October 1997 Newsletter
Dear Cousins:
For those of you who are new to the newsletter, I will note a
couple of differences between the snail mail and the email versions. The
Email has question marks where the snail mail has graphics, and the snail
mail includes a two page birthday list for the month. It is also necessary
to send the Email version in two sections. I would also like to note that
cousin Paul Robert Yarnall has a fantastic naval history web page that also
includes genealogical information about the family. Paul's web page is at
Http://www.NavSource.Org For those who are unaware of the Yarnall /
Yarnell presence in this country's naval history, there have been three
United States War Ships that have been named after your cousins. Two USS
Yarnall's and a USS Yarnell. With that, I hope the information is useful.
God bless,
Fred
October 1997
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Dear Family:
It sure looks like the leaf raking time of the year! I hope that
all has been well with you and your loved ones. As usual things have been
pretty hectic here in Philadelphia.
On Saturday 9/13/97 Bob Yarnall and I visited the Leverington
Presbyterian / Roxborough Baptist Cemetery. It was a trip of much success
and great excitement. As many of you know, we spent a great deal of time
trying to locate Griffith Yarnall, then some information from Dea Yarnall
MacKinnon placed Abner Yarnall in the picture, as the father of George
Yarnall, on George's death certificate. Then Dea gave us information that
would indicate that Abner was buried in the same cemetery as George, which
incidentally is within a couple of miles from my home. Two fires, in bygone
times that damaged or consumed many of the cemetery records made searching
for Abner's grave site virtually hopeless; but liking hopeless cases, I
asked Bob when we met at the site if we were going to try to find Abner's
grave. His answer of, No(!) sure burst my bubble.
Bob was on a mission to find Joseph G. Yarnall, and since Ruth
Yarnall Taylor mentioned tripping over a stone that was only partially
protruding from the ground at the side gate entrance, that seemed a good
place to start. Armed with a spade and a couple of pry bars, 'Egor' and
company went to work - just kidding Bob. We uncovered enough of the stone
to clean it with water and a brush. It was very much damaged from the
weather, but you could faintly make out the name that we were hoping to
find - Joseph G. Yarnall. We used a large piece of paper - about 3 ft by 4
ft., and a crayon to produce a rubbing of the stone, and sure enough the
name and date was confirmed. Joseph G. Yarnall is the brother of my Great
Grandfather and Bob's Grandfather, Frederick Hiney Yarnall. The Hiney part
of the name, like many of our ancestors were want to do, was the maiden
name of Griffith Yarnall's second wife, Martha Ellen Hiney. Anyway, Joseph
G. Yarnall is also the Great Grandfather of our cousin out there in Oregon,
Wayne Heritage Yarnall.
Flush with success, we proceeded to a second site that was mapped
out by Bob. Now before I describe this site, I must say that Bob did a
tremendous job of researching, not only the site, but also the entire
cemetery. He had a detailed listing of who he should find in the cemetery
and where they would be located. Considering the fires that had decimated
the records, his information was nothing short of phenomenal.
Well, anyway, when we reached the second site, we found a very tall
and erect stone that had suffered from the weather, acid rain and time. As
we gazed at the site, Bob suddenly said, "Fred, what name do you see on
that stone", well, it was extremely faint and I was unable to pick up the
thread of the name, then Bob - more asked than stated, "Does that read
Abner?" Then I could pick up the thread - barely perceptible was the name
ABNER YARNALL BORN 17 DEC 1793 DIED 18 DEC 1849. Just to confirm that
our eyes were not seeing what the mind wished it to see, we took a rubbing
of the stone, and the name and birth date was very plain. For those of you
who are searching for your roots in an old cemetery, a piece of charcoal
and some large pieces of paper can be invaluable tools. Often times a
rubbing will bring out details that are impossible to see with the naked
eyes. Also, we sometimes take pictures of the stones. When taking pictures
of stones however, on occasion the white letters on a white stone will not
show up. In those cases, a light rubbing with the charcoal will produce the
necessary shadows so that the picture can be taken. Of course, another
vital tool is a soft pencil and some graph paper. This will allow you to
sketch the site gave sites that you have located. Make sure that you also
note the surrounding names and any prominent land marks. Now back to our
cemetery visit. After bathing in the luxury of our find, and
scowling at some person who found the cemetery a great place to run his dog
- it made us more cautious when kneeling down, we searched this site for
signs of additional graves, and although it is a large site, we could not
find any other markers, so we returned to Joseph's stone. The stone was
lying back, with only the top quarter of the stone above ground, so we used
our pry bars (and Bob's strength) to lift the stone out of the ground.
