logo

An American Family History

Silas Yerkes
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.

A yeoman was a man who owned and cultivated a small farm. He belonged to the class below the gentry or land owners. A husbandman was a free tenant farmer. The social status of a husbandman was below that of a yeoman.

Silas Yerkes was born on February 15, 1723 in the Manor of Moreland. His parents were Herman Yerkes and Elizabeth Watts.

Silas was baptized in the Pennypack Creek, and became a member of the Southampton Baptist Church on June 1, 1742.

He married Hannah Dungan (Dungan) on June 14, 1750 at Southampton Baptist Church. The Reverend Joshua Potts performed the wedding. Hannah was born in Bucks County on September 24, 1725. She was the daughter of Thomas and Esther Dungan.

Silas and Hannah's children were Elias Yerkes (1751), Deborah Yerkes Ayres (1753), Esther Yerkes Ayres (1755), Thomas Yerkes (1756), Elizabeth Yerkes Howell (1758), John Yerkes (1760), Silas Yerkes (1762), Hannah Yerkes Wright (1764), Daniel Yerkes (1767), and Benjamin Yerkes (1768). Elizabeth married her cousin, the son of  Elizabeth Yerkes and John Howell.

He was a large land owner, farmer, and miller. He built a grist mill on the Pennypack Creek at the juncture of Huntingdon and Creek Roads sometime before the year 1760.

In 1755 he united with others in founding the Union Library Company of Hatboro.

In the Assessment of Moreland of 1776 from Bean's 1884 History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania he had 100 acres, 3 horses, 5 cows, a grist mill 9 children and "1 idiot." In 1787, he sold the mill and property to George Shelmire.

Hannah died on August 22, 1792 and Silas died on September 25, 1795 in Moreland and is buried in the graveyard of the Southampton Baptist Church .

Children of
Herman Yerkes
and Elizabeth Watts:
  • Anthony Yerkes
  • John Yerkes
  • Sarah Yerkes Hufty
  • Josiah Yerkes
  • Herman Yerkes
  • Silas Yerkes
  • Elizabeth Yerkes Howell
  • Stephen Yerkes
  • Elias Yerkes
  • Titus Yerkes
    • In August of 1755 interested citizens met at the Crooked Billet Tavern. Thirty-eight men signed an "Instrument of Partnership," to establish the Union Library of Hatborough. Each member paid ten shillings a year to purchase books. In August, 1756, the first shipment of books arrived from England.
     

    History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania by William Watts Hart Davis, Warren Smedley Ely, John Woolf Jordan published by The Lewis Pub. Co., 1905

    Silas sixth child [of Herman Yerkes], born February 15, 1725, died September 25, 1795, married Hannah, daughter of Thomas Dungan, Warminster, and for a time lived there. They had ten children, from one of which, the late William L. Elkins, of Philadelphia, was descended, and was buried at Southampton.

    		 
     

    Chronicle of the Yerkes Family: With Notes on the Leech and Rutter Families by Josiah Granville Leach

    Silas Yerkes (Herman2, Anthony1), sixth child and fifth son of Herman Yerkes by his wife Elizabeth Watts, was born in the Manor of Moreland, Montgomery (formerly Philadelphia) County, 15 February, 1723; died there, 25 September, 1795, and was buried in the graveyard of the Southampton Baptist Church.

    He was a large land-owner and a prosperous miller and farmer. Under the will of his father, Silas Yerkes became entitled to a one-fourth interest in the property in Moreland that had been the homestead of the father and grandfather, and by deed of 10 February, 1755, the remaining interests in the property, which consisted of two hundred acres, were conveyed to him by his mother and his brothers Stephen, Elias, and Titus.

    At this time Silas Yerkes was residing in Warwick Township, Bucks County, where he would seem to have been engaged in the milling business, as he is described as "miller" in the conveyance here mentioned, and he continued to reside there until after the birth of his daughter Elizabeth, when he removed to the homestead estate in Moreland, and there continued the milling business, as well as carried on farming...

    In 1780 the tax list of Moreland contained over four hundred names, the third highest assessment being that of Silas Yerkes.Mr. Yerkes was a man of much intelligence and a devout Christian.

    In 1755 he united with others in founding the Union Library Company of Hatboro, one of the earliest library organizations in Pennsylvania, and he was an active member of the Baptist Church, the principles and doctrines of which he imbibed from his mother and inherited from his grandfather, the Reverend John Watts. A formal profession of religious faith was, however, not made until 1 June, 1742, when he was baptized in the Pennypack Creek, and became a member of the Southampton Baptist Church, Bucks County, retaining membership until his death. Mr. Yerkes no doubt received his Christian name in honor of his uncle, Silas Watts.

