Phillip Yarman (abt. 1755-1825)

[rushlo]

Hello!

My family has been working on several brick walls on my Yarman line for decades (perhaps centuries)Some of us think that we're Irish Deyarmons because the name sounds so similar and many Deyarmons lived in the same area as Yarmans in Ohio. I also thought that we were Irish Deyarmons until I started to notice the Yarman surname in English records dating back to the 1400s. I found an Alice Yarman in the British chancery records dated between 1459 and 1466. I have no clue what for, but I found the surname. Isn't the internet wonderful?

Our first Yarman ancestor in the United States we have is Phillip Yarman (abt. 1755-1825) He is my 5th great grandfather. The only clue we have about his wife is her name was Mrs. Phillip Yarman. So that's not any help. (She's a brick wall also.) We call him Phillip I. Phillip I possibly had 3 brothers: John, Peter, and Clarence.

Family legend says that these brothers came to the United States together and that Phillip I met an English girl and married her shortly after arriving to America. They were both supposedly very young when married. I don't know how much truth there is to this, or if our family has romanticized the story through the years.

Phillip Yarman (1755-1825) and "Mrs. Phillip Yarman" had a son, Phillip Yarman (Between 1783 &1787-1872) born in Pennsylvania (not sure where in Pennsylvania.) and died in Wooster, Wayne County, Ohio on 28th of March, 1872. His wife was named Derisa UNKNOWN (1794-?) Derisa stated in the only two census records we have her on that she was born in New Jersey. Great. Another brick wall. Ugh. Anyway, we call this Phillip, Phillip Sr.

Phillip Sr had a son, William Erwin Yarman (1812-1881) who married Leah Stull (1822-1881) William Erwin was born in Ohio. He died in Bourbon, Marshall County, Indiana. They (Phillip Sr. and Derisa) also had a daughter, Lydia Ann Yarman (1822-1848) Lydia married Samuel Stull (1808-1907) Yes, Leah Stull and Samuel Stull were siblings. So we have double cousins, which is great for my ancestry DNA matches.

I've gone as far back in the States that I can with the Yarman surname. I'm looking across the Atlantic now. I am not 100% sure that Phillip Yarman I was actually named Phillip. I have never found any records with his name on them. But it's what my family has said his name was for decades now.

Hopefully, someone can point me in the right direction or know a thing or two about this unusual surname I was born with. Any advice on where to look or information anyone may have would be very much appreciated.

Thanks,

Lori

[Megan Roberts]

Yarman seems to be an exceedingly rare surname. I have just done a general search of Findmypast records and got the following results:

1841 census (This was the 1st national census) - there are only 10 people with that surname
All results for their British records - 458 hits only

The majority of these results are in the Eastern and Southern quadrants of England.

Now I should emphasise that these results are based on exact spellings, and I suspect that maybe over the years there may have been a variety of spellings depending upon people's literacy, transcribing, and even interpretation of someone's accent when hearing and writing down that person's name.

[Lesley Robertson]

Megan is correct - the spellings of names change and change again. People very often spoke their names to a clerk and the clerk wrote what he heard. If the two sides were used to different accents (even just regional accents), spellings were not standardized. Back then, they were also not as obsessed with exact dates as us...

In your place, I would pick out the 4 possible brothers in #1 and concentrate on the hard data that you have or can find. Put the legends and guesses to one side for the moment. Look for their occupations, children’s names (you may need to check their wives where you can find them to establish which names came from which side). Include spelling variations (Yarmen/Yarmin is a start, Jarmin is common in Holland and is pronounced Yarmen, for example). If each of the Four have first or second sons or daughters with the same forenames, it’s possibly a clue that they are related, etc, etc.

I keep 2 files - one for “ backed by hard written data” and the other for “grey data” - for example matching names but no records from the previous generation.

I assume that you have trekked graves and passenger lists?

[rushlo]

Thank you for your replies.

A book was written in the 1990s by a Yarman descendant. It is no longer in print. But I have a digital copy. There is a lot of useful information in it. However, I have found inaccurate information also. I have found a distant maternal cousin (my maternal great grandfather's cousin) married into my Yarman family. And the author has her first married name listed as her maiden name. DNA that led me to records helped me help a cousin break through a brick wall. We share more than one set of common ancestors. I can't knock the book. It was written before DNA testing and before the internet provided a vast wealth of knowledge.

In the Yarman book, it says that there was a Joseph Chapman Dyarmon-or Deyarmon (1795-1850) who was believed to be Phillip Yarman Sr's (1787-1872) brother. They both lived in Wayne County, Ohio at the same time. And it is thought that Joseph was the only brother to spell his surname the way he believed the original spelling to be. If Joseph Deyarmon was Phillip's brother, their parents have to be Joseph Deyarmon (1756-1824) and Susannah Chapman Deyarmon (1825-1815) If this is true, we are descendants of Hugh Deyarmont (abt. 1740-1776) of County Down, Ireland. It's possible. I'm not ruling it out. But I am fact-checking it.

The records I have found in England cause me to question the whole Yarman-Deyarmon connection. I have even found a Yarman or two who went to Australia. There are no records or grave found for Phillip Yarman I (1755-1825) or his wife. Phillip Sr (1787-1872) is buried in Wayne County, Ohio. I have a copy of his death certificate. Nobody knows what happened to Derisa or where she is buried. It doesn't look like she left much of a paper trail and seems as if she vanished into thin air. I hope that one day, DNA will help figure this all out.

However, I have learned to not trust Ancestry's algorithms 100%. I have had incorrect ancestors show up. Thrulines keeps suggesting that my great grandmother's adopted father is her birth father. He's not. And it's well-known that she was adopted. DNA is a tool. Without a paper trail, it's still only a guess.

We Yarmans love our name. The name is unique. And we are aware of how rare it is. It's the line that causes the most frustration. Yet it's my favorite. There are about 50 of us who are looking for answers about our origins. We have it narrowed to either England or Ireland. I'm on the fence, but I'm leaning toward England.