"One of the early settlers of Newport News Mennonite colony was John Harvey Yoder. He joined the colony at age 21 when his family moved from Ohio to the Virginia Peninsula in 1902.

Yoder first worked in the Shipyard for 15 cents per hour, despite having a teaching certificate. When he married Irene Hertzler in 1906, he began teaching at the colonies’ one room school house. Eventually he would serve 25 years on the Warwick County School Board.