"[L]iberty must at all hazards be supported.
We have a right to it, derived from our Maker.
But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us,
at the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood."
-- John Adams, 1765
Yerkes has also been spelled Gerkes, Gerckes, Jerghes, Jerghjes, Jurckes,Yercas, Yercks, Yerkhas, Yerkas, Yerkiss, Yerks, and Yerkus
Montgomery County, in southeast Pennsylvania was created on September 10, 1784, out of land that was originally part of Philadelphia County.
American colonists continued to use British monetary units, namely the pound, shilling and pence for which £1 (orli) equalled 20s and 1s equalled 12d. In 1792 the dollar was established as the basic unit of currency.
Josiah Yerkes, Jr. was born about 1751 in the Manor of Moorland. He was the son of Josiah Yerkes and Mary Walton. In 1793 when his father died, he received 30 pounds.
In 1780 Josiah Yerkes was in the 3rd company of the Pennsylvania militia under Captain Andrew Van Buskirk..
He married Rachel Brooks Edwards on December 23, 1783. Rachel was born about 1755 in Pennsylvania.
Josiah and Rachel's daughter was Elizabeth Yerkes Hogeland (1784, married Joshua Hogeland).
In 1786 and 1790 the Josiah Yerkes, Jr. family was in the Manor of Moreland, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
Josiah died on December 2, 1791 in Pennsylvania when he was 40 years old.
The Manor of Moreland was composed of a tract of ten thousand acres, and was created, in 1682, by a grant from William Penn to Dr. Nicholas More. Most of the Manor was in Philadelphia County, but is now
Moreland Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
Byberry is a township in the northeast corner of Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. The Walton brothers were early settlers. Moreland Township was just west of Byberry. When Montgomery County broke off in 1784, Moreland was divided into two townships, both called Moreland. In 1917 the Montgomery County Moreland split into Upper Moreland Township and Lower Moreland Township.
Chronicle of the Yerkes Family: With Notes on the Leech and Rutter Families by Josiah Granville Leach printed for private circulation by J.B. Lippincott, 1904
Josiah Yerkes4 (Josiah8, Herman2, Anthony1), was a son of Josiah and Mary Yerkes, and was, doubtless, born in the Manor of Moreland, but the date of his birth or death has not been ascertained.
He was a Revolutionary soldier, and he married, 23 December, 1783, Mrs. Rachel Edwards, whose maiden name was Brooks. Of this marriage only one child is known, and the fact that he had such child is obtained from "The Hogeland Family in America," page 226, where it is noted that " Elizabeth Yerkes, daughter of Josiah and Rachel (Brooks) Yerkes," married Joshua Hogeland. Mr. Yerkes is said to have died when the daughter Elizabeth was "only a few years old." It is possible that he went to reside with his daughter, and died at her home.
