Yale (surname)

The surname Yale is derived from the Welsh word "iâl" which means fertile ground which was the name of the estate Plas-yn-lal in Wales of the Lords of Yale.

Notable descendants with the surname include:

• Thomas Yale (1525/6–1577), co-representative of the Royal House of Mathrafal, Chancellor to Archbishop Edmund Grindal, the head of the Church of England for Queen Elizabeth Tudor
• Roger Lloyd Yale, his brother, Secretary to Cardinal Wolsey, the chief minister of King Henry VIII, grandson of the Baron of Gwyddelwern of the Royal House of Mathrafal
• John Wynn Yale, his brother, father of David Yale, brother-in-law of Knight Simon Weston, ally of the Earls of Essex, and great-uncle of the 2nd Earl of Londonderry
• David Yale (1540), of Erddig Park, Chancellor of Chester, nephew of Chancellor Thomas Yale, married to Frances, daughter of Admiralty Judge John Lloyd, a cofounder of the 1st Protestant college at the University of Oxford
• Thomas Yale Sr., his son, husband of Anne Yale Sr., father of Anne, Thomas, and David Yale, was a cousin of Francis Willughby of Wollaton Hall
• Anne Yale Sr. (born 1595), daughter of Bishop George Lloyd, widow of Thomas Yale Sr., wife of Governor Theophilus Eaton, a cofounder of Massachusetts and Connecticut, family cofounded Harvard University
• Anne Yale Jr., niece of Nathaniel Eaton, first Head and builder of Harvard, married to Governor Edward Hopkins, 2nd Governor of Connecticut and Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty for Oliver Cromwell
• Thomas Yale Jr. (1616-1683), Captain and merchant, Cofounder of New Haven Colony, fought in King Philip's War, was half-brother of Samuel Eaton, a cofounder of the Harvard Corporation
• David Yale, wealthy Boston merchant, owner of a counting house, attorney to Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick and father of Governor Elihu Yale
• Thomas Yale (1647-1736), Captain, Justice of the Peace, early founder of Wallingford, descendants married into the Henry family, grandfather and uncles of Laura Spelman, wife of John D. Rockefeller
• Thomas Yale (m. 1649), of Plas yn Yale, son of John Wynn Yale, Captain in the service of King Charles I of England, married to Dorothy Hughes, of the House of Gwerclas
• Elihu Yale (1649–1721), President for the British East India Company, Governor and diamond trader, retired one of the richest men in Britain, Yale University named in his honor
• Katherine Yale (1685–1715), daughter of Gov. Elihu Yale, wife of Dudley North of Glemham Hall, member of the House of North, family was the Earls of Guilford, and U.K. Prime Minister Lord Frederick North
• Anne Yale (1687–1734), daughter of Gov. Elihu Yale, wife of Lord James Cavendish, son of the 1st Duke of Devonshire of Chatsworth House, member of the House of Cavendish
• Ursula Yale (1689–1721), daughter of Gov. Elihu Yale, lived at Latimer House, in-laws were House of Herbert, House of Butler, House of Montagu, House of Cecil, of Hatfield House, Burghley House, etc
• Stephen Yale (1732-1799), Captain during the Revolutionary War, son of Elihu Yale (1703), soldier in the Louisbourg Expedition (1757), and grandson of Magistrate and Capt. Theophilus Yale
• Amasa Yale (1756), merchant, soldier in the Revolutionary War, in-laws were members of the Boston Tea Party, who threw 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor, father was Nathaniel Yale (1720), Revolutionary War soldier
• Phaley Yale (1762), Sergeant, Dragoons regiment of the American Revolutionary War, served under Captain Samuel Blachley Webb and Colonel Elisha Sheldon, who served under Gen. Washington
• Samuel Yale Sr. (1763-1810), entrepreneur in New York and Wallingford, pioneer in the manufacturing of Britannia ware, Yalesville named after his family manufacturing dynasty
• Braddam Yale (1772), from N.Y., Colonel during the War of 1812, son of Solomon Yale (1733), soldier in the French and Indian War under Col. Elihu Chauncey, family of Charles Chauncey, 2nd President of Harvard
• Eunice Yale (1777-1857), daughter of Capt. Josiah Yale, grandmother of Mayor George W. Gardner, a descendant of the Adams family, of U.S. Presidents and Founding Father John Adams and John Quincy Adams
• Levi Yale (1780-1844), businessman, joined the War of 1812, representative of the general assembly, was Postmaster under President Jackson and Van Buren
• Ira Yale (1783-1864), Congressman, member of the Connecticut State House of Representatives from Wallingford, son of Capt. Elihu Yale (1747), American Revolutionary War bayonet manufacturer
• Samuel Yale Jr. (1787-1864), entrepreneur, Britannia ware manufacturer in New York and Meriden, owner of the Meriden National Bank, with General Walter Booth, Secretary Silas Mix, Ashabel Griswold, etc
• Charles Yale (1790), Congressman, member of the Connecticut House of Representatives, father of Senator Charles Dwight Yale
