Newspaper article on the Yarnall Family of Philadelphia

It is altogether probable that all, or nearly all, those bearing this unusual surname in America are descended from either one of two brothers who came to America in 1683, a year after William Penn had taken physical possession of his new Commonwealth across the seas. The home of these brothers, Francis and Philip Yarnall, had been at Cloynes, in the County of Worcester, England.

Francis Yarnall at first settled in Springfield township, on a tract of one hundred acres of land which had been surveyed to him October 17, 1683, and patented February 6, 1685-6. This was about a mile from Springfield Meeting, of the Society of Friends, on the road to Clifton.

Subsequently Yarnall purchased, it is said, 510 acres in Willistown township, adjoining the line of Edgmont, and extending westward from Crum Creek nearly two miles. The records also show that he obtained a patent, November 28, 1703, for 400 acres next to the Indians' lands, in the township mentioned. He there continued to reside until his death, in 1721. In old records he is spoken of as "of Stone Creek head."

There is very little doubt that he had been identified with the Society of Friends before leaving England. Certain it is that he continued in affiliation with the Society throughout the entire period of his residence in Pennsylvania, thirty-eight years. He was a member, first, of Darby Monthly Meeting, and, later, of Chester Monthly Meeting.

Few details have been handed down to us concerning his character and achievements, but we know that he was chosen a member of the Provincial Assembly in 1711, as a representative from Chester County, from which we may conclude that he was recognized as a man of influence and considerable ability, for men of mediocre talents were rarely chosen as legislators in Colonial days.

He was a young man when he came to America, and he spent three years after his arrival in the New World in the development of a home and the acquirement of some little wealth before entering the bonds of wedlock. Finally, in 1686, he married Hannah Baker, by whom he had nine children, to-wit: Sarah, John, Peter, Moses, Francis, Joseph, Amos, Daniel and Mordecai.

It would be quite outside the scope of the present narrator's purpose to attempt to follow, in detail, any or all of these several lines of descent. Primarily, the representatives of these branches have been very numerous. In the second place, few, if any of them, are now residents of the Quaker City - the present-day Philadelphians bearing the name being descendants of the other emigrant brother, Philip Yarnall.

However, at one time, certain of the offspring of Francis Yarnall did have their residence in Philadelphia, and some of them were men of prominence, in one way or another. Briefly, then, such will be refered to.

First, however, it may be well to state that only one of the nine children of Francis Yarnall failed to marry. This was Daniel Yarnall, who was born September 1, 1703, and died December 24, 1726. His only sister, Sarah Yarnall, who was born July 28, 1687, became the wife of William Askew.

John Yarnall, the eldest son, who was born December 24, 1688, was twice married, first to Ann Coppock, and secondly, to Jane Thomas. Either he or his cousin of the same name, son of Philip Yarnall, was elected a County Commissioner of Chester County in 1711.

Peter Yarnall, his next younger brother, who was born October 20, 1692, married Alice Worrilow.

Still another of the brothers, Moses Yarnall, who was born in October, 1692, married Dowse Davis. A son of the latter, David Yarnall, was, by his wife, Sarah, the father of Priscilla Yarnall, who married Francis Townsend - born November 17, 1764, died December 16, 1816 - a grandson of Joseph Townsend, who came to Pennsylvania about 1715, and a grandnephew of Richard Townsend, a fellow-passenger with Penn on the "Welcome," in 1682.

David Townsend - born December 13, 1787, died December 6, 1858 - a son of Francis and Priscilla (nee Yarnall) Townsend, was an eminent citizen of West Chester for many years, and a botanist of high rank whose name was known far and wide, in scientific circles. The eldest son of the latter, Washington Townsend - born January 20, 1813, died March 18, 1894 - served four terms in Congress, and was otherwise a noted figure in public life. Among other representatives of the Townsend branch is Edwin AtLee Barber now Director of the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art, in Fairmount Park, and an archeologist and author of wide celebrity.

Francis Yarnall, fourth son of Francis Yarnall, the emigrant, who was born February 24, 1694, was, like the elder Yarnall, a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly from Chester County, but he filled the post much longer than his father, having been returned annually from 1743 to 1748, both inclusive - six elections in all. In 1755 he was a Contributor to the Pennsylvania Hospital. He was twice married, first to Mary Baker, and, secondly, to Mary Morris, but we are in possession of no details concerning his immediate offspring or later progeny.

Joseph Yarnall, still another of the brothers, who was born July 13, 1697, married Mary Townsend, nee James, who was born July 15, 1702. She was the widow of Amos Townsend, and a daughter of Aaron and Elizabeth James. There is still extant an old Friends' record, embracing a list of male members of the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting, in 1757-60. We there find the name of Joseph Yarnall, whose residence was on Spruce street, near the Delaware. He was evidently one of the earliest of the Yarnalls to establish himself in the Quaker City.

A younger brother, Amos Yarnall, who was born March 28, 1700, was a man of prominence in Chester County, where he was born, lived and died.

In conjunction with his youngest brother, Mordecai, he received from the Proprietary, August 1, 1737, a warrant for 500 acres of land, in the southern part of the township of Willistown, which had been originally granted to the Okehocking Indians, under a survey dated December 7 and 8, 1702, but which they had abandoned. Subsequently the tract was divided, Amos Yarnall taking the smaller section, and a patent for the property was granted to him, by Thomas Penn, January 29, 1738.

He was an active member of the Society of Friends, and his name is frequently encountered in their proceedings. We find his signature attached to an interesting memorial, dated May 12, 1735, addressed to King George the Second, and signed by the leading Quakers of Chester County. This petition called attention to the troubles on the Pennsylvania-Maryland borders, and asked for relief from the long-existing annoyances, growing out of the unsettled boundary questions.

Of Goshen Monthly Meeting he had been appointed an Elder, April 19, 1756, and, from time to time, he served on important committees of that Meeting.

His death occurred December 4, 1789. He had been twice married, first, May 18, 1727, to Mary Ashbridge, daughter of George and Mary (nee Malin) Ashbridge, of Goshen township. She was born January 10, 1710-11, and died January 20, 1745-6.