After additional cleaning, and filling the hole where we had removed the
stone, we placed the stone back over the filled in hole, face up. After
careful review of the area around the Joseph G. Yarnall stone, we
discovered that there was another stone base in what we had determined to
be the same site as Joseph, but no stone. There was what appeared to be a
stepping stone in front of the base. Well, Sherlock and Watson (notice the
English sleuths) don't need to have a stone fall on their heads, they
deduced that walking stone to be the partially buried head stone. Once
again the spade and pry bars went to work. We managed to turn over the huge
stone that was face down, apparently for quite some time, for it had
received none of the adverse weathering. We had uncovered the head stone
for Catherine Dover Yarnall, first wife of Griffith Yarnall, b. 6/17/1829
d. 8/30/1859. A little water and the stone cleaned up beautifully. It was
also placed over the original point where it was buried in the ground, and
we placed it there face up so that others will have an opportunity to read
the inscriptions. It is our intent to see what it will take to have these
stones reset, either on their original or new bases. We visited some other
Yarnall grave sites in the cemetery, with no significant results. We
believe that there is a good chance that some other stones are just below
the surface of the ground. It seems that during some lean years, local
pranksters would push the stones over for a lark, and time and vegetation
took care of covering them. The next time we return to the cemetery, we
will take a steel rod to poke below the surface for other stones. This
would be another helpful tool for your searchings.
?
There was also some exciting happenings across the internet this
past month. I found the names and Email addresses for over 200 additional
family members, making the initial Email mailing list over 260 locations. I
say initial, because some the mail that was sent to some of the addresses
has been returned, either because I reached a cranky Yarnall / Yarnell -
now don't get your feathers all in a ruffle, we Yarnall's and Yarnall's are
known around these parts for their crankiness - just kidding, or because
the address is no longer current. After the returns, we are running around
200 families on the internet to go along with our 200 snail mail. What a
wonderful base for us to get to know one another just a little bit better.
The opportunity to share information is boundless, and the benefactors will
be our children, and grand children.
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Now to go along with that increase in the number of family that we
have established contact with, I have entered over 12,200 names of
confirmed family into the data base, and more on my desk to document. The
troublesome part is that I have about a dozen or so requests for connecting
to their roots where I have not found the links. Two particular cases that
come to mind is Henry Battman Yarnall and Isaac (Jonathan?) Yarnall. For
Isaac Yarnall, he is the son of Jonathan and Elizabeth Yarnall, and was
born 1823 in Pa. What I need, in order to confirm this family is the 1860
and 1870 census. The 1860 record should be found in Schuylkill Co. 050,
Ashland Boro. and the 1870 census should be Schuylkill Co., Ashland, on
Roll 1449, page 171. If the family of Isaac in those census's list William
H., John, Isaac Jonathon, Elizabeth, and Sarah Yarnall, we will have our
connection. For Henry Battman Yarnall, it is a bit more difficult. Yet
about a half dozen of the request that I have are through Henry's line. Let
me give you the particulars again in the hope that one of our new readers
will have some vital information. The documents that we have right now are
at odds as to the identity of Henry's father. We know his fathers name is
Samuel, and his mothers maiden name is Ruth Battman, but the records are at
odds as to which of the many Samuel's is his father. Harry H. Yarnell has
Samuel, twin and sixth child of Elizabeth (James) and Abraham Yarnall
marrying first Sarah Lamb, and second Ruth Battman, and producing nine
children from the second marriage and none from the first. That is at odds
with the records shown by Mary Card Yarnell, which is presented here.
Samuel Yarnall, son of Abraham Yarnall and Elizabeth of New Castle Co. on
the Delaware b. 6/20/1764 ["Newark" - Chester Co. Hist. Soc. Quaker rec.]
m. Sarah Lamb, dau Pierce & Rachael Lamb of Kent county, 1/10/1788 @ Cecil
Mtg. House # * d. 9/5/1807 # *
Ch: Mary b. 9/28/1788
Elizabeth b. 11/20/1790
Hetty b. 4/30/1792
Rachel b. 9/6/1794
Susanna b. 12/28/1796
Sarah b. 5/24/1799
Rebecca b. 3/22/1803
#Maryland Quaker (Friends) Records of third Haven Tred Avon) Talbot County,
Vol. 1, compiled by Mrs. Carl W. (Lucy Kate) McGhee, Washington, D. C.
