generations Yerkes
Surname searches using the Internet leaves the researcher confused. Yerkes either originates from Germany or the UK.
The most recognized accounting of the Yerkes in America is the Chronicle of the Yerkes Family, with Notes on the Leech and Rutter Families by Josiah Granville Leach, published in 1904 with financial resources from Charles Tyson Yerkes. According to the account, the founder of the Yerkes Family in America was Anthony Yerkes immigrating from Germany in the late 1600's to the Colony of Pennsylvania.
The Not so famous
Jonathan Paul Yerkes, 1759-1835 - The eldest son and child of Titus by his wife Margaret Paul, Jonathan was born in the Manor of Moreland, 5 December, 1759; died at Damascus, Wayne County, Pennsylvania, 27 March, 1835. He was a farmer and miller, and acquired his early knowledge of these occupations on the farm and in the mill of his step-father, John Nesmith, formerly the property of his father, who died when the son Jonathan was but three years of age. In 1789 Jonathan and his only brother Titus determined to form a co-partnership and enter upon the milling business on their own account, and on 18 June, of that year, they purchased two tracts of land in Germantown Township, one consisting of forty-seven
acres, and the other, an adjoining tract, of twenty-two and one-quarter acres,* to which estate they removed, and there engaged in the milling business, pursuing the same until about 5 May, 1802, on which date Jonathan Yerkes
released and conveyed his half-interest in the land so purchased, and the mills on the same, unto his brother Titus.
At the time of this conveyance Jonathan Yerkes had, it is assumed, concluded to remove his family to and settle in Wayne County, Pennsylvania, as such removal was effected late the same year, or early in 1803. He purchased four hundred acres of land in Damascus Township, in the latter county, of Thomas Shields. The land was located on Calkins Creek, not far distant from the Delaware River, into which the creek emptied. Here he constructed a saw-mill, and later a grist-mill, and continued farming and milling until his death.
Mr. Yerkes and his wife were Baptists, and, before moving to Wayne County, were members of the Montgomery or Hilltown Baptist Church in Montgomery County, and they were among the organizers of the Baptist church at Damascus, of which Mr. Yerkes was for a time the clerk.
He married, 15 November 1789, Elizabeth Jarrett, who was born (probably in Moreland) 16 August, 1770; died at Damascus, 3 March, 1833. His six eldest children are believed to have been born at Germantown, and the others were born at Damascus.
JONATHAN AND THE AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY WAR
Jonathan’s patriot service was as a private in the Militia in Philadelphia and Montgomery Counties. His Philadelphia County service was as a member of the First Battalion, 3rd Company under Captain Andrew Van Buskirk. According to the Philadelphia County Revolutionary War Militia, Van Buskirk was commanding in 1780 in Morland Township. Jonathan was 21 years old and unmarried.
From Journal of the American Revolution, "Drunk and Disorderly: The Dreadful Havoc of Spirituous Liquors" by Joshua Shepherd: .... October 16, 1781 ... a fully armed company of Philadelphia County militia which was slated for discharge that day. The men were brandishing fixed bayonets, drumming the Rogue’s March [usually played when someone was being drummed out], and looking very thirsty.
At the head of the troops were Capt. Andrew van Buskirk and Ens. Jacob Stiner, who abruptly demanded that [Commissary-General William] Crispin fill the officers’ canteens with liquor in order to "carry them home. . ." Cutting lose (sic) with a storm of "indecent language," Buskirk and Stiner "swore they would have their Canteens filled, "and threatened to seize liquor by force if necessary. The scrappy commissary, who clearly took his job pretty seriously, stood his ground. "I forbid them at their Peril to touch the Magizi."
While Crispin readied himself for an epic standoff, the confrontation was diffused by a quick-thinking Col. Benjamin McVeagh. Rather than order the mutinous rabble to disperse, McVeagh came up with the idea "of giving Money out of his Pocket to purchase Rum for them. . ."
Among the journal’s list of militiamen were Harman Yerkes (Jonathan’s cousin) and Jonathan Yerkes. Eight Yerkes Cousins are believed to have enlisted during the Revolutionary War.
Bob Yerkes, 1932–2024 - American stuntman.
The Famous
Mary Agnes Yerkes, 1886–1989 - American Impressionist painter, photographer, and artisan. Aunt MAYO was the aunt of Robert W. Yerkes and lived for many years next door to Jack and Evelyn Traverso in San Mateo, California. Robert married Jaclyn Traverso in 1948.
Robert Mearns Yerkes, 1876-1956 - A pioneer in the study both of human and primate; intelligence and of the social behavior of gorillas and chimpanzees. Along with John D. Dodson, Yerkes developed the Yerkes-Dodson Law relating arousal to performance.
The Infamous
Charles Tyson Yerkes, 1837-1905 - An American financier. He played a part in developing mass-transit systems in Chicago and London. He contributed more than $500,000 to the University of Chicago to establish what would become known as Yerkes Observatory, located in Williams Bay, Wisconsin. The events of Yerkes's life served as a model for Theodore Dreiser's novels The Financier, The Titan, and The Stoic, in which Yerkes was fictionalized as Frank Cowperwood.