Amos Yarnall married secondly, February 28, 1751-2, Sarah Garrett, nee Hibberd, widow of Samuel Garrett, and daughter of Josiah and Ann (nee Bonsall) Hibberd. She was born May 19, 1711, and died February 24, 1795.

To Amos Yarnall five children were born, all by his first wife, as follows: Daniel, Amos, Mary, Aaron, and George. Four of the five married and left issue, but no effort will be made to present this line further, none of its representatives having been identified with Philadelphia, so far as the present chronicler is aware.

The eighth of the Yarnall brothers, and the ninth and youngest child of Francis Yarnall, was Mordecai Yarnall, who was born September 11, 1705. He appeals to us more strongly than any other one of his parents' children, because of his long residence in Philadelphia; because he was an interesting character in his day and generation, and because certain of his descendants, also, were men and women of note, both in Philadelphia and elsewhere.

As previously indicated in conjunction with an elder brother, Amos Yarnall, he had obtained, August 1, 1737, a warrant from Thomas Penn, the Proprietary, for 500 acres of land in Willistown township, Chester County; patents for the same being issued January 29, 1738, the property, in the meanwhile, having been divided between the brothers. Here he lived until his removal to Philadelphia, ten years later.

Mordecai Yarnall was recommended as a Minister of the Society of Friends, January 17, 1731-2, and he traveled extensively in that capacity, in accordance with the custom of the day, all his journeys being upon horseback, of course.

His signature is found attached in the previously mentioned memorial of May 12, 1735, addressed by the Quakers of Chester County to King Geroge II, regarding the Pennsylvania-Maryland boundary question. In numerous other early Friends' records, moreover, his name is encountered.

Having a couple of years previously, married, as his second wife, a member of a well-known Quaker family of Philadelphia, he removed to that city in 1747. As set forth in the category of male members of the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting, 1757-60, heretofore referred to, his home during that period was on Second street.

While living in Chester County, he had been engaged in agricultural pursuits. Upon settling in the Quaker City, however, he had become a merchant, his place of business being on Market street. It is probable his residence was there, also, at that time, as, in those days, few merchants had separate buildings for their shops, store and dwelling being joined in almost every instance. If his home was, originally, on Market street, then, as indicated above, he later removed to Second street.

In the newspapers of the day various advertisements of his are to be found. An interesting one appears in the Pennsylvania Gazette, Franklin's paper, of February 20, 1750, wherein Mordecai Yarnall "At the sign of the handsaw... (unreadable)... a great variety of goods he has for sale."

After his removal from Chester County to Philadelphia, Yarnall continued his activities in the Society of Freinds, preaching frequently, and otherwise performing the functions incident to the ministerial office. John Smith, of the celebrated "Burlington Smiths," in his diary - published under the title of "Hannah Logan's Courtship" - makes numerous references to Mordecai Yarnall, as an officiator at the local meetings, in preaching, in visiting the sick, etc.

In 1757-8 he went to England on a religious mission. The vessel in which he embarked was captured by the French, and he was carried a prisoner to France. He was, however, soon released, and allowed to continue his journey, and he spent several months visiting various Friends Meetings in Great Britain, to whom he preached and ministered, from time to time.

We encounter the name of Mordecai Yarnall in an unexpected quarter, namely, in a letter written, January 6, 1761, by Jacob Henry, then of New York to Barnard Gratz, concerning the proposed erection, at that time, of a Hebrew Synogogue in Philadelphia. As to the method of carrying on the enterprise, Henry suggested:

In his reference to "a new fation Mordecai," Henry merely urged the non-employment of a salaried Rabbi. The "old mode of Pennsylvania," or the prevalent custom among the Quakers, appealed more strongly to him: for the Friends have always opposed "hireling priests," or clergymen who received compensation for their ministrations.

Having, late in life, encountered business reverses, Mordecai Yarnall, in 1769, removed to his native County, Chester, settling in Springfield township, where he remained until his death, May 17, 1772.

He was three times married, first, in 1733, to Catharine Meredith, a member of an old Welsh family, which settled in Chester County at an early period. Mrs. Yarnall's death took place in 1741.

Mordecai Yarnall's second marriage took place in Philadelphia, August 8, 1745, his wife being Mary Roberts, daughter of Edward Roberts, mayor of Philadelphia in 1739-40, by his wife, Marcy Hoskins, and granddaughter of Hugh Roberts, a noted Quaker preacher, and founder, in 1683, of a prominent Pennsylvania family, whose history has heretofore appeared in this series of papers. John Smith makes this reference to the wedding in his diary:

Following the decease of his second wife, nee Roberts, Mordecai Yarnall married thirdly, March 3, 1768, Ann Maris, widow of Joseph Maris.

He was the father of four children - all daughters - by his first wife, and nine by the second as follows: Sarah, Ellen, Hannah, Catharine, Mary, Mordecai, Edward, Lydia, Anne, Elizabeth, Peter, Deborah and Jane.

Several of his daughters married, two of them contracting notable matrimonial alliances. The elder of these, Sarah Yarnall, who was born August 27, 1724, and died July 27, 1816, became the wife, April 8, 1762, of Samuel Wetherill son of Christopher and Mary (nee Stockton) Wetherill, who was born April 12, 1736.

Her husband was one of the most notable men of his day, chiefly in that, though a member of the Society of Friends, he was a zealous supporter of the patriotic cause in the struggle of the American Colonies with England, he having been the leader of the so-called "Fighting Quakers," and the principal organizer, in 1781 of the Society of Free Quakers. The incidents of his interesting career have been detailed in a prior narrative of this series, devoted to the Wetherill family. Mr. Wetherill's death occurred September 24, 1816.

They were the parents of six children, Mary, Samuel, Mordecai, Anna, John and Sarah. From the first and third sons, Samuel and John Wetherill, are descended most of the present-day Wetherills now living in and about Philadelphia.

Ellen Yarnall, second of the daughters of Mordecai Yarnall, married, October 5, 1758, Timothy Matlack, son of Timothy and Martha (nee Burr) Matlack, who was born May 26, 1736.