Mimeo. No Publ. date; acquisition date @ Mesa LDS Gen Library. Above found
Sections 149, p. 62 and 172, p. 78
* Quakerism on the Eastern Shore, Kenneth Carroll, Maryland Hist. Soc. 1970.
Samuel Yarnall as presented by HHY would show the following children as the
issue of Ruth Battman.
ch: Lavinia b. 6/21/1798
Rachael b. 9/20/1799
Jacob b. 5/5/1801
Henry Battman b. 1/12/1803
Rebecca b. 11/12/1805
Thomas b. ?
Isaac b. 1808
Samuel b. ?
Catherine b. 11/14/1810
This is a rather important link for us and would bring hundreds of
names into the data base, and more importantly would allow us to answer
the questions of about six of our cousins who are searching for this
connection.
By the way, I must be slipping. It seems that last month I
neglected to mention that the 1998 Family Picnic will be held on July 11,
1998 at the Lower Perkiomen Valley Park. As an aside, I have been asked by
Lin to forward the newsletter to the various historical societies. I guess
they must be short on Lawyer jokes.
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Thanks again to Judith Yarnall Koval for the following testimony
for Edith Yarnall Sharpless. Unlike the paper of last month on Nathan
Yarnall, I will replace the 'f' with the appropriate 's', for clarity. For
those of you from the Philip line, Edith Yarnall (3) is the third
generation and the daughter of Nathan Yarnall (2) and Granddaughter of
Philip Yarnall (1). Edith married Joshua Sharpless - as noted below, and
they had eight children: Benjamin, Rachel, Nathan, Martha, Edith, Joshua,
Isaac, and Eli Sharpless.
The paper is an "abstract from the testimony of Concord
Monthly-Meeting, held at Concord the 14th of the fifth month 1787,
concerning our dear friend Edith Yarnall Sharpless, deceased."
She was born the 13th day of the fifth month 1743; her parents
Nathan and Rachel Yarnall, members of Middletown particular meeting, having
been careful to educate her in plainness and a diligent attendance of
religious meetings, she retaining a thankful remembrance of their care over
her, has been often heard to bless the Lord on their account, as by their
good counsel and wholesome restraint, they contributed to her preservation
out of the vain fashions and customs of the world.
By her own account, her mind was early in life accompanied with
earnest desires after the knowledge of truth, and that we might never do
any thing to offend Him whom she often found near to her comfort, or that
might bring a reproach on the profession she made; but giving way to her
natural vivacity, she frequently indulged herself in what with some is
accounted innocent pastime, for which she was often brought under
condemnation; and about the twenty-fourth year of her age was plunged into
great distress, being closely beset with the wiles of an unwearied
adversary: but the Lord, who will not suffer his people to be tempted
beyond what they thro' his grace are enabled to bear, made way for her
escape from under the power of temptation, for which she had, in that day,
as on the banks of deliverance, to sing to the praise of his holy name;
saying,
'It is in my heart to praise thee O my deliverer! for thy manifold
....kindnesses unto me a poor unworthy worm; for although, for
....disobedience, thou hast seen meet to hide thy face for a ....moment;
yet my soul is humbly bowed before thee, rendering ....unto thee the praise
of all thy works; having witnessed the ....fulfilling of thy promise, But
with everlasting kindness will I ....have mercy on thee saith the Lord thy
redeemer.,'
In the twenty-sixth year of her age she was married to Joshua
Sharples, settled within the compass of New-Garden monthly-meeting, of
which she became a useful member, being qualified for service in the
church, whereto she attended with much satisfaction to friends, filling the
stations of overseer and elder with diffidence under a sense of the weight
thereof.
In the thirty-first year of her age she appeared in the ministry,
and being faithful grew in her gift, was found in doctrine accompanied with
a degree of heart tendering authority to the careless and indolent, yet
edifying and consolatory to the refreshment of the mourners in Zion. In her
approaches to the throne of grace in public supplication, she was awfully
attended with deep solemnity. She was a great lover of the scriptures, and
well qualified to apply them to edification and instruction, being
concerned to invite friends and others to a more frequent reading of them.
