HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



75 



they are the parents of seven children: 

 Joseph Williams, born June 24, 1871. died 

 December 8, 1901; Anna Trego, born 

 Februa,ry t6, 1873. married John H. 

 Ruckman, April 26. 1900; David Newlin, 

 born June 3, 1^75 ; Edith Newlin. born 

 August I, 1879; Emma Trego, born De- 

 cember 17, 18S1; Edward Watson, born 

 August 22, 1888; and Alfred Moore, born 

 January 30, 1891- Jvtdge Fell and his 

 family have made Buckingham their 

 summer residence for many years, he 

 having erected a handsome residence on 

 a part of the old homestead overlooking 

 the beautiful valley of Buckingham. 



HON. HARMAN YERKES, of Doyles- 

 town was born in Warminster township, 

 Bucks county. October 8. 1843- He is ot 

 French and Holland descent, being son ot 

 Stephen and Amy Hart (Montayne) Yerkes, 

 and sixth in descent from Anthony Yerkes, 

 who emigrated from Holland about 1700 

 and settled in Germantown. This pioneer 

 ancestor of the Yerkes family in America 

 was accompanied to our shores by "is wite 

 Margaret and two sons Herman and Adol- 

 phus The first record we have of him is 

 m the year 1702, when he was burgess of 

 Germantown, a position which he filled 

 for three years. In 1709 fie purchased the 

 plantation in the "Manor of Moorland, 

 now Moreland township, Montgomery 

 county, Pennsylvania. He married (sec- 

 ond) Sarah (Eaton) Watts, widow of 

 Rev. John Watts, pastor of Pennypack 

 Baptist church. , . , j 



Hfrman Yerkes, son of Anthony and 

 Margaret, born in Holland in 1689, died in 

 Moreland in March, 1751- He was a farni- 

 er and miller. He married February 8, 

 171 1, Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. John 

 and Sarah (Eaton) Watts, born April 15, 

 1689 (Rev. John Watts was a native ot 

 Leeds, England, and his. wife of Wales). 

 Herman Yerkes pn^bably settled on his 

 father's plantation in Moreland at its pur- 

 chase in 1709. His father conveyed to 

 him two hundred acres on Pennypack 

 creek in 1723. In 1744, in conjunction with 

 Walter Moore he erected a mill on Penny- 

 pack and set apart nineteen acres of land 

 therewith. This mill he devised to his 

 sons, and it later became the property of 

 Jacob and John Shelmire, and is to this 

 dav known as "Shelmire's Mill." The 

 chi'ldren of Herman and Elizabeth (Watts) 



Yerkes : 



1. Anthony, born November 28. 1712, 



died March 9, i79i- ,. , 



2. John, born February 21, 1714. died 

 1790; married Alice McVeagh. 



3. Sarah, born July 15. I7i6, married 

 Jacob Hufty. •. 



4. Josiah, born November 28, 1718, died 

 1793; married Mary . 



5. Herman, born January iS. 1720. died 

 November 29. 1804; married (first) Mary 

 Stroud, and" (second) Ivlrs. Mary Clayton, 

 and (third) Mrs. Eliza Tompkins. 



6. Silas, born February 15, 1723, died 

 1795; married Hannah Dungan. 



7! Elizabeth, born January 29, 1725, died 

 1793; married John Howell. 



8" Stephen, born August 3. 1727, died 

 1811 ; married Rebecca Whitesides. 



9. Elias. born February 7, 1729, died 

 January 17, 1799; married Rebecca Foster. 



10. Titus, born 1731, died 1762; married 

 Margaret Paul. 



Harman Yerkes, fourth son of Herman 

 and Elizabeth (Watts) Yerkes, was born 

 in Moreland. January 18, 1720, and died 

 there November 29, 1804. Like his fatlicr 

 V!e was a farmer and miller. He also fol- 

 lowed the mercantile business at Plymouth 

 Montgomery county, in the years 1752-5. 

 where he had purchased a tract of land 

 from his brother John in 1747. In 1762 he 

 removed to Warminster township. Bucks 

 county, being the first of the family to 

 make a home in this county. He purchased 

 i8t acres of land near Johnsville. which 

 still remains the property of his descend- 

 ants. He returned to Moreland in 1788 

 and died there November 29, 1804. He was 

 an active supporter of the war for inde- 

 pendence. His name appears on the list 

 of Associators in Warminster in 1775, and 

 he served on various committees under the 

 committee of safety. His Warminster 

 home witnessed some of the bloody car- 

 nage and rout following the battle of 

 Crooked Billet in 1778. An incident is 

 related of an American soldier being saved 

 from slaughter by four British soldiers 

 who were pursuing him, by the strategy 

 of Mrs. Mary Yerkes, the second wife of 

 Harman, who, when the soldier had sought 

 refuge in the house, conducted him to a 

 rear exit and found him a place of con- 

 cealment in a pile of buckwheat straw in 

 a neighboring field. His pursuers entered 

 the house and made a diligent search for 

 the fugitive, thrusting their bayonets 

 through" beds and up the chimney, to the 

 terror of the women and children of the 

 household. 



After locating at Plymouth, Mr. Yerkes 

 became enamored of a Quaker lass, Mary, 

 the daughter of Edward Stroud, of White 

 Marsh, and uniting himself with the So- 

 ciety, was married to her by the simple 

 ceremony of the Society March 22, 1750-1. 

 She died in 1771. and he married (second) 

 Mary (Houghton) Clayton, widow of 

 Richard Clayton. His second wife died in 

 1785, and he married in 1787 Elizabeth 

 (Ball) Tompkins, widow of John Tomp- 

 kins, of Moreland. She was the proprie- 

 tress of an inn on the Old York road, and 

 his remaining years were spent as "mine- 

 host" at this old hostelry. His widow died 

 in 1819. The children of Harman and 

 ]Mary (Stroud) Yerkes. were: 



I.' William, born 1752, died in infancy. 



2. Elizabeth, born September 5. I753; 

 married 1779 John Hufty. 



3. Catharine, born June 19. I755- died 

 1821 ; married Major Reading Powell. 