Like his brother-in-law, Samuel Wetherill, Matlack was a notable figure of the Revolutionary period. He, too, was an organizer of the Society of Free Quakers, and one of the "Fighting Quakers," literally and otherwise. He held many civil offices of large import, and also held a Commission as Colonel of a Pennsylvania battalion of militia, which in 1776, operated against the Delaware Tories. Matlack died April 15, 1829, being nearly ninety-three years of age at the time. Mrs. Matlack predeceased him many years, dying July 16, 1791.

To them were born five children, to-wit: William, Mordecai, Sibyl, Catharine and Martha, all of whom married except the second. Among their offspring have been a number of men of note.

Several of the sisters of Mrs. Wetherill and Mrs. Matlack likewise married: Hannah Yarnall, Mary Yarnall and Elizabeth Yarnall becoming the wives, respectively, of James Yarnall, a second cousin, of John Donelly, said to have been of Georgia, and of Thomas Bryan. There were several other daughters of Mordecai Yarnall, and these, also, may have married.

There were only three sons of the latter: Mordecai, Edward and Peter. Concerning the second son Edward Yarnall, who was born December 14, 1748, we have no data at all. The other two married and left issue.

Mordecai Yarnall, Jr., the eldest son, was born October 9, 1747. Of him, in conjunction with his younger brother, a writer has said, speaking of their father: "His two sons, Mordecai and Peter, were high spirited youths, and both entered the army."

Another writer, of the Society of Friends, makes this mention of the Yarnall brothers, in a memoir of the younger, Peter Yarnall:

As this was several years prior to the Revolution, it was, of course, the British Army the Yarnall brothers had joined, or a provincial branch of it. We are, however, in possession of no details concerning their military services; nor in the case of the elder brother, are we acquainted with ...(unreadable)... Advertiser, August 9, 1808, announces the death of a Mordecai Yarnall. This may have been he, or a nephew of the same name, a son of Peter Yarnall.

Mordecai Yarnall, Jr. married Phebe Joliffe, who is said to have been of Winchester, Virginia. They had seven children, to only one of whom we will refer in this connection. This was John Jolliffe Yarnall, who was commissioned a Midshipman in the United States Navy, January 16, 1809, and was promoted to a Lieutenancy, July 24, 1813. He served under Commodore Perry at the battle of Lake Erie, where he displayed exceptional bravery, which was commemorated by appropriate action on the part of the Legislatures of Pennsylvania and Virginia - the native states of his father and mother, respectively.

The Legislature of the former State, in a resolution, which passed the Senate January 6, 1814, and the House of Representatives January 7, 1814, decreed:

The Virginia Legislature, a week previously, January 1, 1814, unanimously passed the following preamble and resolutions:

In the year last mentioned, 1814, Lieutenant Yarnall was assigned to the "Epervier", which according to naval records, had just been captured from the British. She was lost at sea in the following year, 1815, and Lieutenant Yarnall went down with his ship. He was unmarried.

A younger brother of the latter, Amos Yarnall, was, by his wife, Phebe Schwing, the father of Mordecai Yarnall - born April 16, 1816; died February 27, 1879 - for many years Professor of Mathematics at the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis.

Peter Yarnall, youngest of the three sons of the elder Mordecai Yarnall, and, in many respects, the most picturesque bearer of the Yarnall name, was a native of Philadelphia. There he was born February 17, 1754. His early career was humble enough, as he was apprenticed, by his father, in Philadelphia, to learn the trade of a tanner and currier. His employer having given up the business, however, the young man was placed with another master in Chester County, to which his father, Mordecai Yarnall, had withdrawn shortly before. This was when the son was sixteen years old, as he produced a Certificate of Removal to Uwchlan Monthly Meeting in October, 1770.

Owing to a disagreement with his employer, who appears "to have been of a violent temper," Peter Yarnall ran away, went to New York, and enlisted in the British Army. Because of this act, he was disowned by Uwchlan Monthly Meeting, September 10, 1772.

His release from military service was secured through the mediation of his father's old friend and associate in religious work, John Pemberton, to whom the younger man sent two letters, asking his aid. It was at this juncture that Pemberton wrote Yarnall, as follows:

Yarnall's release having been brought about he went to reside with Stacy Potts, at Trenton, New Jersey, where he remained until he had attained his majority.

Removing then to Germantown, he engaged in the tanning business for a time. Becoming acquainted, however, with Dr. Thomas Bond, he was induced to study medicine at the Pennsylvania Hospital. In the meanwhile the Revolutionary War was at hand, and his patriotic and humanitarian instincts led him to offer his professional services.

He was commissioned, February 7, 1776, Surgeon's-Mate of the 3rd Pennsylvania Battalion; was transferred to the Navy in August, 1776; again returned to the Army, May 22, 1777, as Surgeon's-Mate of the 4th Continental Dragoons, and resigned four months later, September 15, 1777.

He then continued his professional studies, which had been interrupted by the early years of the war, and he graduated from what is now the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania, February 10, 1779.

Volunteering for service on the privateer "Delaware," commanded by the celebrated Captain John Barry, and sailing under a letter of marque, several months were spent in the West Indies, where a number of British trading vessels were captured. From this cruise Yarnall returned to Philadelphia, June 4, 1779.

This expedition, of course, though a perfectly legal and legitimate one, was strenuously reproved by the Quakers, as had been all of Peter Yarnall's military services. A biographer, of the Society of Friends, has this to say upon the subject:

Two striking incidents are related showing the worldly-mindedness of young Yarnall, the son of a noted Quaker minister, and he, himself, in future though he knew it not, a celebrated preacher of the same faith.

During the continuance of the war, it is said, while riding up the valley of the Schuylkill, on a Sabbath morning, he found a number of persons collected around a house, which proved to be a place of worship. The preacher not having arrived, Yarnall, who was taken for a minister by those assembled. was invited to address them. A writer says:

The second incident occurred April 11, 1780, on which day his step-mother was buried at Springfield. Peter Yarnall attended, clothed, it is said, "in his uniform as a surgeon in the army" a statement scarcely correct, as he had ceased to hold a commission in either the army or navy at this time. The chief speaker at the grave was the famous Quaker preacher, Samuel Emlen.