The doctrines of the principle of truth as held by friends she was skillful
in explaining, and was often exercised therein in mixed auditories,
endeavoring to lead out of forms to the substance of true religion. Much of
her time was thus employed in the public service of her Lord and master,
cheerfully giving up to His holy requirings, but carefully concerned to
wait for His putting forth.
Having peculiar service in visiting families, she was often
usefully engaged therein; and about the year 1778 with divers other friends
under appointment from the Western quarterly-meeting, in a general visit to
all the meetings belonging thereto, she was exercised under a deep concern
to labor that a reformation in life and manners might be really effected
amongst the professors of truth. Soon after, being removed within the
compass of our meeting, she engaged in a like visit to the meetings in our
quarter, wherein, as in other of her gospel labours, she manifested an
ardent desire for the promotion of the cause of truth, and that she might
be favoured to do her days work in the day-time. And since, with the
concurrence of friends, visited most of the meetings in the Southern
governments; being diligent in the improvement of her time for the service
of truth, often drawn into family visits, and to the afflicted either in
body or mind, who experienced the consoling sympathy of her tender spirit,
in which and other gospel labours she reaped the reward of peace and
comfort to her own mind. When at home she was not only diligent in
attending meetings herself, but careful to encourage and assist her family
in their duty therein; in herself an example of plainness, and mindful to
promote a simplicity in those under her direction, manifesting much concern
that her children might be brought up in the truth, frequently retiring
with them for their improvement, her faithfulness against wrong things in
them being consistent with the tenderness of an affectionate mother. Great
was her exercise for the rising generation, that their hearts might be
early dedicated to the Lord, and they thereby preserved in a conduct
consistent with our holy profession. Open and hospitable in her house, a
true helpmeet and affectionate wife.
Shortly after her return from a visit to friends on the
Eastern-Shore of Maryland, in the sixth month 1786, she was brought very
low thro' bodily indisposition, but favoured with inward consolation and
true peace, expressing that she felt her mind much weaned from the things
of this world, and if it should please the Lord to call her hence she found
nothing in her way. on the first-day afternoon, divers friends being
present, after a time of silence, she spoke to this effect,
' I am glad of this opportunity; as I lay on the bed this morning,
my mind was carried away to meeting with friends, and I thought if I had
wings I could have flown thither for the great love I feel for the members
of that meeting. indeed we have had many favoured opportunities together;
and you see I am in a poor weak way, and whether I shall get out again I
have not seen, but am resigned, and feel the reward of peace; but if some
friends of that meeting are not more faithful to the many gracious
visitations which have been in mercy to them extended, weakness will
overtake them, and they be in danger of missing the answer of well done.'
She recovered and afterwards had many heart-tendering opportunities
with friends there, and others not in membership with us, toward whom she
was remarkably led in testimony, in order that they might be gathered to
the fold of rest. About two weeks before her decease she attended several
of the neighboring meetings, expressing her satisfaction therewith; and on
the fist-day before her departure, was at New-Garden meeting and had
acceptable service, having also a favoured opportunity the same evening in
a friends family where she lodged on her return home, at which time she was
concerned to revive these expressions of the Psalmist,
'Lord make me to know mine end, and the measure of my .....days,
what it is, that I may know how frail I am: Behold thou .....hast made my
days as an hands breadth, and mine age is as .....nothing before thee.'
Which she enlarged on to edification. Next day she got home
somewhat indisposed, but held up till the day following in the evening of
the 16th of the first month 1787, when she was confined to her bed, and lay
in a sensible resigned frame of mind, being as we believe, well prepared
for her awful change, appearing to have nothing to do but to die. Some of
the last words she was heard to say were, 'I believe I am going, and in
about fifteen minutes after, quietly breathed her last on the 18th, and on
the 20th was interred at Birmingham, aged forty-three years and seven
months, a minister upwards of 12 years.
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PART 3............
"THERE WERE KINSMEN OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN SCHUYLKILL COUNTY"
A Paper Prepared and Written for The Historical Society of Schuylkill
County, Pennsylvania By Edgar Downey.
Mordecai Lincoln Had been twice married. His first marriage was to
Hannah Salter of New Jersey, and she died shortly after his removal to
Pennsylvania. Not long after her death he remarried. The wife of his second
marriage was Mary Roberson of Amity, Philadelphia county. According to Dr.
