Isaac I's  mother, Charlotte Reynolds Yoakum, moved to Bradley Co., Tennessee after she remarried to Edward Edwards in Roane Co. on Dec. 26, 1831.  Isaac's father, Valentine, had died in 1830 and after Isaac married Rachel Sisk Clark in Roane Co. TN in 1836, they moved south to live near his mom.  In Bradley Co.  they were the recipients of 80 acres of the Ocoee Cherokee Indian District  and it has been said Isaac "worked on one of Edward’s farms until Edward died in 1851 and the children of Edward’s 1st marriage received the farms". Land claims were often in dispute during this time and Isaac could have been unlucky, either way by 1851 he was on the road.

If the birth places of his next three children are any indication it looks like he moved to AL, and finally Texas, CO. MO.   Here he took advantage of land made available from the Louisiana Purchase, and bought some 280 acres and procured land grants for another 200 for a total of about 500 acres and settled to raise his family. 

Missouri in the late 1850's found the Yoakum's amidst  the hardships faced by most early pioneers in southern Missouri during the Civil War.  Families living south of Rolla were generally regarded as southern sympathizers while those north of Rolla were considered supporters of the Union cause. The state of Missouri withstood over 1100 battles and skirmishes and was basically leveled during the war.

Military records from the southern Missouri counties include a James C. Yoakum, aged 18 years, Pvt. 16th Mo. Calvary, Company K, under Capt. William Monks, Enl. Aug 31, 1864 at Rolla, Phelps Co.,Mo. Mustered on Sept. 7, 1864 at Springfield, Mo. and disbanded there July 1, 1865.