Please read About Families before using any of the information on this page.
William Yeo was baptised at Bradworthy in 1798 to parents Benjamin Yeo and Mary Wade – his family has been extensively studied [note 1]. William married Mary Routley at Sutcombe in 1824. He farmed at Bradworthy, where he and Mary had five children:
– Ann Yeo (1825–1866, married Richard Hodge Beckly)
– Grace Yeo (1826–1892, married Richard Fulford at Bradford in 1851)
– Sophia Yeo (1829–1905, married Stephen Nosworthy at Bradford in 1858)
– William Yeo
– Benjamin Yeo (1833–1887).
They moved to Henscott in the nearby parish of Bradford, and had eight further children:
– Thomas Yeo
– Mary Jane Yeo (1837–1908, married Robert Harris at Bradford in 1868)
– Elizabeth Yeo (1839–1905, married Robert Daniel at Bradford in 1875)
– John Yeo
– Barnabas Yeo (see below)
– Matthew Yeo (1846–1923)
– Emma Nora Yeo (1847–1891, married Samuel Trible at Bradford in 1873)
– unnamed daughter (born 1848, died as an infant).
William died in 1872 and Mary survived him by 11 years. An extra daughter Jane Leonora Yeo has incorrectly been assigned to their family by some researchers.
Barnabas Yeo (1844–1907, son of William Yeo and Mary Routley) married Sarah James Edmonds [note 2] at Stratton in 1866. They had nine children. Their eldest daughter was born at Marhamchurch:
– Mary Ellen Yeo (1866–1962, married William Henry May at Whitstone in 1892).
Their next four children were born at Poughill (Cornwall):
– William Edmonds Yeo (see below)
– John Yeo (see below)
– Thomas Owen Yeo (see below)
– Laura Yeo (see below)
followed by four further children after they moved to Marhamchurch, where Barnabas farmed at Woodknowle:
– Samuel Norman Yeo (1875–1880)
– Amelia Yeo (1878–1958)
– Emily Hetty Yeo (1881–1963, married Horace Jones [note 3] at Holsworthy in 1908)
– Matthew Herbert Yeo (see below).
William Edmonds Yeo (1868–1949, son of Barnabas Yeo and Sarah James Edmonds) was known in the family as Bill. He emigrated in 1888 to Queensland, where he married Louise Heinemann [note 4] at Redland Bay in 1896; they had nine children:
– Alfred William Yeo (1897–1930)
– Walter Henry Yeo (1898–1974, married Grace Lilian Langdon in 1938, three children)
– Winifred Annie Yeo (1900–1930, married Patrick James Lindsay at Redland Bay in 1924)
– Harold Wilmot Yeo (1902–1977)
– Wilfred Edmonds Yeo (1904–1985, married Lorna Frances Davies in Sydney in 1936, two children including Louisa Mary Yeo, 1938–1938)
– Hilda Louise Yeo (1905–1989, married Alexander John MacLennan at Redland Bay in 1930)
– Herbert Edward Yeo (1907–1908)
– James Alexander Yeo (1909–1980)
– Emily Yeo (1910–1986, married Jack Sainsbury McKell in Brisbane in 1936).
John Yeo (1869–1935 [note 5], son of Barnabas Yeo and Sarah James Edmonds) married Mary Jane Hotten [note 6] at Toowong in 1897. They had four children:
– Mary Yeo (1898–1898)
– Ivy Yeo (1900–1979, married Frederick Warwick in Brisbane in 1916 and Archibald Hay Millar in 1973)
– Gordon Yeo (1902–1972, married Jessie McLaren Page)
– Dudley Barton Yeo (see below).
Thomas Owen Yeo (1871–1935, son of Barnabas Yeo and Sarah James Edmonds) was known in the family as Tom. He married Lucy Boles [note 7] at Chilsworthy in 1901, and initially farmed at Pyworthy, eventually taking over from his father-in-law James Boles. He and Lucy had five children before Lucy’s death in 1915:
– Owen Boles Yeo (1902–1902)
– Minnie Yeo (1904–1960, married John Richard Boles at Holsworthy in 1934)
– Nora Boles Yeo (1907–1990, married Daniel Campbell Kay in 1934) [note 8]
– Stanley James Yeo (1910–1975, married Winifred Martyn Bassett in 1944, one daughter)
– Florence Mary Lucy Yeo (1914–1999 [note 9], married Alfred James Bush in 1946).
