Source: A Goodly Heritage, Earliest Wills on an American Frontier, Ella Chalfant, University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA, 1955; pp 55-58.
There is a very significant relationship between the date on which John Jolliffe Yarnall signed his will and the phrase which appears in its preface - "at present belonging to the United States Navy." The War of 1812 was at its height. It was a dangerous year for sailors. The date on which the will is recorded leads to a conclusion borne out be a search of the Naval records of the U.S. Congress - John Jolliffe Yarnall died in the service of this country.
Lieutenant Yarnall was one of the heroes of the war of 1812; he brought honor to his country and to his family. The circumstance of his death was one of the ironies of the war. But we shall begin with his will. The main provision follows:
The will was written on a heavy sheet of foolscap paper, signed by Lt. Yarnall, and witnessed by Townsend Speakman, Samuel Pettigrew, and Everard Bolton, Jr. Named as executors were John's brother, Amos, and his brother-in-law, Aquila M. Bolton.
Two months before he signed his will, Lt. Yarnall had distinguished himself in the Battle of Lake Erie, September 10, 1813. Capt. Oliver H. Perry, commanding the flagship Lawrence, takes personal note of Lt. Yarnall's valor in his official report to the Secretary of the Navy a few days after the battle (U.S. Congress, American State Papers, Naval Affairs, v.1, p.295):
Lieutenant Yarnall, first of the Lawrence, although several times wounded, refused to quit the deck.
Capt. Perry made a perilous passage by rowboat to the Niagara, from whose decks he maneuvered the defeat of the enemy.
Lt. Yarnall was awarded a Gold Medal for his part in the action, but it was not until the summer of 1819, four years after his death, that his family received the medal. This fact comes to light in the examination of two letters recorded in the Pennsylvania Archives: sixth series, v.9. The first of these was from the Navy Department to "Thomas Sergeant, Esqr., Secretary of State of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg":
Navy Department |
March 2nd, 1819 |
With the highest respect |
I have the honour to be, |
Sir, |
Your most ob: servant, |
Smith Thompson. |
The second letter is addressed to "His Excellency William Findlay, Esq., Governor of Penn'a, Harrisburg." and is signed "Phebe Yarnall," John Yarnall's mother:
Pittsburgh, 5th of 11th mo., 1819 |
I have the pleasure to acknowledge the receipt of thy letter of the 7th ulto. accompanying, by the hands of
Ephraim Pentland, Esq. a copy of Resolutions of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, expressive of their sense of the brave
and gallant conduct of my son, the late Lieutenant John J. Yarnall in the brilliant victory of the 10th of September 1813 over the
British Squadron on Lake Erie. Amidst the sorrow of heart to which I have been inevitably exposed by a dispensation depriving me
of my son, the sympathy expressed in thy communication and my confidence in believing that his memory will be preserved and cherished
in the annals of our nation and in the affectionate recollection of its patriotick citizens afford a consolation which, be assured, I
though not altogether a Spartan, know how to appreciate.
The Style of execution both the penmanship and the frame in which it is set is as striking to every other eye as the memorial itself is
affecting to a mother's. For the manner in which this framed copy of the Resolutions, as well as the Medal, has been presented, accept
the thanks of
Thy friend |
Phebe Yarnall |
Lt. Yarnall had perished aboard the U.S. brig Epervier in the Navy's last mission of the war. The Treaty of Ghent had already been signed when the Epervier, with several other vessels, was sent to the Mediterranean to deal with the pirates of the Barbary Coast states. After a successful encounter with the enemy, the Epervier was returning to the United States in July, 1815, with a copy of the treaty signed by the Dey of Algiers. It was last sighted off Gibralter July 12, but apparently foundered in an Atlantic storm, for it never reached the states.
John Jolliffe Yarnall, in his will, had provided for "the more comfortable maintenance of my aged Mother." In his service to his country, he provided her with something she probably cherished more - a lasting memory of a gallant and honored son.
Complete will of John Joliffe Yarnall | |
Return to Home Page | Back to History Page |