William E. Barton, in his Lineage of Lincoln, there were six children by
the first marriage. All but one survived childhood. They were--(1) John,
born 1716, (2) Deborah, born 1717 or 1718, and died in 1720, (3) Hannah,
date of birth unknown, (4) Mary, date of birth unknown, -- all of whom were
born in Freehold, New Jersey, (5) Anne, born in 1725, (6) Sarah, born in
1727, -- the last two were born a Coventry, Pennsylvania. Dr Barton also
names children of the second marriage, (1) Mordecai, born 1730, (2) Thomas,
born 1732, (3) Abraham, a posthumous child, born October 18, 1736, after
his father's death.
My own examination of the deed records of Berks County reveal that
Mary Lincoln, the widow, probably remarried. I found a deed, dated July 4,
1789, from the sons and daughters and heirs of Mary Rogers, alias Lincoln,
to Rebecca Nagle, for a tract of one acre in Exeter Township, recorded in
Deed Book No. 12, page 4. These sons and daughters are named in the deed as
Mordecai Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln, Anne, wife of William Tallman of
Rockingham Township, Virginia, and Sarah Boone, widow. This leads me to
believe that Dr. Barton incorrectly stated that the daughters, Anne and
Sarah, were of the first marriage. According to this deed, they were of the
second marriage and daughters of Mordecai Lincoln's second wife, Mary
Roberson, evidently the Mary Rogers, alias Lincoln, deceased, recited in
the deed. Dr. Barton also mentioned that Anne, daughter of Mordecai,
married William Tallman, and also that Sarah married William Boone,
son of Quaker parents. Anne and Sarah mentioned by Dr. Barton, I am
quite certain are the same Anne and Sarah mentioned in the deed to
Rebecca Nagle.
Rebecca Nagle, the grantee named in the deed above mentioned, was
formerly Rebecca Lincoln, daughter of Great-granduncle Mordecai Lincoln.
She had married Capt. George Nagle, on of Berks County's most notable
soldiers of the Revolution. He recruited and commanded a company of
riflemen and sharpshooters in Berks, some of whom came from beyond the Blue
Mountains, now Schuylkill County. One of his company was Peter Orwig,
founder of Orwigsburg, former County-seat of Schuylkill County. Captain
Nagle and his men are said to have been the first from west of the Hudson
River to join General Washington at Cambridge. John Lincoln, the oldest of
Great-great-Grandfather Mordecai Lincoln's children, was the
Great-grandfather of President Abraham Lincoln. He was a weaver by trade.
he is listed as a resident of Reading in 1752. Deeds of record in Berks
County in 1763 and 1765, in which he was grantor, name him as "John
Lincoln, weaver, of Amity Township." It was after the dates of these deeds
that he emigrated to Virginia, settling on Linville Creek in Rockingham
County. Land values in the Schuylkill country rose. The rise in values was
die to many things. What contributed thereto were the fertility of the
soil. the mineral riches, the varied industries and the highways of this
country. Two of the most important roads in the country ran through
Lancaster County, which was part of the locality. One road ran westward to
Pittsburgh and the other southward from the borders of Canada, through the
Shenandoah Valley of Virginia to the Yadkin River of North Carolina. These
roads, it appears, were "a tremendous asset" to Berks and Lancaster
Counties. But the Schuylkill country could not hold John Lincoln. he had
the urge for new migration. Many about him, having the same urge, were
yielding to it. They heard the call of the Shenandoah Valley, that through
which the great highway ran.
From daring explorers and adventurers into the wilderness, even
missionaries to the Indians, came stories of the land of the Valley of the
Shenandoah. John Lincoln and his neighbors heard of it. Many of those, who
early visited the Valley, were Pennsylvania Germans from Lancaster County.
The first real settler in the Valley was one, Adam Miller of Lancaster
County. Virginia was liberal with land grants and trade monopolies to those
who undertook a bona fide settlement beyond the Blue Ridge. A Benjamin
Borden of New Jersey owned lands in the Valley and advertised them for sale
in Pennsylvania. It is probable that John Lincoln knew this man when he
lived in New Jersey and that Borden also knew the Lincoln's and sought them
out to interest them in his lands. George Boone, a neighbor of the
Lincoln's in Berks County, bought a large tract of these Virginia lands in
1735. This, too, must have been talked about among the Lincoln's. So John
Lincoln and his sons yielded to the call of this new land and joined in the
migration to Virginia. Among his Pennsylvania kinsmen, he became known as
"Virginia John."
