Yost, Box Elder County, Utah Genealogy

Utah

Box Elder

Yost

Quick History

Yost is a class 6 agricultural ghost town in the Northern Central valley of the Raft River Mountain in Box Elder County. Homesteaders first named their settlement George Creek after a early range rider, George Davis, that visited the area along with Charles Yost. Charles remained in the area building the first cabin and becoming postmaster in 1887. Once he was made postmaster the town changed its name to Yost.

Pioneers passed this way while travelling the Oregon trail and used makeshift rafts to cross this tributary of the Snake River, giving it the name, "The Raft River".

• For over 150 years, the Yost Valley community has been known as George Town, George Creek Junction, and Town of Yost

Location

Located in a valley surrounded by several mountain ranges, the town lay on the south end of the Raft River Valley with the Clear Creek Mountains on the east and Junction Mountain to the west. To the south were the communities of Park Valley, Rosette, Grouse Creek, and Kelton. Kelton was the closest railhead for these small settlements. All are now ghost towns.

• GPS Location: 41°57′25″N 113°32′046″W

Maps

• 1895 Map of Box Elder County

Time Line

• 1878 Homesteaders begin to arrive.
• 1887 Yost gets a Post office,
• 1892 Ninety one homesteaders in settlement.
• 1910 250 Residents lived in Yost.
• 1935 Town was incorporated.
• 1984 Due to decline in population the town was unincorporated.

Neighboring Communities

Kelton | Park Valley | Grouse Creek| Snowville

Biographies

• Yost, Utah: Diversity in a Remote Utah Settlement is a collection of histories from several former residents.
• Typescript, 1970 Biographies of families in Yost, Pine Valley, and Grouse Creek.

Cemeteries

• Yost Cemetery Directions

Transcriptions

• Yost Cemetery ~ Findagrave.com
• Yost Cemetery ~ Interment.net
• Cemetery inscriptions

Check cemeteries in neighboring communities.

• Box Elder County Cemeteries
• Box Elder Utah Gravestone Photo Project
• Findagrave.com

Church Records

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

• Record of members, 1903-1949; annual genealogical report, Form E, 1907-1948 Yost Ward, whose members lived on both sides of the Utah-Idaho border, was a local unit of the Cassia and Raft River Stakes.

Historical Newspapers

• Box Elder News
• Corinne Reporter

Vital Records

Marriages

• Marriage information may be located at the Western States Marriage Database searchable by bride or groom.

Death

• Utah Department of Archives 1903 to 50 years ago
  Choices of search types - name, date of death (year, month, day, or any combination) and county.
  Images of actual death certificates.
• Utah Death Certificates 1904 - 1956 -A free internet access to the 1904-1956 death certificates can be viewed on the Family Search Historical Records.  Utah requires a death certificate before a burial is completed.  A death certificate may contain information as to the name of the deceased, date of death, and place of death, as well as the age, birthdate, parents, gender, marital status, spouse and place of residence.  For information on death prior to 1904 you can search the Utah State Burial Index.

Suggested Reading

• The Historical Guide to Utah Ghost Towns.
• Some Dreams Die: Utah's Ghost Towns and Lost Treasures
• Connecting the West : historic railroad stops and stage stations of Elko County, Nevada

Websites

• Utah Ghost Towns
• China Emigration and Immigration
• Yost History