...(one line unreadable)... a company of young men, his kinsmen and neighbors, had gathered together, Peter Yarnall felt constrained to display his power of mimicry and of memory, by repeating the discourse of Emlen, and imitating his gestures and tones.

It was not long after this, however, that he began to see the "error of his ways," Emlen's sermon, it is said, having had a more powerful influence upon him than he had been willing to admit at the time. Before the close of the year, December 7, 1780, he was restored to membership in Uwchlan Monthly Meeting. In the following Spring, April 5, 1781, he received a certificate transferring him to Philadelphia Monthly Meeting. Later in the year, August 29, 1781, he obtained a Certificate of Removal to Concord.

By the Concord Monthly Meeting he was recommended as a minister, June 5, 1782, and from that time until his death, February 20, 1798, he was a zealous, honored, and successful preacher of the gospel.

He lived for some years at Concord, Delaware County. Then, in 1785, he removed to York, York County. Six years later, in 1791, he settled at Hatboro. Finally, in 1797, he located at Byberry, where he lived at the time of his death, a year later, February 25, 1798.

One of his Quaker biographers has thus described him:

Peter Yarnall was twice married, first, September 5, 1782, to Hannah Sharples, daughter of Benjamin and Martha (nee Mendenhall)Sharples, and a member of the well-known Sharples or Sharpless family of Chester county, whose history will hereafter appear in this series of papers. Mrs. Yarnall was born April 9, 1765, and died April 11, 1795.

Dr. Yarnall married a second time, February 15, 1797, Hannah Thorton nee Haines, widow of Joseph Thornton, and daughter of Edmund and Elizabeth Haines. She was born February 26, 1765, and died July 2, 1822.

Commemorative verses were published after the deaths of both Dr. Yarnall and his first wife. Following the former's decease, also, Horsham Monthly Meeting, of which he was a member at the close of his life, adopted, May 2, 1798, a lengthy "testimony," portaying the character of the deceased. A similar sketch appears in "Memorials Concerning Deceased Friends," published in 1821; also in "Biographies, Sketches and Anecdotes of Members of the Religious Society of Friends," issued in 1871.

Dr. Yarnall was the father of seven children, six by his first wife, Mordecai, Rebecca, Isaac, Peter, Israel, and Benjamin Sharpless, and one by his second, a daughter, Hannah. Three of the seven were married, Peter, to Matilda Purdy; Benjamin Sharpless to Percy Mariner, and Hannah, to Nathaniel Richardson. As these several lines have been in no way identified with Philadelphia in recent years, no attempt will be made to follow them further.

The above cursory outline of the history of the offspring of Francis Yarnall, elder of the two brothers who came to America in 1683, is as far as it behooves us to go, as this branch of the family ceased long since to be part and parcel of Quaker City life. The Yarnalls of recent days have been and are the progeny of the younger brother, Philip Yarnall.

The latter, like his brother, was of Cloynes, Worcestershire, and was but a young man, probably only a youth, when in the year following William Penn's arrival in the New World, he accompanied his brother to America. For some years he resided with Francis Yarnall in Springfield township, Chester County. Later, he removed to Edgmont township, where he purchased a tract of 480 acres of land, extending from the Middletown line to the road running westward from the present village of Howellville. Here he erected his dwelling, at a point where, in modern times, the residence of William H. Miller stood - an eighth of a mile west of the Temperance Hall.

We possess no more details concerning the life of Philip Yarnall than we do of his brother Francis. Unlike the latter, who was an Assemblyman, Philip Yarnall seems to have held no public office. Perhaps he belonged to that element among the Quakers who were opposed to participation in Governmental affairs.

In the Society of Friends, however, he seems to have been an active factor. For years he was a member of Darby Monthly Meeting; also of Haverford Monthly Meeting, etc. In 1723, by Providence Meeting, he was appointed a member of a committee empowered to enlarge the meeting house. In 1729 he was named upon another important committee, on behalf of Middletown Meeting, whose functions will seem unusual to latter-day readers.

As early as 1716, the Friends of Chester Meeting called attention to "the Inconvenience of friends Coming so untimely together at Burials." The following year, 1717, a resolution was adopted protesting against "the frequent Carrying about of Cups & Glasses with Liquor at Burials."

The objectionable practices complained of attained such proportions that the Yearly Meeting, in 1719, strongly inveighed against them, saying, inter alia:

It was not until ten years later, in 1729, that Chester, Providence, Springfield and Middletown Meetings, appointed a joint committee, of two from each of the four bodies, "to attend at Burials, to see that good order be kept and that the time appointed for leaving the house with the corps be kept to." Philip Yarnall was one of the two members named by Middletown Meeting.

He died five years later, about 1734, the exact date of his decease being unknown to us. He married, April 20, 1694, Dorothy Baker, who was doubtless a kinswoman of the wife of Francis Yarnall, Hannah Baker, though the exact relationship is unknown to us. Mrs. Yarnall died in 1743, having survived her husband nine years.

Their family was a large one, embracing ten children, as follows: John, Philip, Job, Sarah, Benjamin, Thomas, Nathan, Samuel, Rebecca, and Mary. All three of the daughters married, Sarah Yarnall, born October 25, 1700, becoming the wife of Evan Ellis; Rebecca Yarnall, born August 6, 1712, the wife of William Jones, and Mary Yarnall, born October 23, 1718, the wife of Samuel Milner. Only Benjamin Yarnall, of the seven sons, died single.

It is our purpose to present, circumstantially, only the line of one son, Nathan Yarnall, from whom the present-day Yarnalls of Philadelphia chiefly derive their descent. Several of the other sons, however, and their respective lines, will be briefly animadverted upon.