In the migration were Germans, Scotch-Irish, Holland Dutch, and a
variety of religious sects. The Shenandoah Valley virtually became an
extension of Pennsylvania. On my own visit to the Linville Creek Farm in
1941, I observed that there lived on farms in its vicinity "plain folk,"
such as we meet in Berks, Lancaster and Lebanon Counties. I wondered
whether they were not descendants of those immigrants in the Valley of the
day of John Lincoln and the Boones.
..................TO BE CONTINUED
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Well here we are again at the point where we get to have that
fireside chat with a member of the family that is our "Family Circle Person
of the Month". This month we have the opportunity to meet our cousin from
England, Lorna York. Lorna has supplied some very interesting information
that concerns how many Yarnall ancestors actually made the trip to this
country over the years. She continues in her research to tie the various
lines together, including her line to ours.
When Lorna agreed to send us a biographical sketch, she did not
know that she would also be telling us about a little bit of history, so
this meeting will have two purposes. First, of course to introduce you to
Lorna, and secondly for her to tell of the funeral procession and burial of
Princess Diana, which took place in Lorna's little part of England.
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6th September 1997
Dear Fred:
I received your letter yesterday and was happy to read it. You
asked me for a biographical sketch of myself, but before I do, may I just
write about today. Like all of us tracing our family history, we bring
history alive because we find with our links to the past, historical events
become personal. As you will see from the date at the top of the page this
country is caught up in history, for today, we bury a Princess. Though I
never met Princess Diana, I did meet her father. He was an Earl of the
realm and lived in a large and impressive house. he was one of nature's
gentlemen, and you could talk to him as you would talk to ordinary people -
and Diana had the same effect.
It is as if the nation has been holding its breath all of this
week. I would normally view the events on television, as on most state
occasions it will be taking place in London, but today will be different -
Diana will be coming home. She will be buried at Althorp House, and I like
millions of other people will be standing at the roadside to watch the
funeral go by: I will be standing about a mile from Althorp House......It
is now 8:00PM and what an extraordinary day it has been. The people have
come together to mourn. There have been many moving moments and I am all
cried out. I found that as the hearse carrying Princess Diana's body came
past where I stood with my family, the flowers were thrown, then there was
silence, then clapping, and then peace; and we could begin again.
I was born in 1944 in West Drayton Middlesex. One of my earliest
childhood memories is trying to teach Cricket to the American Airforce
Service families, that were billeted around the village green where I
lived, and of the fun we had. Though I was only a child, I had a happy
childhood, as my cousins where all around me to play with. My education was
of the standard kind. I enjoyed school, but would not class myself as a
great scholar - I think you might call me a late developer (very late).
I left school at the age of sixteen and went to work as a telephone
operator in the city of London. Then I went onto work for British Gas for
nearly thirty years, on and off. I have been married to my husband Joe for
thirty one years. We live in the small village of Kislingbury in
Northamptonshire, which is four and a half miles west from the county town
of Northampton. Our three children, Joanna, Joseph and James are all grown
up, and our daughter Joanna was the first one of the family to go to
University. She is now a librarian at Nene college. Our son Joseph is just
finishing his master's degree in remote sensing at Cranfield University,
and our son James has given us our beautiful grand daughter Simone.
I have done all the usual things. Night school subjects such as
English and German language. My hobbies include patchwork quilting, and
hill walking, though not so much of the hill walking these days. I have
just finished two years, full time at college, on a Btech course for Art
and Design. I was all set to go to the University again, to earn a B.A. in
textile design, but that has had to be put on the back burner, as my
husband suffered a heart attack last year. He is O.K. now, and at the
moment I am working as a secretary in the Estates department at Nene
College, but on a different campus to my daughter.
My main hobby, if you can call it that - more of an obsession, is
researching my family history. I had not realized that there were so many
YARNALL'S. As I grew up I did not know of any other family of that name. I
thought we were unique, and the only connection I had with America was with
my aunt and uncle, and my cousins who moved to the U.S.A. in the late
1950's. now I find we were there 300 years before. I enjoy reading the
news letter every month, and our village Postman is most curious as to why
I am suddenly receiving all this mail from America. I wish everybody good
luck in their research, and I am endeavoring to find the link between us
all.
Kindest regards,
Lorna
Thank you Lorna for giving us the personal picture of Princess
Diana's funeral procession, and for the verbal snapshot of yourself. I must
say that some of the information that you have supplied in the past, have
put Linford and I in a tizzy. I am not sure where all this is going, but I
am sure before we are done we will be saying Hello Cousin.
