William Thomas Yarwood, forty years in business at Picton, and one of its leading citizens, is a native of Lee, Oneida county, New York, his parents being Samuel and Jane (Allison) Yarwood. His father was from England, and the son of a United Empire Loyalist, who was in the British army at the time of the revolt of the American colonies; his mother was from Ireland. In 1822 the family came to Picton, where both parents died, the mother in 1858; the father in 1870, the latter being, at the time of his death, a retired farmer. Our subject had meagre school privileges, and mainly educated himself; learned the tailor’s trade, and in 1840 went into business for himself, being in partnership with another man until 1850. In that year they were burnt out, since which date Mr. Yarwood has been most of the time alone. He has a large merchant tailor clothing establishment, and has long been doing a profitable business. He owns the three story brick store which he occupies, and considerable real estate in town, mostly in dwelling houses, all being the accumulations of his own hands. His success is owing to his industrious and economical habits and his careful oversight of his business.
Mr. Yarwood was in the town council a dozen years; a trustee of the high school a longer period; a member of the county council one term, and he has been a magistrate since 1870. Glenwood cemetery, adjoining the town of Picton, owes its existence largely to him, he being the prime mover in selecting, securing, and fitting up the grounds, and he is president of the company. He also took a very active part in getting the by laws passed, permitting the building of the Prince Edward railway, and was one of its provisional directors. The road was completed and opened in the autumn of 1879. Mr. Yarwood has always been public spirited, and took much pleasure in witnessing, as well as aiding in the progress of the town.
In politics he is a Reformer, decided in his views, and zealous in advocating them in a quiet way. He has been a member of the Methodist church more than forty years; holds the offices of trustee and steward, and is one of the leading men in town in religious enterprises and in the temperance cause, being a strong prohibitionist.
In October, 1841, Miss Eliza A. Bristol, of Picton, was joined in wedlock with Mr. Yarwood, and she has had six children, only two of them now living; Ruth A. the wife of George W. McMullen, and Ida C., the wife of William C. Dwight, both residents of Chicago.