Tom bought a farm at Holsworthy in 1921, and re-married the following year. He and his second wife Dorothy Emily McKenzie Clelland [note 10] had a son:
– Owen McKenzie Yeo (1928–2021, married Madge Crossman at Exeter in 1952, one son).
Laura Yeo (1873–1950, daughter of Barnabas Yeo and Sarah James Edmonds) had a son:
– John Yeo (see below).
Laura later married Charles Shepherd at Bude in 1909.
Matthew Herbert Yeo (1885–1967, son of Barnabas Yeo and Sarah James Edmonds) was known as Bert. He married Maud Jones at Holsworthy in 1909. They had four children:
– Matthew Barnabas Yeo (1910–1942, married Leonora Alice Gubb in Exeter in 1941) [note 11]
– Ronald Yeo (1915–1915)
– Gerald John Yeo (1916–1976)
– Barbara May Yeo (1923–1923).
Maud died in 1945. The following year, Bert married Esther Jane Mansell [note 12] at Exeter Register Office.
John Yeo (1900–1974, son of Laura Yeo) was known in the family as Jack. He served in the Royal Navy and later emigrated to Western Australia, marrying Florence Mary Shaw at Fremantle in 1928. They had five children, including:
– Eric John Yeo (1929–1930)
– Ronald Garnett Yeo (1931–2022, married in 1957)
– Vena Delicia Yeo (1936–1990, married Irving Jacobson in 1956, died in Vancouver).
Dudley Barton Yeo (1904–1998, son of John Yeo and Mary Jane Hotten née Heard) married Christina Rymer May Page at Peachester in 1932. They had five children, including:
– Beryl Yeo (1933–1933)
– Edwin John Yeo (see below).
Edwin John Yeo (1934–2013, son of Dudley Barton Yeo and Christina Rymer May Page) married Lavinia Elvery Vellacott in Brisbane in 1960. They had five children, including:
– Brian Dudley Yeo (1968–1972).
Please Contact Us if you can add to or correct the information shown.
Notes
1. By Cecil Collacott, Humphrey Toms and Reg Walter, Martyn Yeo, Mary Elizabeth Jessie Yeo and several of Sheila Yeo’s correspondents.
2. 1847–1913, often recorded inaccurately as Sarah Jane Edmonds. James was the birth surname of her mother Ellen James.
3. Born at North Tamerton in 1887, brother of Maud Jones. Horace became estranged from the family after the births of his and Hetty’s six children. He is last recorded in Exeter in 1928 and is believed to have died in the late 1930s, possibly in Canada.
4. 1875–1927, also recorded as Louisa. Born in Queensland to Prussian emigrants Edward Heinemann and Friedricke Dittmann.
5. John was known in the family as Jack. He emigrated to Queensland in 1894/5 (see Emigration diaries and stories), stayed initially with his brother Bill at Redland Bay, and then took a job as a gardener at Indooroopilly. He was able to buy a plot of land near Peachester, where he established a dairy farm.
6. 1865–1930, née Heard, widow of James Hotten, with whom she emigrated from Cornwall in 1886.
7. 1874–1915, daughter of James Boles and Grace Trewin and a second cousin to Tom through James’s mother Elizabeth Routley.
8. Married in Persia – Nora was working there as a nanny; Daniel (known as Danny) was working there in the oil industry. They married at the British Vice-Consulate at Mohammerah (now known as Khorramshahr).
9. Known as Flossie; died at Ilfracombe.
10. 1896–1972, married in London.
11. Matthew died at sea while serving with the Royal Navy, see War deaths.
12. Née Martin, widow of Thomas Cyril Mansell (married 1916).