My Genealogy Hound

WILLIAM YEAKLE, the youngest son of Jacob and Gertrude Yeakle, is one of the best known citizens of Springfield township, where he has resided all his life, having been one of its most respected and influential men.

He was born November 7, 1821. He was educated in an old time log school house in the vicinity, the instruction he received being confined to a few months each year in winter, as was the custom in his younger days. Equally important, however, was the religious training given him by parents, who were interested in the bringing up of their children to habits of honest industry. At an early age he began work on the homestead farm, and later rented it until the death of his father, when he came into possession of the property, partly by inheritance and partly by purchase. He has been all his life a farmer except in the past few years when he has lived retired because of the weight of advancing years.

Mr. Yeakle married, December 27, 1849, Mary, daughter of Jacob Wentz. She was born in Whitemarsh township, September 24, 1826. She died February 1, 1888. Their children: Atwood, born 1850, a leading druggist of Norristown, whose place of business is at the east corner of Marshall and DeKalb streets, was for some years a member of town council, is married, and has three children living, besides one who died young; Gertrude, born 1852, died young; Ambrose, born 1854, married Miss Gilbert, and has three children living, besides two who are deceased; John, born 1857, died young. In politics Mr. Yeakle is a Republican of very pronounced views, but has never sought or held office, preferring, in accordance with the principles of the Schwenkfelder denomination, to which his ancestors belonged, to keep out of official life, although he has frequently been importuned to accept nomination for public office. He is and has been for many years a member of the board of directors of the Montgomery National Bank of Norristown. His farm is one of the finest in the township. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Few men in the community are so highly respected as he.

Jacob Yeakle (father) was born in Springfield township, September 29, 1780, and his entire life was spent on the homestead. His opportunities for education were somewhat limited, but he improved to the utmost possible extent. Mr. Yeakle was employed on the farm in his earlier years. Soon after arriving at manhood he purchased a farm, and married, November 1, 1808, Gertrude, daughter of George Urffer. Their children were: Susan, born September 4, 1809; Joseph, born April 11, 1811; Leah, born June 4, 1814; Charles, born July 7, 1817; George, born February 27, 1820; and William. George married Amanda, daughter of Peter Streeper, and has two living children-Walter, born July 22, 1855, died in 1864; Mary A,, born in 1858; and Horace, born December 12, 1861. Leah married Thomas L. Bates, and had seven children, of whom six are living. Joseph, the oldest son of Jacob Yeakle, married, first, in 1834, Elizabeth Huston, born April 1, 1813, his children being Huston, born December 13, 1835, deceased; James, born December 8, 1837, deceased; Emily (Mrs. Joseph Nash), born October 15, 1839; Eleanor, born April 29,1842, deceased; Daniel W., born November 24, 1844, deceased; Jacob, born January 25, 1847; Elvie (Mrs. Cleaver Supplee), born September 5, 1850. Mrs. Joseph Yeakle died June 18, 1852, and Mr. Yeakle married (second wife) Miss Mary Huston, whose death occurred February 14, 1877. Their children were: John H., born August 12, 1853, died March 7, 1854; and Thomas C., born January 19, 1855. He was for some years postmaster at Flourtown. Charles Yeakle, second son of Jacob Yeakle, inherited his father’s farm in 1863. Mr. Yeakle married, March 16, 1843, Sarah, daughter of Michael and Barbara (Urffer) Neus, of Upper Hanover township, whose only child Levi died February, 1861. Charles Yeakle engaged in farming and also in mining iron ore. He was a Republican in politics. Both Joseph and Charles are now deceased. Jacob Yeakle (father) was a Whig in politics, and although interested in public affairs, never sought office. He was a man of the highest integrity, who enjoyed in a remarkable degree the respect and confidence of the community. In religion he adhered to the Schwenkfelder faith in which he was reared.

The progenitor of the Yeakle (Jaeckel) family was Christopher, who died in Silesia. His son Christopher, when eighteen years of age, came with his widowed mother, in 1734, and settled in Germantown, Pennsylvania. He learned there the cooper trade and followed it throughout his lifetime. He built in 1743 the log house at Cresheim, which was his dwelling prior to the Revolutionary war, when he purchased the property on the summit of Chestnut Hill on which he died in 1810, in his ninety-second year, leaving considerable property to his children. Christopher Yeakle married, August 9, 1743, Maria, daughter of Balthasar and Susanna Schultz, whose children were: Susanna, born 1744; Maria, 1747; Regina, 1749; Abraham, 1752; Anna, 1755; Christopher, 1757. Of this number Abraham married Sarah, daughter of Christopher Wagner, October 10, 1776, and had children as follows: Isaac, born in 1777; Samuel, 1779; Jacob, 1780; Susanna, 1782; Maria, 1784. Jacob Yeakle died in May, 1863.