    Silas Yerkes was married by the Reverend Joshua Potts, pastor of the Southampton Baptist Church, 14 June, 1750, to Hannah Dungan; born in Bucks County, 24 September, 1725; died at the seat of her husband, 22 August, 1792;

    daughter of Thomas and Esther Dungan, and granddaughter of the Reverend Thomas Dungan by his wife Elizabeth Weaver. Silas Yerkes's will, dated 21 March, 1795, was proved 22 October, same year, and names the children given below, with the exception of Thomas and John, both of whom are supposed to have died before the will was made. His five eldest children were born in Warwick Township, Bucks County, and the others at the homestead in Moreland.

    Children of Silas8 and Hannah (Dungan) Yerkes:

    53. Euas Yerkes', born 7 December, 1751; died 15 January, 1828; married.

    54. Deborah Yerkes', born 3 September, 1753; died 1 1 February, 1826; married Samuel Ayres.

    55. Esther Yerkes', born 13 February, 1755; married Charles Ayres (a brother of William Ayres, who married her sister Deborah), and had one child: (56) Mary Ayres', who married Jonathan Yerkes (No. 265).

    57. Thomas Yerkes', born 24 September, 1756; died in 1781.

    58. Elizabeth Yerkes', born 26 March, 1758; died 2 September, 1826; married Daniel Howell.

    59. John Yerkes', born 26 September, 1760; probably died young.

    60. Silas Yerkes', born circa 1762; died 15 January, 1837, unmarried and without issue. His death is thus noted in the records of the Southampton Baptist Church: "Silas Yerkes, beloved disciple, fell asleep in Jesus, we think, on Sunday, about noon, the 1sth of January, 1837, and was buried at Southampton."

    61. Hannah Yerkes', born circa 1764; married John Wright, by whom she had: (62) Esther Wright', who never married.

    63. Daniel Yerkes', born 23 July, 1767; died 30 September, 1824; married (1) Martha Collom; (2) Esther Lykens.

    64. Benjamin Yerkes', born 22 February, 1768; died 25 June, 1847; married Rachel Buzart.

    		  
     

    Chronicle of the Yerkes Family: With Notes on the Leech and Rutter Families by Josiah Granville Leach

    Reverend Thomas Duncan was a son of William Dungan, a merchant of London, England, by his wife Frances Latham, and was born in that city about 1632. His mother was a daughter of Lewis Latham, Sergeant-Falconer to Charles I. Upon the death of William Dungan, his widow married Captain Jeremiah Clarke, with whom, accompanied by her children, she emigrated to New England, and settled at Newport, Rhode Island, where Captain Clarke rose to prominence. Captain Clarke dying, his widow married, for third husband, Reverend William Vaughan, a Baptist clergyman, of Newport. Thomas Dungan imbibed the Baptist faith, and became a Baptist clergyman, having received his instruction in theology, it is thought, from his step-father, Reverend William Vaughan. He was one of the patentees of East Greenwich, Rhode Island; was a representative of that town in the Assembly of that Colony in 1678 and 1681, and served as sergeant in the Newport militia. In 1682 he sold his estates at East Greenwich and Newport, and shortly afterwards removed to Pennsylvania, settling at Cold Spring, Bucks County, where he founded a Baptist Church, the first in that Province, and the first English congregation there outside of the Friends. Mr. Dungan became the pastor of the church, and continued his ministrations as such until his death in 1688. He married, at Newport, Elizabeth, daughter of Sergeant Clement Weaver by his wife Mary Freeborn. Sergeant Weaver was a member of the Rhode Island Assembly in 1678, and William Freeborn, his wife's father, was a member in 1657. (See " Memorials of the Reading, Howell, Yerkes, Watts, Latham, and Elkins Families" for fuller mention of Reverend Thomas Dungan, and some account of his family connections.)

    		  
     

    Will Abstract
    Silas Yerkes, Moreland.  March 21, 1795. 
    October 23, 1795
    To son Elias, 10 pds. and wearing apparel. 
    To daughter Deborah, wife of  Samuel Ayres, 6 pds. 
    To daughter Esther, wife of Charles Ayres, 6 pds. 
    To daughter Elizabeth, wife of Daniel Howell, 6 pds. 
    To son Silas, farm  in Moreland, 90 acres, 
    subject to the payment of 60 pds. 
    To daughters [sic] Hannah Yerkes; 
    1/2 legacies above also. 
    To son Daniel,  farm, 76 3/4 acres,
    subject to payment of other half of legacies above. 
    To son Benjamin, 2 acres, 26 perches. 
    To daughter Hannah, 60 pds.,  feather-bed, pewter, &c. 
    To son Silas, feather-bed. 
    Rem. of household goods to 4 daughters: 
    Deborah, Esther, Elizabeth and Hannah. 
    Execs:  Sons Silas and Daniel. 
    Wit: George Yerkes, James Dungas, John Watts

    		  

     

         

    ©Roberta Tuller 2012
    tuller.roberta@gmail.com