John Yarnall, the eldest, who was born March 5, 1694-5, and died September 4 or 5, 1749, was probably the John Yarnall who was chosen County Commissioner of Chester County in 1741, though as previously indicated, it may have been his cousin of the same name, a son of Francis Yarnall, who filled that office. His home was in Edgmont township, and here, in 1720 he erected a brick dwelling, which is still extant, and in which several generations of Yarnalls were born. It is now nearly two centuries old. He married Abigail Williamson, daughter of John Williamson, of Newtown.

Mary Yarnall, one of their daughters, was three times married, first, to Thomas Pennell; secondly, to John Lea, and, thirdly, to Jonas Preston. One of her sons, Thomas Lea - born May 22, 1757, died September 4, 1833 - was the ancestor of a number of the present-day Leas of the Quaker City, whose history was presented in an early one of these family sketches. Another son, Jonas Preston, M.D. - born January 25, 1764, died January 4, 1836 - was an eminent physician, and the founder of the Preston Retreat.

Ann Yarnall, another daughter of John and Abigail (nee Williamson) Yarnall, became the wife of John Thomson, and these were the grandparents of John Edgar Thomson - born February 10, 1808, died May 27, 1874 - a former President of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company.

Isaac Yarnall, one of the sons of John and Abigail (nee Williamson) Yarnall, was the grandfather of Isaac Yarnall, at one time County Commissioner of Delaware County, and also of Albin Yarnall who, by his wife, Philena Hibberd, was the father of two sons who settled in Philadelphia, and became leading spirits in the business world of that city.

One of these was Amos Hibberd Yarnall, who was born April ...(one line unreadable)... After his removal from Delaware County to the Quaker City he engaged in mercantile pursuits, eventually becoming one of Philadelphia's leading wholesale druggists. His only surviving children are Miss Euphemia Gray Yarnall and Albin P. Yarnall, Ashbourne.

A younger brother of Amos Hibberd Yarnall, namely Hibberd Yarnall, who was born February 15, 1830, and died September 7, 1882, was extensively engaged in business in Philadelphia as a builder. Ernest R. Yarnall, "Benden Rode," Moylan, is a son of the latter, and so is Stanley R. Yarnall, for the past six years Principal of Friends' School, Germantown, a well-known Institution, founded in 1845.

The third of the brothers, Job Yarnall, who was born March 28, 1698-9, and died in 1740, married, in Philadelphia, October 13, 1737, Rebecca Lownes. A son of theirs, James Yarnall, married, October 13, 1768, his second cousin, Hannah Yarnall, daughter of Mordecai Yarnall, the Quaker preacher, youngest son of Francis Yarnall, one of the two emigrant brothers.

Thomas Yarnall, still another of the sons of Philip and Dorothy (nee Baker ) Yarnall, was born August 10, 1705. We find his signature attached to the previously-mentioned memorial of May 12, 1735, addressed to King George II, by the Quakers of Chester county, concerning the boundary disputes between Pennsylvania and Maryland; his cousins, Amos and Mordecai Yarnall, having also been among the signatories.

In a list of taxables in Thornbury township, for the year 1753, we find the name of Thomas Yarnall. Besides being engaged in agricultural pursuits, like most of his contemporaries, he was also jointly interested with Thomas and John Minshall, and Lawrence and John Cox, in the Providence Mills in Edgmont township, the product of which was shipped to the Barbadoes, Jamaica, etc.

Thomas Yarnall married, November 21, 1734, Martha Hammans, and these were the parents of seven children. One of the sons, William Yarnall, was the ancestor of Thomas Yarnall, a leading Quaker minister of the 19th century. Another, Caleb Yarnall, was the progenitor of Owen Yarnall, at one time County Commissioner of Delaware County.

The youngest of the sons of Philip and Dorothy (nee Baker ) Yarnall, was Samuel Yarnall, who was born April 12, 1710, and married November 13, 1740, Sarah Vernon.

Restricted space prevents any further elaboration of the several lines of descent from Philip Yarnall, the younger of the two emigrant brothers, with the exception of the branch springing from the latter's sixth son, Nathan Yarnall, ancestor of most of the Philadelphia Yarnalls, who was born February 27, 1707-08.

Like his cousin, Mordecai Yarnall, youngest son of Francis Yarnall, Nathan Yarnall became a leading Quaker minister. About all the information available concerning him is found in "A Testimony from Chester Monthly Meeting in Pennsylvania, Concerning Nathan Yarnall," which was published in 1787, as one of "A Collection of Memorials Concerning Divers deceased Ministers and others of the People Called Quakers." Of his early years we are told:

The concluding years of Nathan Yarnall's peaceful are thus presented in the "Testimony" referred to:

His death occurred January 10, 2780, and he was buried on the 13th in Friends Burial-ground at Middletown, "attended by a large number of friends and neighbors." He had been engaged in ministerial work about thirty-five years.

Nathan Yarnall was three times narried, first, October 13, 1731, to Rachel Jackson, daughter of Ephraim and Rachel (nee Newlin) Jackson. She was born July 10, 1710, and died April 11, 1749. His second wife, whom he married May 10, 1750, was Hannah Mendenhall, daughter of Benjamin and Lydia (nee Roberts) Mendenhall. She was born January 19, 1719-20, and died August 19, 1760. He married thirdly, January 5, 1769, Jane Bezor, nee Cummings, widow of John Bezor, and daughter of Enoch and Ann (nee Fisher) Cummings. The third Mrs. Yarnall died May 25, 1775.

To Nathan Yarnall eleven children were born, seven by the first wife and four by the second, he having had no issue by the third. These eleven children - ten sons and one daughter - were Ephraim, Nathan, Benjamin, John, Edith, Joel, Samuel, Eli, Joshua, Ellis, and Robert.

The only daughter, Edith Yarnall, who was born May 13, 1743, and died January 18, 1787, became the wife, December 15, 1768, of Joshua Sharples, a son of Benjamin and Martha (nee Mendenhall) Sharples, and a brother of Hannah Sharples, the first wife of Dr. Peter Yarnall, second cousin of Mrs. Sharples. Joshua Sharples was born February 28, 1746-7, and died September 21, 1826. Upon the back of his marriage certificate he made the following entry:

For particulars concerning this branch the reader is referred to the historical sketch of the Sharpless or Sharples family to appear hereafter in this series of narratives.

