Jasper Yeates (1745–1817) was an American lawyer and judge from Pennsylvania, a justice of the state Supreme Court from 1791 to 1817. Jasper Yeates House

Early life and education

Jasper Yeates was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

on April 9, 1745 to John and Elizabeth Sidebotham Yeates. He graduated from the College of Philadelphia with a Bachelor of Arts in 1758 and later received a Master of Arts degree. He studied law and was admitted to the Bar of Philadelphia in 1765. He traveled to England to study at the

Inns of Court The Inns of Court in London are the professional associations for barristers in England and Wales. There are four Inns of Court: Gray's Inn, Lincoln's Inn, Inner Temple, and Middle Temple. All barristers must belong to one of them. They have s ...

for his legal training, as was typical of other colonial aspiring families. His career began in

Lancaster, Pennsylvania Lancaster ( ) is a city in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 58,039 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, eighth-most populous ci ...

, west of Philadelphia where he became a prominent member of the bar. On December 30, 1767 he married Sarah Burd, eldest daughter of Colonel

James Burd James Burd (March 10, 1725 – October 5, 1793) was a colonial American soldier in the French and Indian War, during which he played an important role in fortifying the Pennsylvania frontier. Early life Born in Ormiston, near Edinburgh, Scotland, ...

and his wife Sarah Shippen. During the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

, he sided with the

Patriot A patriot is a person with the quality of patriotism. Patriot(s) or The Patriot(s) may also refer to: Political and military groups United States * Patriot (American Revolution), those who supported the cause of independence in the American R ...

cause. In 1776, he served as a commissioner to investigate Native American affairs in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

.Reuben G. Thwaites and Louise P. Kellogg, eds., ''The Revolution on the Upper Ohio, 1775–1777'' (Originally published 1908, Kennikat reprint, Port Washington, NY 1970), p. 191. Yeates was a prominent lawyer in Lancaster and during his career he built a fine library of legal books in several languages totaling 1,043 volumes in all. Most were purchased in Dublin and London. The library today is housed in its entirety in the library of LancasterHistory.org in Lancaster, Pa. where it is available for scholarly research. After the Revolution, Yeates was a delegate to the Pennsylvania convention that ratified the

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in 1787. Appointed as a justice of the

Pennsylvania Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Unified Judicial System. It began in 1684 as the Provincial Court, and casual references to it as the "Supreme Court" of Pennsylvania were made offici ...

in 1791, he served until his death in 1817. Smith was

impeached Impeachment is a process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements. In Eu ...

on flimsy political grounds on March 23, 1804 by the Democratic–Republican-led

Pennsylvania House of Representatives The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Pennsylvania General Assembly, the legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. There are 203 members, elected for two-year terms from single member districts. It ...

alongside the other two

Federalist The term ''federalist'' describes several political beliefs around the world. It may also refer to the concept of parties, whose members or supporters call themselves ''Federalists''. History Europe federation In Europe, proponents of deep ...

justices of the Supreme Court,

Edward Shippen IV Edward Shippen (February 16, 1729 – April 15, 1806)Randolph Shipley Klein. "Shippen, Edward IV"; ''American National Biography Online'', Feb. 2000. was an American lawyer, judge, government official, and prominent figure in colonial and post-r ...

and Thomas Smith. The sole Democratic–Republican member of the court, who had been not in attendance on the day the court heard the case central to the impeachment, was not impeached. The justices were not removed, being acquitted in their

impeachment trial An impeachment trial is a trial that functions as a component of an impeachment. Several governments utilize impeachment trials as a part of their processes for impeachment. Differences exist between governments as to what stage trials take place ...

before the

Pennsylvania Senate The Pennsylvania State Senate is the upper house of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, the Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mi ...

in the vote held on January 28, 1805. A Federalist, he was appointed by the

Washington administration George Washington's tenure as the inaugural president of the United States began on April 30, 1789, the day of his first inauguration, and ended on March 4, 1797. Washington took office after he was elected unanimously by the Electoral Coll ...

in 1794 to serve on a commission sent to negotiate an end to the

Whiskey Rebellion The Whiskey Rebellion (also known as the Whiskey Insurrection) was a violent tax protest in the United States beginning in 1791 and ending in 1794 during the presidency of George Washington. The so-called "whiskey tax" was the first tax impo ...

.Philip S. Klein and Ari Hoogenboom, ''A History of Pennsylvania'' (Penn State Press, 1973), p. 117. Yeates died in Lancaster, Pennsylvania on March 14, 1817 and is buried in St. James Episcopal Church cemetery along with his wife Sarah, who died October 25, 1829.

Legacy and honors

*The

Jasper Yeates House The Jasper Yeates House, also known as the home of WRKY Radio, is an historic American home that is located in Lancaster, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. History and architect ...

was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1982.

References

External links

* Th
Jasper Yeates papers
which span his lifetime and contain Yeates's personal correspondence, accounts, and notes on trials and other legal papers, are available for research at the

Historical Society of Pennsylvania The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is a historic research facility headquartered on Locust Street in Center City Philadelphia. It is a repository for millions of historic items ranging across rare books, scholarly monographs, family chron ...

. * The Jasper Yeates Collection can be found at LancasterHistory.org http://www.lancasterhistory.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=893:yeates-lancaster-county-historical-society-collection-1699-1934&catid=37:manuscript-groups&Itemid=57 * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Yeates, Jasper 1745 births 1817 deaths Pennsylvania Federalists People of Pennsylvania in the American Revolution Politicians from Lancaster, Pennsylvania Justices of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania Lawyers from Philadelphia People from colonial Pennsylvania 19th-century American lawyers United States judges impeached by state or territorial governments