Attn: all Yorker Researchers
I am attempting to unite all the disparate entries for the Yorker
family of Rensselaer and Columbia Co's, NY. I have been able to make some headway as far back as Christopher Yorker/Yorger b. abt 1775
Livingston, Columbia Co., NY d. bef. 1846 NY. m. Phebe Bashford abt.
1798. They had eight known children and stood god parents to several
other children christened at The Reformed Church in Claverack, Columbia Co., NY. I believe Christopher's father to be Michael Yorker
and one of his brothers to be Jacob (who married Margaretha Muth or Moit). I further believe that Michael Yorker's father was named
Christopher. He is the earliest Yorker/Yorger I can find mentioned in
the U.S. being born about 1700. Michael was born abt. 1740 in Columbia Co., NY. There was a Michael Jorger who immigrated from
Germany in 1741. In an 1820 afidavit from 80 year old Michael Yorker,
he did not know his birth date or place, but he lived in Livingston,
Columbia Co., NY at the beginning of the Revolutionary War. The
document has numerous places that are unreadable, but, if I read it
right, his father's name was Christopher. He went to war as a substitute for someone, but couldn't remember their name. He served
under Rockefeller and Livingston for about nine months, but could not
prove his service when he applied for his pension. Michael is listed
in the 1790, 1800, 1810 and 1820 census records for Columbia Co., NY.
From various records I obtained the names of the following Yorker
children, some or all of which are of an age to be Michael's children:
Jacob b. 1760, Christopher b. abt. 1775, Elizabeth b. abt. 1781,
Christina b. Nov. 30, 1784.