Yarnall Genealogy

Ledger entry
The best record available for estimating the year my grandfather was born is the baptismal notation in a ledger at Saint Thomas the Apostle Church in the Ivy Mills section of Aston Township, PA. It indicates he was baptized on Christmas Day in 1868.
Birthplace
Aston Township is where his father and mother lived according to the 1870 census. His father was a farmer that year. I do not know in what section of Aston they lived. Wawa was a section of Aston. It had a post office. His place of birth was recorded as being Wawa.

The picture on the left shows what the USA looked like when George Grant Yarnall was born. There were only 37 states. There was a presidential election the year my grandfather was born. A Republican (Grant) defeated a Democrat (Seymore). An electoral votes map is on the left. I guess my great grandfather voted for Grant. He gave my grandfather a middle name of Grant when he was born. Election details. Notice how close the popular vote was even though the electoral college vote was very much in favor of the winner.

1870 census
He is listed in this Aston census as George G age 2.
1880 census
He is listed in the Glen Riddle section of Middletown Township as George, age 12, employed in a cotton mill. I assume it was the closest mill to Glen Riddle called the Parkmount Mill. This is impressive. When I was 12, my jobs were delivering newspapers and doing some caddying at the Rolling Green Country Club. They were not full-time jobs. There are no 1890 census records because they were destroyed in a fire in 1921.
Marriage
In 1894 he married Bridget Cedelia Bruton on May 19th in the same church in which he was baptized - St Thomas the Apostle. Grant and Bridget had eight children. Their names were Ellen Catherine (called Nell) born 2/24/1895, George S born 5/17/1896, Rose Cordelia born 1/8/1898, Sarah Marie born 6/18/1899, John J. born 6/2/1903, William Edward born 10/5/1905, Catherine Rose born 6/4/1908, and Thomas Vincent (my dad) born 3/14/1911.
New church
In 1894 Saint Francis de Sales church was built in the Crozerville section of Aston Township. It seems logical to assume that he would soon join that church since it might have been about 100 yards from his residence if he was living in the mill housing in "Crozerville" by that time. Saint Francis is where his son Thomas (my father) was baptized.