Of the ten sons of Nathan Yarnall, three died single, Joel, Joshua, and Robert. The other seven all married, but it is pertinent to the scope of this narrative to bring only one of these lines down to the present day, the representatives of the other branches not being identified with Philadelphia in an intimate way.

Of the eldest of the sons, however, Ephraim Yarnall, who was born July 6, 1733, it is interesting to note that he was married at Christ Church, Philadelphia, June 3, 1758, to his cousin, Dorothy Yarnall. The wedding was evidently in the nature of an elopement, and contrary to the rules of the Society of Friends, which prohibited the intermarriage of first-cousins, and disapproved of the participation of "hireling priests" - as all regularly ordained clergymen were called - in nuptial ceremonies. The bride and groom were doubtless "disowned" upon this occasion.

Of Nathan Yarnall, Jr., second of the sons of Nathan Yarnall, the Quaker minister - who was born June 2, 1736, and died January 10, 1779 - Mrs. Elizabeth Drinker makes mention in her interesting journal, upon a number of occasions. She writes, October 5, 1777, the day after the battle of Germantown, a few miles distant:

The smoke of conflict had scarcely passed away. Indeed, firing was still occasionally heard in and about the City, as Mrs. Drinker records. A few lines previously she says: "Washington is said to be wounded in ye thigh." Only the placid, non-militant Quakers sat quietly by and "drank coffee" at such a time.

Mrs. Drinker, the day previously, October 4, 1777, while the battle was raging, makes even a more interesting reference to Nathan Yarnall. After speaking of a visit to the house of Samuel Pleasants, "where we drank tea," she says:

The Phoebe Yarnall here mentioned - formerly Phoebe Schofield - was the wife of Nathan Yarnall, the younger. The picture presented of Clement Biddle, threatening to blow out the brains of Nathan Yarnall, is all the more suggestive by reason of the fact that Biddle, too, had been a Friend, but was now one of the "Fighting Quakers."

Of the sons of the senior Nathan Yarnall, by his second wife, Hannah Mendenhall, the eldest, Eli Yarnall, who was born March 29, 1753, became, like his father, his sister, Mrs. Sharples, and some others of this kinsmen, a noted preacher in the Society of Friends, he having "appeared in the ministry" about 1780, when twenty-seven years of age.

In the previous year, 1779, he had been appointed collector of taxes for the district in Chester County - now Delaware County - in which he resided, but this involved the collection of revenue for war purposes - this being during the Revolution - and he felt constrained to decline the office.

For further details of Eli Yarnall's life, as a Christian laborer, the reader is referred to "Memorials Concerning Deceased Friends," 1821, and "Biographical Sketches and Anecdotes of the Members of the Religious Society of Friends," 1871.

He was twice married, first November 26, 1783, to Priscilla Walker, and secondly, March 6, 1806, to Thomasine Roberts. So far as the present writer is aware he had only two children - there may have been others, however - both sons. The name of only one of these is now before us, Eli Yarnall, Jr., who was born September 20, 1789. When a lad he enjoyed the unique distinction of being recognized as a seer, or foreteller of future events. Elizabeth Drinker, the diarist, thus refers to him, January 26, 1797:

The suggestion of Bradford, in his Pennsylvania Journal, that Yarnall was a "knave" is absurd, in view of the fact that he was only seven years of age at the time. A fuller narrative of the remarkable accomplishments of Eli Yarnall, when a lad, is to be found in a volume by the late Miss Mary Coates, of Arch street, entitled "Family Memorials," pages 160-167.

Eli Yarnall, Jr., died August 28, 1812, when only twenty-three years of age. He had married, the year previously, February 28, 1811, to Alice Pennell, daughter of Joseph and Sarah (nee Meredith) Pennell. She was born August 28, 1778, and died March 23, 1830. Only one child resulted from this union Priscilla Eli Yarnall, who died in childhood.

It was Ellis Yarnall, youngest adult son of Nathan and Hannah (nee Mendenhall) Yarnall, who brought the Yarnall name to Philadelphia as a permanent institution. Born in Edgmont township, Chester - now Delaware - County, January 31, 1757, he reached the advanced age of nearly ninety-one years, dying December 7, 1847. Over three score years and ten were spent in Philadelphia.

The lure of urban life had caught him when but a youth, and abandoning the rural environment which had contented his ancestors and most of his collateral kinsmen, he began his commercial career in the larger community on the Delaware. Beginning at the foundation, he familiarized himself with all the details of the metal trade. In his first marriage-certificate he is called a "coppersmith"; in his second, an "ironmonger." In other words, to use a common-place term of modern times, then unknown, he was a manufacturer of iron and other metal products.

He acquired considerable wealth, and besides his residence in town, he owned a Country-seat, known as "Spring Hill," situated on the Schuylkill River, adjoining "Solitude," the celebrated establishment of John Penn, grandson of the "Founder," both being now incorporated in the property occupied by the Zoological Garden. In some old MS. records at the Historical Society, deposited by the late Thomas Stewardson, is a letter written June 9, 1820, by Sarah Minturn, in which she says, inter alia:

Ellis Yarnall was a conspicuous figure in the Society of Friends, having for many years, sat at the head of the 12th Street Meeting. His activities along religious and humanitarian lines extended in other directions, likewise, he having been one of the founders, in 1791, of the First-day School (Sabbath School), of which Bishop White was President. Mr. Yarnall was also a member of the first Board of Visitors chosen at that time. In 1785 he was enrolled as a Contributor to the Pennsylvania Hospital.

He was twice married, first, November 9, 1780, to Rachel Worrell, daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Worrell. She was born October 26, 1748, but the date of her decease is unknown to the present writer. Mr. Yarnall married, secondly, October 22, 1789, Mary Hornor daughter of Benjamin and Rebecca (nee Butcher) Hornor. She was born September 22, 1762, and died February 27, 1836. There were two children by the first wife, Nathan and Robert, and six by the second, Benjamin Hornor, Sarah, Ellis Hornor, Amy, Edward and Charles.