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PART 1............
The columns in the graphic above can not nearly do justice to the
splendor of the columns at "Brandywine Springs." Again in a letter from
Margaret Yarnall Martinez, we find reference to Holton Yarnall and his
dabbling in the Mill Creek Delaware establishment. I happen to have a copy
of a fine paper on the history of the resort, but before getting into that,
lets let Margaret open up the discussion.
"In a little local history book recently published here, there is a
reference to Holton Yarnall:
Page 1: During the colonial days of the British colonies, there was a small
tavern along Newport Gap Pike. The tavern, owned by Holton Yarnall, was
called the 'Conestoga Wagon'. Mr. Yarnall catered to the men who drove
Conestogas loaded with grain from Lancaster Co. to the wharves of Newport
where it was loaded aboard sailing vessels. His tough-as-nails customers
were certainly more interested in drinking ale and carousing than they were
in the nearby Chalybeate spring. The site of this tavern can still be seen,
as a level area in the slope on the east side of the Newport Gap Pike,
300-400 feet south of Faulkland Road."
It is sometimes amazing how so many loose ends seem to come
together at the same time. I have been communicating with Betty Blockus
for a short time, and Betty promised to send a breakdown of her line from
Philip and Dorothy Baker Yarnall, ten generations to herself. She recently
followed through on her promise and noted that their descendants joined the
Baptist Church and that her search for her roots was made easier because
her ancestors, Gideon Farrell Jones and Jefferson Peckworth Jones were
named for Baptist Ministers of the day. In the mean time I received the
letter from Margaret Yarnall Martinez with information on Holton Yarnall's
tavern, and I had previously picked out a paper on Brandywine springs,
because of the picture of the times that the story paints, I wanted to
share it with the family this month. Now where is all this getting us you
may ask. Well read on and tell me if Betty, Margaret and I have been drawn
to the same Peckworth name, as well as the Holton Yarnall story.
Brandywine Springs
The Rise and Fall of a Delaware Resort
by C.A.Weslanger
The election campaign in 1826 had brought the Borough of Wilmington
a bombast of parades, speeches and promises. Balloting came almost as an
anti-climax, and in its aftermath quietness settled down on the little town
of 5,000 people. The campaign cigars rolled from Virginia leaf had gone up
in smoke in crowded taverns. The wine casks needed replenishing. Embers of
the bonfires lay cold and dead. Only a few wind-torn shreds remained of the
cloth banners for the gubernatorial candidates, Charles Polk, Federalist,
and David Hazzard, Democrat, which hung across Market Street. The
Federalists had elected their man and all would be to their advantage in
Dover for another term.
Nature moved in the unchanging pattern of successive autumns of the
past decade. The cattails along the Christina marshes dried feathery on
their stocks. In the shadows of the night the muskrats stole from their
homes, crept across the dikes, and raided the orchards of winesaps strewn
on a coverlet of fallen leaves. Flocks of purple grackles, pausing on their
southern flight, chattered in the corn stubble. The first frost had touched
the rocks along the Brandywine with white fingers, and the squirrels and
chipmunks, heeding the warning of the cold winds, gathered nuts and acorns
with renewed diligence.
The news in the borough itself was inconsequential. The Reverend
Peckworth, a newly arrived Baptist preacher, had made the church walls
tremble with his first exhortation. Enoch Roberts, the borough's leading
soap and candle maker, was having his usual autumnal difficulty in
obtaining first-grade butcher's fat. George Simmons had painted new red
letters on the sign which hung in front of his store on West Front Street:
Molasses, Mackerel, Rum, Potatoes.
..................TO BE CONTINUED
?
I am on the same line of thought this month as I was last with
regard to the opportunity our sports players have to be roll models. They,
by the way have made it very plain that they do not seek, and will not
accept the responsibility of being a roll model. I guess it is a case of
them, taking care of their own needs, with little time left to worry about
being an example for some kid somewhere. Of course, with those
multi-million dollar contracts, I guess it is hard to make ends meet and
live a decent life. Well anyway, here is my salute to their effort.
1. The Dallas newspapers reported yesterday that Texas Stadium is going
to take out the artificial turf because the Cowboys play better "on Grass".
2. The Cowboys had a 12 and 5 season last year: 12 arrests and 5
convictions.
