William Yardley
No headstone, just the area that William is believed to be buried.
William Yardley
1632-1693
When Yardley was 15, English Dissenter George Fox began preaching an unusual and uncompromising approach to English Puritanism. This led to the founding of the Religious Society of Friends, also called the Quakers, a year later in 1648. In 1656, at the age of 23, Yardley began preaching on behalf of the Quakers. Two years later, he became a Quaker minister. Over the next twenty-five years, Yardley preached throughout England and was imprisoned several times along with many other Quakers, including William Penn. In one harsh imprisonment, Yardley's only resting place for three months was the bare, unheated floor of his cell.
In March 1681, Penn founded the Province of Pennsylvania as a primary refuge for persecuted English Quakers. Yardley was an uncle of one of Penn's most trusted friends and counselors, Phineas Pemberton. With plans to leave England, Yardley made an agreement with Penn to buy 500 acres for ten pounds (about nineteen U.S. dollars). At the age of 50 in 1682, Yardley and wife Jane (nee Heath), sons Enoch, William and Thomas, and servant Andrew Heath sailed to the America on the ship Friend's Adventure.] On the ship, Yardley brought with him 2 bundles, 2 tubs, 3 chests, 1 pack, 2 boxes qty. 2 cwt. wrought iron, 1/2 cwt. pewter, 30 lbs., woolen cloth, 100 ells English linen, 40 lbs. new shoes, 2 cwt. nails; 1/2 chest window glass, 1/2 cwt. haberdashery wares.
On arriving in America, Yardley became the first person named "Yardley" to immigrate into America. The family eventually made their way to Falls, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, arriving there on September 28, 1682. Within the next few days, Yardley located 500 acres on the west bank of the Delaware River covering what is now Yardley, Pennsylvania. Penn gave Yardley a warranty deed on October 6, 1682, and the land officially became Yardley's about five years later on January 23, 1687, through a land patent.
By the end of 1682, Yardley built his farmhouse on what is now called Yardley Dolington Road, about a mile from Yardley, Pennsylvania. He called his farmhouse and adjoining 500 acres of land "Prospect Farm." Which still stands today. In 1683, Yardley presided over the marriage of Richard Hough, one of the first marriages among the English settlers. Richard is believed to be buried in Slate Hill near his friend William, and his descendant Houghs.
Over the next ten years, Yardley signed one of the frames of Pennsylvania's Great Charter, represented Bucks County in the first Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly, and was a member of the Executive Council of the Province of Pennsylvania. Yardley died on May 6, 1693, at the age of 61 as a result of a smallpox epidemic. Thomas Janney (1633–1696), Yardley's brother-in-law, wrote of him, about the time of his death: "He was a man of sound mind and good understanding."
William Yardley died from smallpox in 1693. Due to English laws his property in America reverted to his heirs in England, who were Yardley's brother Thomas and nephews, Thomas and Samuel. In 1694, his nephew Thomas took over his property. It is from his line that most of the Yardleys descended from. Sadly Williams' wife and sons also succumbed to smallpox in the epidemic of 1702–03.
There is no tombstone for William, which is not surprising. At the time, Quakers did not believe in grave markers as they were believed to be a sign of vanity. However, considering Yardley was a leader in the Falls Meeting and was in charge of the deed for the cemetery, we can only assume he is buried here.
Transcription of Falls Meeting Minutes 1690:
2nd day of 5th mo 1690. Agreed that the deed for the meeting house land after recording thereof be delivered to William Yardley to be kept by him until further order from this meeting.
We have chosen this location to memorialize William Yardley for many reasons. First, this is the oldest area of the cemetery, so it is likely this corner is where anyone of that time period was buried. Second, Hough’s descendants are nearby, and considering they were good friends, it is plausible they were buried near one another. Finally, the LMT Historical Commission took part in a ground penetrating radar event in 2023 that clearly noted 2 “hits” in this spot. Without anything scientific to allow us to prove this, we’ve allowed our imaginations to place William Yardley & his friend Richard Hough here side by side.