Of the two daughters, the elder, Sarah Yarnall, who was born February 3, 1792, died single in 1849. Her sister, Amy Yarnall, an Elder in the Society of Friends, was born June 16, 1796, and married, first, Dr. Benjamin Ellis, and secondly, John Tatum, the latter an esteemed Quaker minister, or Public Friend.

Of the sons of Ellis Yarnall, Robert Yarnall, who was born April 4, 1783, died in infancy. The latter's half-brother, Ellis Hornor Yarnall, who was born October 11, 1794, died unmarried, July 27, 1829.

Nathan Yarnall, eldest of the sons of Ellis Yarnall, the date of whose birth was September 26, 1781, married, October 3, 1805, Ann Folwell, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Folwell, of Cloucester County, New Jersey. He died a comparatively young man, leaving no issue to survive him.

Benjamin Hornor Yarnall, third son of Ellis Yarnall, the eldest by his second wife, was born September 4, 1790, and died June 23, 1867. He was a leading hardware merchant, his establishment being located on a portion of the site of the present Philadelphia Bourse. His home for many years was at 1332 Arch street. As early as 1813, he is recorded as a Contributor to the Pennsylvania Hospital. For some years he occupied a seat in City Councils. He has been described as "an intelligent, well-read man, kind, lovable and excellent in every relation of life."

He married, November 23, 1814, Eliza Coffin, a daughter of Thomas and Anna Coffin, of the Island of Nantucket, and a sister of the celebrated Lucretia Mott, nee Coffin, the most noted Quakeress of the 19th century. Among Mrs. Yarnall's ancestors was Peter Folger, one of whose daughters - Abiah Folger - was the mother of Benjamin Franklin. Mrs. Yarnall was born December 22, 1794, and died February 4, 1870. She and her husband celebrated their golden wedding, November 23, 1864.

They had seven children, namely: Thomas Coffin, Ellis, William, Mary, Sarah, Rebecca and Anna. The youngest of the daughters, Anna Yarnall she and her sister Rebecca were twins - died in infancy. The eldest of the four, Mary Yarnall, became, May 29, 1844, the wife of George T. Brown, and Ellis Yarnall Brown, Downington, is their son. The second daughter, Sarah Yarnall, married, November 28, 1866, William H. Abbott, and Charles Yarnall Abbott, The Gladstone, is their son.

Thomas Coffin Yarnall, eldest of the sons of Benjamin Hornor Yarnall, who was born December 10, 1815, exceeded in years the remarkable span of life of his grandfather, he having died November 28, 1911, aged ninety-six years less two weeks.

Graduating from Yale University in 1841 - the degree of A.M. being given him in 1841 - and from the General Theological Seminary in 1843, he was ordained Deacon of the Protestant Episcopal Church, July 9, 1843, and Priest, May 19, 1844. A month previously, April 11, 1844, he had been elected Rector of St. Mary's Church, Locust street, east of 10th, in the section of West Philadelphia then known as Hamiltonville. The is the oldest Protestant Episcopal Church in Philadelphia west of the Schuylkill, except that of St. James, at Kingsessing, which is of Swedish origin.

Dr. Yarnall remained at the head of this parish until October 29, 1898, when he resigned, his active rectorship extending over the remarkable period of fifty-four years. He was then made Rector-Emeritus, at an annual salary of $2000, with use of the Rectory for life; a remarkable provision - but Dr. Yarnall was a remarkable man. The degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him by the University of Pennsylvania in 1868. His residence at the time of his decease was at 3914 Locust street.

He married, July 9, 1846, Sarah Price Rose, who predeceased him two years. The golden anniversary of their wedding had been celebrated July 10, 1896, and the golden jubilee of his rectorship two years previously, April 15, 1894.

They had issue nine children, viz: Helen, William, Charles Herbert, Sarah, Elizabeth, George Hunter, Henry, Thomas Coffin and Francis; all of whom survive. The three daughters are Mrs. William W. Keen, Riverton, New Jersey; Mrs. Alexander Luchars, Upper Montclair, New Jersey, and Mrs. James B. Halsey, Roxborough - the husband of the latter being Rector of St. Timothy's Protestant Episcopal Church.

Of the sons, the second, Charles Herbert Yarnall, 4105 Baltimore avenue, is Vice President of the Delaware Insurance Company of Philadelphia. The third, Rev. George Hunter Yarnall, is Rector of St. James Church, Shaftesbury, England. The fifth, Thomas Coffin Yarnall, Jr., is engaged in business in Indianapolis, Indiana. The youngest, Rev. Francis Yarnall, is Rector of Grace Church, Binghamton, New York.

Ellis Yarnall, the next younger son of Benjamin Hornor Yarnall, who was born June 25, 1817, was like his elder brother Dr. Yarnall, a man of unusual abilities, and worthy of much larger consideration than is permissible in the concluding pages of this narrative, which, by reason of its nature, deals more fully with the earlier generations.>/P>

He was, for many years, a member of the American Philosophical Society and of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; one of the founders, January 9, 1863, of the Union League of Philadelphia; a Contributor to the Pennsylvania Hospital in 1856, etc.; for many years a manager of the Corporation for the Relief of Widows and Children of Clergymen; from December 15, 1886, until his decease, a Director of the Philadelphia Contributionship for the Insurance of Houses from Loss by Fire, and Chairman of the Board the last few months of his life; from August 1, 1887, until his death, a Director of the Library Company of Philadelphia, etc.

Mr. Yarnall's most distinguishing characteristic was his love of literature, and his propensity for the comradeship of scholarly men. Indeed, he was essentially a student , and possessed the literary instinct to an acute degree, though a merchant by avocation. Because of his erudition, the degree of A.M. was conferred upon him by Haverford College, in 1878. His relationship with certain of the most brilliant minds of Great Britain became exceedingly intimate, especially with Wordsworth, the poet; with the Arnolds, with Canon Kingsley, with Forster, the statesman; with the Coleridges, etc. Besides his numerous personal visits to them, he corresponded with them frequently, especially with John Duke Coleridge, who, during the period in question - beginning with 1856 - became Lord Coleridge and Lord Chief Justice of England.

