Peter Jahrling

Edward H Chadwick Chadwick's History of Shelby County. B F Bowen and Co Indianapolis, 1909.

What may be done by pluck and energy, persistent determination and industry, is well illustrated by the case of Peter Yarling. Born in 1810, of poor parents who eked out a hard living in the city of Darmstadt, he found himself in boyhood condemned to the same life of drudgery and toil. He had heard, however, of a the great new republic across the sea, and longed to try his fortunes in the land of promise, which held out a welcome to all who were willing to become men among men. So one day in 1830, just as he was finishing his twentieth year, Peter bade farewell to the Fatherland, got on board of the first ship he could find, and sailed in the steerage for the Western wilderness. Eventually finding his way to Cincinnati he worked for a while as a common laborer, but his ambition was for better things, and, as a step forward, he started on foot to Indianapolis to make an entry of government land. This was in 1835. He secured eighty acres of wild land, located in Marion township, Shelby county, and then walked all the way back to Cincinnati to make arrangements for taking possession. Peter Yarling worked very hard placing his forest grown land into shape, but in time, after much hardship and privation, he had converted it into a very respectable farm. He prospered and accumulated, adding on new purchases as he could, and at the time of his death, which occurred in April, 1876, on the place where he had labored so assiduously, he was the owner of five hundred acres of fine Shelby county farming land. In the same year and about the same time he was crossing the ocean another ship was bringing over a poor German girl, by the name of Mary Miller, and shortly after her arrival they met each other in Cincinnati. She was just a year his junior, having been born in 1811. Their marriage occurred in 1835, and she made him a devoted wife, sharing in all his labors and trials, his joys and his sorrows. Of their nine children, five are still living: Mary, who married George W. Phares, resides in Shelbyville with her husband, who has retired form active business. They have five children, and the two sons are physicians. Michael, who married Rexie Talbert has three children, all married. Jacob married Anna Branson, and Catherine, who is the wife of Samuel Herthel, has three children.