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An American Family History

Titus Yerkes

 
Yerkes has also been spelled Gerkes, Gerckes, Jerghes, Jerghjes, Jurckes,Yercas, Yercks, Yerkhas, Yerkas, Yerkiss, Yerks, and Yerkus
 
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.

Titus Yerkes was born in 1731 in the Manor of Moreland which is now Moreland Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.. His parents were Herman Yerkes and Elizabeth Watts.

He was a farmer and had a saw mill. He owned a farm of seventy acres located in what is now Terwood in Moreland Township. He was a member of Union Library Company of Hatboro.

He married Margaret Paul. Her parents were Joseph Paul and Elizabeth Bridewell

Their children included:
Jonathan Yerkes (1759, married Elizabeth Jarrett) and
Titus Yerkes (1762, married Mary Streper).

Titus died in 1762 in Moreland. After he died, Margaret married John Nesmith.

In 1780 their Jonathan was in the 3rd Company, First Battalion of the Philadelphia County Militia.

Margaret died on January 16, 1823.

pence

Children of
Herman Yerkes
& Elizabeth Watts:
  • Anthony Yerkes
  • John Yerkes
  • Sarah Yerkes Hufty
  • Josiah Yerkes
  • Herman Yerkes
  • Silas Yerkes
  • Elizabeth Yerkes Howell
  • Stephen Yerkes
  • Elias Yerkes
  • Titus Yerkes
  • The Union Library of Hatborough was formed in August, 1755 by 38 men who met the Crooked Billet Tavern. They each paid ten shillings a year to buy books. In August, 1756, the first shipment arrived from England.
    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.

    Early European settlers in the American colonies were mostly farmers and craftsmen. They had to work hard to provide daily neccesities for themselves.
     

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    It was common for bequests to include wearing apparel.

    Chronicle of the Yerkes Family by Josiah Granville Leach published by Printed for private circulation by J.B. Lippincott, 1904

    Titus Yerkes (Herman2, Anthony1), eighth son and tenth and youngest child of Herman Yerkes by his wife Elizabeth Watts, was born in the Manor of Moreland, Montgomery (formerly Philadelphia) County, Pennsylvania, circa 1731; died there in 1762, and letters of administration on his estate were granted, 13 October of that year, unto his widow, Margaret Yerkes.

    He was a farmer and miller, and owned a farm of seventy acres, since known as the "Factory Farm," located in what is now Terwood, in Moreland Township. Two streams met upon the farm, the united water- power of which was utilized by Titus Yerkes to turn his saw-mill.

    He married, about 1757, Margaret Paul, who was no doubt a descendant of Joseph Paul, the founder of the well-known Paul family of Philadelphia. After the death of Mr. Yerkes she married, as second husband (license issued 4 January, 1764), John Nesmith, a miller of Moreland, and she died 16. January, 1823, in the eighty-eighth year of her age.

    On 17 September, 1764, a few months after her second marriage, as the administratrix of Mr. Yerkes's estate, she presented a petition to the Orphans' Court of Philadelphia County for leave to sell the plantation and saw-mill of her late husband. Mr. Yerkes was a member of the Union Library Company of Hatboro.

    Children of Titus and Margaret (Paul) Yerkes; born in Moreland:
    Jonathan Yerkes, born 8 December, 1759; died 27 March, 1835; married Elizabeth Jarrett.
    Titus Yerkes, born 15 November, 1762; died 15 June, 1846; married Mary Streper.

    Estate inventories give us a glance into the home life of Colonial Americans.
     

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    ©Roberta Tuller 2023
    tuller.roberta@gmail.com
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