The Yourglich family
Barbara and Joe Yourglich were both born in Austria, but had different backgrounds. They did not meet until she came to the United States to marry her family-arranged fiancee. When she arrived in Pennsylvania, she discovered her intended had been killed in a mining accident. Eventually, she married Joe Yourglich.
The couple had a large family of eight sons and one daughter. From Pennsylvania, the family moved to Canada and then to Issaquah around 1900. Their original house was located on today’s fish hatchery grounds.
Barbara was pregnant with their youngest child, when Joe died from “miner’s asthma.” By then, the family was living in a large house near today’s southwest corner of Front and Gilman (the house was later moved, and still stands on Front Street across from the Grange Building). The widow took in boarders, cooked, and did laundry trying to make ends meet. Once the older boys could go to work, it became a little easier.
Only two of those children-John and Matt-still have descendents in Issaquah. They include the families of Wynn and Larry Yourglich, and also District 10 Firefighter Bob Butterfield and Issaquah Reserve Police Officer Bill Butterfield.
