit of country is large which goes to Farmland for its supplies in this line of goods Mr. Yount's store has the full variety of equipment to be found in the leading hardware establishments of Indianapolis, Chicago, St. Louis, Cleveland and Cincinnati. It is a big city store in not a very large town, and has wonderfully enhanced the reputation of Farmland. It is said that there isn't a home in Randolph county has hasn't an article of Yount's hardware in it. Certainly no name is better known in the county than Mr. Yount's and he bases his reputation on the fair and comprehensive way in which he conducts his business.
            Mr. Yount was married Oct. 4, 1900, to Mina Christian, a daughter of Henry Christian, a farmer near Versailles, Ohio. Two children have been born to them- Howard, August 21, 1901, and Martelle Jeanette, May 30, 1907. The father of the subject of this sketch was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, in 1840, and still lives on the homestead. His grandfather and grandmother were both Germans and came from Pennsylvania. The father of Mr. Yount's mother was born in Montgomery county and reared a family of fifteen children, the youngest of which was the subject's mother.
            Mr. Yount had eleven brothers and sisters, named as follows John Frederick died at the age of 33 and left a widow. He lived in Darke county, Ohio, and was a farmer. William D., who has a hardware store at Portland, Ind., married Mary Wilson, of Darke county, and they have two children. Elizabeth, who lives near Portland, married William Stocker, a farmer, and has had five children, four of whom are living. Anna, of Greenville, Ohio, married John A. Martin, a tobacco merchant. Four children have been born to them. Lula, born April 1, 1873, lives on the old homestead, as does also Emma, who was born November 14, 1877. Ora and Cora, deceased, were twins; Walter, a farmer of Darke county, married Devona Gottschall, and to them one child, Thelma, has been born. Ohmer, with his wife and one child, live in Farmland and is employed in our subject's store.
            In religious circles, Mr. Yount is quite active and prominent, and is one of the faithful who hold fast the belief that the church still has its grip on the world and is the hope of it. It is through such men that the faith of the fathers is preserved to us and the church made a vital power in the activities of modern life. He affiliates with the Christian church and participates in all its charitable enterprises. Farmland is the richer in many ways for the citizenship of Charles F. Yount.
Past and Present of Randolph County, Indiana, 1914.
Contributed by Gina Richardson