Yocum Family History
Page Eleven
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Mountz Jones also applied his construction talents in Manatawney where in 1716 he built what is now the oldest structure in Berks County, located at present day Douglassville.
Judith Yocum died in late March 1727. She was then about 68. Her will was probated at Philadelphia 10 April 1727 at the same time as the will of her youngest son, John Yocum, who had died a few days earlier. Her will describes her as "Juda Yocam" and she signed her mark as "H". In her will she gave her daughter Mary Morgan two cows, her bed and furniture, her wearing apparel, her side saddle, two pewter platters and
four pewter plates. To her grandaughter Juda (Judith) Morgan, she gave a red year-old heifer calf. The remainder of her estate went to the children of her son Jonah (Jonas), who was named executor.
Unlike his wife, Peter Peterson Yocum did not live to see any of his numerous grandchildren. Through his seven sons he had at least eight grandsons and ten grandaughters who grew to adulthood and married. No estimate is possible for his three daughters; the identity of the husbands, if any, of his two eldest daughters has not been determined. However, by the time of the first United States census of 1790, there were over 100 residents of Yocum households in Pennsylvania, under variant spellings to be sure; and by the early 1800's, the descendants
of Peter Peterson and Judith Jonasdotter Yocum had overflowed into the Midwest, moving westward with the expanding American frontier.
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After her husband's estate was settled, Judith Yocum moved with her youngest children to the 10,000-acre Swedish tract at Manatawny on the Schuylkill River in present Berks County, which had been set aside by William Penn to relocate members of Swedish families dispossessed of their lands as a result of the establishments of the City of Philadelphia. Jonas, the eldest of the three Yocum sons making this move, secured a patent on 22 February 1715 for 300 acres on this settlement and married Julianna (Hannah) Enochson on 26 August 1715. Andrew Yocum and his wife Elizabeth Trollup did not remain at Manatawny
but returned to Kingsessing where he became a shoe maker. John Yocum, the youngest son, never married and died at Manatawney in March 1727. Mary Yocum, the youngest of the ten children, married William Morgan of Manatawney.
Also moving to Manatawney was Judith Yocum's brother Mans Jonasson (Mountz Jones). Mountz, who had lived between his brother Nils Jonasson and Peter Peterson Yocum on the Aronameck plantation, had a daughter named Christina, born in 1695, who married Frederick Schopenhousen. On 6 May 1712 Mountz deeded his tract at Aronameck, then described as over 102 acres, to his son-in-law. Schopenhousen went into debt and after his death this land (then described as 112.5 acres) was sold at a sheriff's
sale to a Quaker named John Bartram in September 1728. Bartram later won worldwide acclaim for his botanical home. His home, including the core built by Mountz Jones, is still preserved as a Philadelphia park. Thus present day visitors to Bartram's Garden may get a feeling of what life was like for the Swedish residents of Aronameck in the 17th and 18th centuries.
William Bird, Esq.
The gravestone reads:
In Memory of WILLIAM BIRD, ESQ.
Who departed this Life November the 16th. 1761 Aged 55. Years.
The plaque reads:
WILLIAM BIRD, ESQ.
DIED NOVEMBER 16TH, 1761
IRONMASTER AT HOPEWELL AND BIRDSBORO NAMED FOR HIM
Marcus Hulings
The plaque reads:
MARCUS HULINGS
INDIAN INTERPRETER AND A MAN OF COLONIAL AFFAIRS
DIED APRIL 2, 1757 AGED 70 YEARS
MARCUS HULINGS
INDIAN INTERPRETER AND A MAN OF COLONIAL AFFAIRS
DIED APRIL 2, 1757 AGED 70 YEARS
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John Hughes, who had purchased half of this land, appeared before the same Board of Property two months later on 13 April:
Peter Yocom having obtained of the Proprietary 500 acres of land which were laid out on part of Laetitia Penn's Manor by a deed poll duly executed, bearing date 23d August, 1697, conveyed 250 acres thereof to John Hew who requests a warrant of resurvey in order to (obtain) a patent. Ordered a resurvey of the said land, also upon the other 250 acres, regulating and ascertaining the whole bounds and a patent upon the return, paying for the overplus, etc.
THE TANGLED YOCUM ESTATE
Peter Peterson Yocum's will was proved 4 June 1702. He probably had died about a week before. Whether he was buried at Gloria Dei Church at Wicaco as his will directed has not been verified. Untangling his worldly affairs was to take his widow Judith and his brother John Hanson Steelman several years. On 12 September 1702 they sold the "Hopyard" in Delaware to John Guest. However, it took over five years to clear up title questions on the 250 acres at Matsunk. Finally on 15 August 1707
the Board of Property ruled:
The Proprietary (William Penn) by his warrant, dated 4, 6 mo. (August), 1684, granted to Peter Yocom 500 acres of land at 1/2 pence per acre, whom Thomas Holme, Surveyor General, ordered to be laid out on the west side Schuylkill above all the Welsh Townships, not interfering with the 12 miles square belonging to Ralph Fretwell, and accordingly was surveyed by David Powell, but fell within part of that tract appropriated to Laetitia Penn in right of her original purchase of 5,00 acres, which tract included divers other lesser quantities before surveyed to other persons. The Proprietary ordered that the lesser quantities should be confirmed to these persons, and accordingly Samuel
Carpenter and James Logan, attorneys for the trustees of William Aubrey (husband of Laetitia Penn) are to confirm the said land, 250 acres thereof to Jno. Hughs, to whom Peter Yocom in his lifetime sold the same, and the other 250 acres to the said Peter's children to whom, by will, he left the same.
Charles Yocum did not go to Matsunk (Laetitia Penn's Manor) with his mother and younger siblings as his father had expected. Instead he married Ann Supplee, daughter of Andrew Supplee, and sold his 100-acre tract to his father-in-law on 24 July 1708. Andrew Supplee combined this with 50 acres he had purchased 10 March 1707 from Peter Yocum's 150 acres in the same location to provide homesteads for his sons Andrew Supplee, Jr., and Jacob Supplee. Charles Yocum, a weaver, remained at Kingsessing where he raised his family.
Peter, eldest son of Peter Peterson Yocum, married and moved with his wife Elizabeth to the remaining 100 acres at Matsunk by 1710. Other Swedes moving to similar tracts in Upper Merion township were Gunnar and John Rambo (son and grandson of Peter Rambo, Sr.), Peter Cock (grandson of the original Peter Cock), and Mathias Holstein (grandson of Clas Jansen from Holstein by Mathias Classon Holstein).
Mans (Mountz) Yocum with his wife Margaret and Sven (Swan) Yocum with his wife Joanna Collins stayed on the remnants of the old Aronameck plantation at Kingsessing.
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Family tombstone photos at St. Gabriel's Church
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