Born in Chicago, Illinois, Yawkey moved with his family to Saginaw, Michigan, where he was educated.

He then moved to Wisconsin and started a sawmill in present-day Hazelhurst.

[1] During World War I, he was a colonel in the Wisconsin National Guard.

[5] A cousin, William H. Yawkey, owned the Detroit Tigers baseball team.

This article about a Republican Party member of the Wisconsin State Assembly born in the 1860s is a stub.