Now it is time to pick on one of our favorite subjects, the legal
profession. I don't know if you have noticed, but lawyers typically aren't
funny -- unless by accident. A case in point: The following questions from
lawyers were taken from official US court records nationwide....."
1. Was that the same nose you broke as a child?
2. Now, doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep, in
most cases he just passes quietly away and doesn't know anything about it
until the next morning?
3. Q: What happened then?
A. He told me, he ways, 'I have to kill you because you can
identify me.
Q. Did he kill you?
4. Q. Was it you or your brother that was killed during the war?
5. How long have you been a French Canadian?
6. Q: I show you exhibit 3 and ask you if you recognize that
Picture.
A: That's me.
Q: Were you present when that picture was taken?
Now I can visualize a couple of our lawyer cousins out there with
steam coming out of their ears. All I can say is just relax, we are just
kidding.
?
PART 2............
"The Myths That Could Destroy America", by Erwin Lutzer, published by
"The Arthur S. DeMoss Foundation" in The Rebirth of America.
Today the shape of America is being altered by use of the same strategy.
The Supreme Court, influenced by the humanistic trends, has helped to
brainwash our people to believe that whatever is legal is moral. They would
argue that there is no law above human laws. This is not the case of our
founding fathers. Whether individually Christian or not, there was a
general consensus of theism, the belief that God existed and the new
republic was based upon this foundation. This understanding profoundly
influenced their view of law and government. As the Christian world view
has faded, America has turned not to the laws of God, but to what Francis
Schaeffer called "sociological law." Law is only what the majority wants,
or what the judges say it is. Thus in 1973 the Supreme Court invalidated
the abortion laws of fifty states and legalized abortion on demand. Where
did the Court get the notion that a woman has a right to an abortion? Such
right is not found in the Constitution. The Court made it up. Like
Napoleon, it crowned itself emperor--answerable to no one--not even the
American people. Such distortion of 'rights' has also opened the doors to
pornography, under the guise of a free press, and to the offense of the
public at large. As Christians we must explode the myth that whatever is
legal is moral. What men make legal is not necessarily moral.
Secular humanists would like us to believe that they are broad
minded, pluralistic and neutral in moral matters. They are opposed to
censorship, sectarianism and intolerance. The media has done a successful
job of getting the American people to believe that it is the so-called
right wing religious fanatics who are seeking to 'impose their morality on
society." But all laws are an imposition of someone's morality. That is why
the statement, "You cannot legislate morality" as it stands is absurd.
Secular humanism is imposing its own morality on the American public. It
does so through the media, the schools and the courts. There is a clear
intent to keep Christian thinking out of the mainstream of the media and
the nation's political life.
When Francis Schaeffer's film, Whatever Happened to the Human Race?
was shown on a television station in Washington, pro-abortionists exerted
all the influence they could to prevent it from being aired. (Liberal
establishments are strangely silent about the pluralism and open mindedness
they verbally espouse when the cause contradicts their own.) Even after the
showing, the Washington Post ran an article entitled, "No Matter How
Moving, Show Still Propaganda." Thus the media ridiculed the program with
loaded terminology. One editor admitted that the only religious news story
that the press likes to do is a scandal. When a book entitled, "How to Have
Sex With Children, " was confiscated by the Chicago police, several
demonstrators marched in protest, insisting that pornographers should have
unlimited privileges. But neither prayer nor a creationist view is allowed
in the classroom. As columnist George Will put it so ably, "And it is by
now, a scandal beyond irony that thanks to the energetic litigation of
'civil liberties' fanatics, pornographers enjoy expansive first amendment
protection while first graders in a nativity play are said to violate first
amendment values.
No law is neutral. Every law imposes some form of morality on
society. Abortionists impose their morality on the unborn. Homosexuals want
their views flaunted in the public school classrooms. Atheists want
religious influence excluded from public life. Some politicians, in an
attempt to remain "neutral" on such issues as abortion and sidestep the
flak, say they are personally opposed to abortion but would never "impose
their values on society." If so, how does this sound? "I personally would
never gas a Jew, but I have no right to impose my moral judgment on the
Nazis...I don't think the courts have the right to reach into someone's
private gas chamber and legislate morality." The question is not whether
the public will allow religion to 'impose its morality' on America.
Morality will be imposed. The real question is: Whose morality will be
legislated?
..................TO BE CONTINUED
Much love,
Fred
Ps 36:27 Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous
cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the Lord be magnified, which hath
pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.
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