• Fanny Alsmena Yale (1790), New York, her daughter Clarissa Hills (1817) married to Alanson Hamilton Barnes, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Dakota, appointed by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant
• Levi Yale (1792-1872), Congressman, merchant, joined the War of 1812, member of the Connecticut State House from Meriden, father of Levi B. Yale (1838), Prohibition candidate for Connecticut
• Linus Yale, Sr. (1797–1858), an American inventor and Bank lock maker, his patents signed by U.S. President Andrew Jackson
• Allen Yale, brother of Linus Yale, Sr., co-owner of LG & Yale company, a weapon-making machine manufacturer, behind one million weapons built during the American Civil War for Abraham Lincoln
• James Murray Yale (1798–1871), Chief trader for the Hudson's Bay Company in Canada, fur trader and competitor of John Jacob Astor, Yaletown named after him
• Isabella Yale, daughter, wife of George Simpson, son of Sir George Simpson, Canadian Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, and later, Governor-in-Chief of Rupert's Land
• Aurelia Yale, daughter, wife of John D. Manson, son of Donald Manson, Chief factor for the HBC, and Félicité Lucier, daughter of fur trader Étienne Lucier, an early founder of Fort Astoria for John Jacob Astor
• Eliza Yale, daughter, wife of Henry Newsham Peers, Chief trader for the HBC, Captain during the American Indian Wars for the 1st Governor of Washington, Issac Stevens
• Hannah Yale (1798-1871), grandmother of artist James Carroll Beckwith, member of the Art Students League of New York, worked for Teddy Roosevelt, General John Schofield, and Mark Twain
• Moses Yale Beach (1800-1868), entrepreneur, owner of the New York Sun, most successful newspaper in America, ambassador to U.S. President James K. Polk for the Mexican-American War, fortune 1/4 of Cornelius Vanderbilt
• Leroy Milton Yale (1802-1849), son of Amerton Yale, a soldier in the Revolutionary War, graduated from Harvard in medicine, became a Doctor, and member of the Boston Society of Natural History
• Edwin R. Yale (1804-1883), General, U.S. military commander, merchant, and entrepreneur, owner of Britannia ware factories in New York and Boston, partner of the Meriden Britannia Company
• Elihu Yale (1807-1872), marble merchant, son of Ira Yale (1783), grandson of Capt. Elihu Yale, was Judge of the Probate Court, Chief of Police of New Haven, Connecticut, Justice of the Peace, and Postmaster
• Charles Dwight Yale (1810-1890), Senator, member of the Connecticut State Senate, shareholder of the Wilcox Silver Plate Co. and the Simpson, Hall, Miller & Co., founding member of the International Silver Company
• Elisha Yale (1810), N.Y., son of Nabby Griswold Tracy, member of the Griswold family, Nabby was the niece of Elizabeth Yale, daughter of Ruth Tracy and Capt. Josiah Yale, a commander in the Revolutionary War
• George Henry Yale (1820-1892), Montreal, Major Commander, merchant, owner of large saw mills, grists mills, and Tanneries, was Mayor of Louisville and Yaletown, candidate for the House of Commons
• Linus Yale, Jr. (1821–1868), inventor, entrepreneur, founded the Yale Lock Company, Premier manufacturer of locks in the U.S., partner of Henry R. Towne, a fellow of F.W. Taylor
• William Yale, Congressman, member of the Connecticut State House of Representatives from Meriden, 1825
• William Parry Yale (1825-1909), Lieutenant Colonel, High Sheriff of Denbighshire, inherited Plas yn Yale from his cousin Sarah Yale, and Madryn Castle from his relative Sir Thomas Love-Jones-Parry, son of Gen. Love Jones-Parry
• William H. Yale (1831–1917), Senator, 6th Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota under Governor Horace Austin, member of the Minnesota State Senate, presided over the Senate
• John Wesley Yale (1832-1900), Colonel of the N.Y. Infantry, relative of Col. Means (War of 1812), chairman of the Democrats, friend of Gov. David B. Hill and Roswell P. Flower, trustee of N.Y. State Asylum by Teddy Roosevelt
• Leroy Milton Yale (1841-1906), Doctor, surgeon, author, graduated from Columbia University, worked at hospital, prison, and lunatic asylum of Blackwell's Island, 1st President of the New York Etching Club, along with Charles A. Platt
• Cyrus Yale Durand (1842-1887), father of Edward Dana Durand, Chief economist for the Department of Commerce under Secretary Herbert Hoover, teacher of finance and economics at Harvard and Stanford
• Charles Benjamin Yale (1843), Jewelry manufacturer in New York, President of the Dime Savings Bank, Chairman of the Board of School Visitors, shareholder of Simpson, Hall, Miller & Co. of New York
• John Brooks Yale (1845-1904), son of Linus Yale Jr., member of the Union League Club, son-in-law of U.S. Treasury Secretary Hugh McCulloch, appointed by Abraham Lincoln, main financier of the American Civil War
• George Selden Yale (1846), Jewelry manufacturer, real estate investor in Meriden, partner of the Simpson, Hall, Miller & Co. on Union Square, Manhattan, brother of Charles Benjamin Yale