In 1909 was published, from his pen, from the press of the Macmillan Company, "Wordsworth and the Coleridges," and, in 1911, was issued, "Forty Years of Friendship as Recorded in the Correspondence of John Duke, Lord Coleridge, and Ellis Yarnall". The last-mentioned volume is a mine of valuable information bearing upon the history of the two nations, America and Great Britain, during the period in question.

At his country-seat, "May Place," Haverford, Mr. Yarnall entertained, from time to time, many distinguished visitors to this country, among them: The Right Hon. William E. Forster; Lord Coleridge, Lord Chief Justice of England; Professor E. A. Freeman, the historian, James Bryce, the historian and present British Ambassador to the United States; Matthew Arnold, the essayist and poet; Frederic William Farrar, Dean of Canterbury; H. D. Rawnsley, Canon of Carlisle; Dean John Saul Howson, author and commentator; Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, Bart.; Sir William and Lady Thompson, etc., etc.

Ellis Yarnall's death took place September 19, 1905. He was then past eighty-eight years of age. He had married, June 10, 1858, Margaret Ann Harrison, daughter of Daniel Harrison, of Shirley House, Beckenham, Kent, England. She was born September 22, 1827, and died December 29, 1899.

They were the parents of Charlton Yarnall, northeast corner 17th and Locust streets, Harold Ellis Yarnall, 1712 Pine street, and Mrs. Frank White Garrison - whose husband is a grandson of the celebrated journalist and publicist, William Lloyd Garrison - Boston. Another daughter, recently deceased, was the wife of Alden Sampson.

William Yarnall, a younger brother of Rev. Dr. Thomas Coffin Yarnall and of Ellis Yarnall, was born October 18, 1819, and died December 30, 1903. He, like his father and near kinsmen, devoted his life mainly to mercantile pursuits. By his wife, Elizabeth Moore Massey - whom he married October 29, 1844 - he was the father of the late Benajmin Hornor Yarnall - born January 21, 1852, died August 24, 1882 - a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, and a Civil Engineer of high standing. The latter has two sisters, Mrs. J. Abbott Maguire, 3813 Spruce street, and the late Mrs. Ellis Horner Yarnall, the latter having married her father's cousin, a son of Charles Yarnall, hereafter named.

Brief mention will be made of two other sons of Ellis and Mary (nee Hornor) Yarnall, younger brothers of the elder Benjamin Hornor Yarnall, namely, Edward and Charles Yarnall.

The first-named, Edward Yarnall, who was born July 31, 1799, and died December 18, 1859, was engaged in the wholesale drug trade, on Market street, between 3rd and 4th streets. He was a director of the Bank of North America from November 24, 1834, to October 19, 1843; from January 8, 1850, to January 3, 1853, and again, from January 2, 1854, to January 5, 1857.

His public-spirited and philanthropic character is shown in the various enterprises with which he was associated, whose aims were the amelioration of the needs and sufferings of the unfortunate. He was a Contributor to the Pennsylvania Hospital, a Manager of the House of Refuge, a Manager of the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, etc. He was also a member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

Throughout his life he was a zealous and consistent member of the Society of Friends, and, being deeply religious, and of great purity and refinement of character, his modest disposition led him into quiet paths of life, although his singularly attractive personality made him always a welcome guest.

Mr. Yarnall married, March 13, 1828, Caroline Rachel Cope, daughter of the celebrated Philadelphia merchant, Thomas Pim Cope by his wife, Mary Drinker. She was born October 21, 1802, and died April 2, 1881. To them were born one son, and five daughters.

The first-mentioned, Francis Cope Yarnall, who was born May 4, 1830, and died June 26, 1890, was for many years one of Philadelphia's most representative citizens. He became a Director of the Lehigh and Lackawanna Railroad Company, November 6, 1877, and served as President from May 3, 1881, until his decease; also served as Vice President of the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad Company, succeeded his father, January 11, 1860, as one of the managers of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, and was Vice President from October 25, 1881, until his death; was also a director of the Mortgage Trust Company, a director of the Snowshoe Railroad Company, a Vestryman of the Church of St. James the Less, Falls of Schuylkill, a member of the Union League (becoming such December 5, 1884), etc.

By his wife, Mary Coale, of Baltimore, he was the father of Edward Yarnall, now residing in Florence, Italy, Mrs. Alfred Cope, 1324 Spruce street, and Mrs. Edward Augustus Casey, South Highland avenue, Merion Station.

Two daughters of Edward Yarnall still survive, Mrs. Edgar Cope, "Fellsworth," Overbrook, and Mrs. William Charles Alderson, "Wynndown," Overbrook. Two other daughters were the late Mrs. Robert Downing and the late Mrs. Charles Hartshorne.

Charles Yarnall, youngest of the children of Ellis Yarnall the elder, who was born November 22, 1800, and died September 28, 1877, was, for many years, a leading factor in the commercial world of Philadelphia. But he was more than that. Briefly epitomizing his character and accomplishments, a contemporary, the late Thomas Chase, President of Haverford College, besides denominating him "a man of rare gifts, and of wide and salutary influence," wrote, inter alia:

Mr. Yarnall was a member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; a Contributor to the Pennsylvania Hospital, and otherwise identified with organized movements for the betterment and uplift of humanity.

He married, October 8, 1834, Emma Cope daughter of Jasper and Rebecca (nee Shoemaker) Cope, and a cousin of the wife of Edward Yarnall. She was born December 10, 1808, and died November 16, 1888. They had only two children, Ellis Hornor and Anna. The first-named, who was born December 23, 1839, and died December 18, 1907, was admitted to the Philadelphia bar April 14, 1866. His wife, recently deceased, was, as previously indicated, a daughter of William Yarnall, her husband's cousin. The only daughter of the late Charles Yarnall, Miss Anna Yarnall resides at 1227 Spruce street.