Joseph Preston Yadon and Mary Pennybaker were the parents of 12 children - - and 113 grandchildren.

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Joseph Preston Yadon was born in County Down, Ireland, near the village of Scarva. He ran away from home at an early age. When he was 12 years old, he enlisted as a drummer boy in the English Army (1776) and came to America shortly before the Revolution.

Joseph Preston Yeadon (Yadon) and the 62nd Regiment of Foot formed the center of British General Hamilton's brigade during Burgoyne's campaign down from Canada. This brigade was the second brigade of the [British] right wing of the army. The 62nd was not only at the battle of Freeman's farm on 19 September 1777 but were unarguably the most involved unit. They sustained more casualties (killed, captured, and wounded) that day in battle than any other British unit in battle in the whole war. They had been with the Canadian army since spring 1776 and served till the Convention of Saratoga. Their service was relatively short, but difficult.

The British commanders were repatriated but because of some disagreement with the British conduct following the surrender, the ranks were not repatriated. Joseph Yadon was one of these. These prisoners were marched from New York down into Virginia toward the Albemarle Barracks, at Charlottesville, VA. Finally, in 1779, Yadon enlisted in the American army at Martinsburg, VA (now West Virginia). He was a member of Colonel Joseph Crockett's Western Battalion. In September 1780, Crockett's men were sent to Ft. Pitt (Pittsburg) where they joined General George Rogers Clark. In June of 1781, General George Rogers Clark with a force of 400 men, left Ft. Pitt by boat and headed down the Ohio River to The Falls of the Ohio (now Louisville, KY). They stayed at The Falls until December when Joseph Yadon was discharged.

On January 12, 1782, now back in Martinburg, Virginia, Joseph Yadon married Mary Susannah Pennybaker, daughter of Jacob and Christina Dotterer Pennybaker.

Coincidentally, while Joseph Yadon was hunkered down in New York state in September and October 1777, back in Pennsylvania, Pennebacker Mills (Pennypacker Mills as it is known today) was being used by General George Washington as his headquarters just prior to and immediately after the Battle of Germantown. Although Jacob Pennybaker's father, Peter Pennebacker, had died in 1770, his mother still lived there with son Samuel to whom the property went following Peter's death. Three graves of American soldiers are to be found on the property today. Presumably others lie in unmarked graves. The house had remained in the family until about 1900 when a descendent of one of Peter Pennebacker's brothers acquired the house. Samuel Whitacker Pennypacker remodeled the home into a gentleman's country home. He was govenor of Pennsylvania in the early 1900s. His descendents turned the home over to Montgomery County. Pennypacker Mills is today a park owned by Montgomery County and open to the public.

Joseph and Polly moved to Washington county, Virginia and then to Grainger (now Union) county, Tennessee to raise their large family. (12 Children!) From 1832 until his death in 1838, he drew a pension of $24.00 quarterly. Joseph and Susannah Mary Yadon resided at or near Maynardville, Union County, Tennessee. At one time, he was the postmaster at "Haynes" Tennessee. Many of his original documents were signed with a mark, and the name is spelled various ways: Yadon, Yaden, Yaydon, Yeadon etc. on the pension papers.