Ellis Yarnall was born in Philadlephia on June 25, 1817, and died in the same city on September 19, 1905. His life, therefore, exceeded by almost a generation the scriptural period allotted to mankind. His ancestry was of old English families, his father and mother being members of the Society of Friends. He was, therefore, educated in that faith, and although his religious convictions led him in early manhood to enter the Episcopal Church, he retained through life a great respect for the Society, whose philosophy left strong marks upon his character.

In a fragment of autobiography found among his papers, Mr. Yarnall says: "My grandfather, Ellis Yarnall, was born in 1757. His grandfather, Phillip, came over about 1684 with his brother Francis, from Claines, Worcestershire, as a part of the Penn Colony of immigrants. Both brothers were Friends. My grandfather was of devout life from his earliest years; his brother Eli Yarnall, was a minister in the Society, and was held in reverent regard always. I recall as a boy, the some thing almost of emotion, with which his name was mentioned by the elders of my family. My grandfather seemed to me, from my earliest knowledge of him, in such absolute fellowship with the Society of Friends that there was little room in his mind for the presentation of belief by any other religious body. I bethought me of the Dominicans and Franciscans as I looked at his bowed head and noted the gravity of his demeanor....

"On my mother's side my descent is from Peter Folger, spoken of by Cotton Mather as a godly and learned Englishman. He was the grandfather of Ben Franklin. Franklin's mother, Abiah Folger, was the sister of my ancestor. The mother of Mr. Yarnall was a daughter of Thomas Coffin, "a seafaring man of the Island of Nantucket," who died in Philadelphia at the age of forty years after an adventurous life. Another of his daughters was Lucretia Mott, so well known for her part in the cause of anti-slavery."