• Mary Victoria Yale (1847), Montreal, married to Major Commander Francois X. Lambert, one son became Lieutenant and a daughter married to Mayor Louis A. Fortier, Justice of the Peace, Physician, Surgeon, from Mcgill University
• Madeline Yale Wynne (1847-1918), daughter of Linus Yale, Jr., was an American artist and philanthropist, wrote in Harper's Magazine, sister of Julian Yale, member of the Union League Club
• Caroline Ardelia Yale (1848-1933), an American educator and inventor, revolutionized the education of hearing-impaired people, collaborated with Alexander Graham Bell, Yale crater on Venus named in her honor
• Frank Willey Yale (1854), husband of June Bleecker, relative of Schuyler family, her grandfather was Major Commandant under Gen. Montgomery and Lafayette, fought with Gen. Washington against Gen. Cornwallis
• Helen Wakefield Yale (1854), wife of Judge John Hanson Kennard, descendant of John Hanson, 1st President of the Confederation Congress and Founding Father of the United States
• John R. Yale (1855–1925), Congressman, entrepreneur, member of the New York State Assembly, Vice Chairman of the Panama–Pacific International Exposition, Chairman of the committee on Railroads
• Helen Yale Smith (1855-1945), wife of William W. Ellsworth, grandson of Gov. William W. Ellsworth, son of Founding Father Oliver Ellsworth, nominated by George Washington, and in-law of Noah Webster, recruited by Alexander Hamilton
• Charles H. Yale (1856-1920), an American entrepreneur, theatre producer and performer in Boston, worked for the Boylston Museum
• William Henry Yale (1859), N.Y. merchant, owner of Townsend & Yale, graduated from Yale University, member of the Yale Club, Sons of the American Revolution, and the Union League Club
• May Yale Ogden (1865), wife of Peter Chauncey Anderson, son of Major Elbert Ellery Anderson (1833-1903), grandson of Peter Schemerhorn Chauncey (Mrs. Astor), and Henry J. Anderson, relative of Mozart's associate Lorenzo Da Ponte
• Mary Yale Pitkin (1865), wife of Architect Charles Eliot, son of Charles William Eliot, President of Harvard University, trustee of Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller, member of the Eliot family, and cousin of poet T. S. Eliot
• Charles Yale Knight (1868-1940), entrepreneur and inventor of the sleeve valve technology, used for cars, tanks, airplanes, and by the Willys Company, main competitor of Henry Ford
• Mary Valentine Yale (1870-1916), mother of Mary V. Yale Jr., wife of Eugene Vanhause Bissell, grandson of Dr. Asaph Leavitt Bissell, a Yale graduate, her brother-in-law was shipping magnate Edgar F. Luckenbach
• Jeannette Yale (1872), wife of artist George H. Hughes, studied at Académie Julian under Constant and Léon Bonnat, tutor of Braque and Lautrec, painted for Vice-President Levi Parsons Morton, who sold his business to J. P. Morgan
• Mary Valentine Yale (1889-1948), married to Pelham St. George Bissell Jr., grandson of oil industrialist George Henry Bissell, railroad and bank owner, founder of the first oil companies in America, would be overtaken by Rockefeller
• Julia Meriam Yale (1892), daughter of Dr. Leroy M. Yale (1841), granddaughter of Caroline D. Eliot, the daughter of Senator Thomas D. Eliot, and niece of William Greenleaf Eliot, members of the Eliot family
• Frankie Yale (née Ioele) (1893–1928), American gangster, employer of Al Capone, fought for the control of the Brooklyn docks, New York, his territory was absorbed by the Aquila crime family
• William Yale, Bureau of Secret Intelligence, State Department's special agent for the Middle East under Secretary of State Robert Lansing, Woodrow Wilson administration
• John Corbert Yale (1898-1941), Lieutenant Colonel, son of Colonel James Corbet Yale, served in British India in the Hong Kong and Singapore Royal Artillery, lived at Plas yn Yale, the family estate in Wales
• Olive Yale Anderson (1907-1987), daughter of May Yale Ogden, of the Ogden family, granddaughter of Major Elbert E. Anderson, attorney against Jay Gould and Boss Tweed, was N.Y. Commissioner for President Grover Cleveland
• David Yale (1928-2021), son of Colonel John Corbert Yale, was fellow at the University of Cambridge, President of the Selden Society, Honorary Queen's Counsel for England and Wales, granted by Queen Elizabeth II
• Kim Yale (1953-1997), an American writer and editor for DC Comics, Marvel Comics, and Eclipse Comics, worked on Suicide Squad, Star Trek, and The Batman Chronicles
• Stephen Yale-Loehr (born 1954), an American law professor and attorney at Cornell University, editor-in-chief of Cornell International Law Journal, founding member of Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers
• Brian Yale (born 1968), Musician of Matchbox Twenty, nominated for Grammy awards, partner of artist Rob Thomas, a songwriter for Mick Jagger, Marc Anthony, etc
• Janet Yale, CEO of Arthritis Society, CEO of Scouts Canada, Board member of CARE Canada, an international aid and economic relief organization

See also

• Ial