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The Devon parish of St Giles in the Wood is a short distance south of Great Torrington. George Yeo (1806–1874) was baptised there to single mother Ann Yeo – Ann was a daughter of Thomas Yeo and Ann Cudmore of Great Torrington.
George married Margery Cook at St Giles in the Wood in 1834 [note 1]. Their fifteen children, four of whom did not survive infancy, were born at St Giles in the Wood:
– Sarah Yeo (1836–1838) [note 2]
– Mary Ann Yeo (1837–1881, married Henry Roberts and James Rowland) [note 3]
– William Cooke Yeo (1840–1914, married Elizabeth Anne Glanfield, moved to Yorkshire, five children, emigrated to the United States)
– John Yeo (see below)
– Mary Jane Yeo (born 1841)
– Sarah Margaret Yeo (1843–1881, married John Harper)
– Eliza Yeo (see below)
– Elizabeth Yeo (born 1845, married Henry Levi Davey)
– Charles Yeo (1847–1849)
– Giles Yeo (born 1847) [note 4]
– Clara Yeo (1849–1851)
– Thomas Yeo (1852–1853)
– George Yeo (1854–1930, emigrated to Ontario, married Sarah Jane Williams, four children)
– Augustus Yeo (see below)
– Lydia Ellen Yeo (1860–1931, married George Powell).
The 1871 census records 65-year-old George Yeo in St Giles in the Wood, working as a mason [note 5].
John Yeo (1841–1869, son of George Yeo and Margery Cooke) married Grace Glover [note 6]; they had a son:
– John Yeo
before moving to south Wales and having two daughters:
– Kate Yeo (1865–1889, married Thomas Durose)
– Bessie Yeo (1868–1947, married Thomas Higgens).
Eliza Yeo (1844–1925, daughter of George Yeo and Margery Cooke) married Henry May at St Giles in the Wood in 1870. They already had a daughter:
– Sarah Margaret Yeo (1868–1921, married John Harper) [note 7]
Henry and Eliza emigrated to Canada soon after the 1871 census was taken; Sarah appears to have remained in Devon with her grandparents.
Augustus Yeo (1857–1923, son of George Yeo and Margery Cooke) moved to Yorkshire, where he married Sarah Margaret Williamson. They had four children:
– George Cooke Yeo (1883–1883)
– Frances Margaret Yeo (1885–1947, married Charles William Whyman)
– Edith Cooke Yeo (1891–1952, married Thomas Smith Hughes)
– George Augustus Yeo (1898–1972, married Rosina Williams).
Please Contact Us if you can add to or correct the information shown. This line takes some effort to unravel as not all the births were registered.
Notes
1. Some researchers show George and Margery as having emigrated to the United States, which seems unlikely – George’s death was registered in Devon in 1874. Margery died in Devon in 1867 aged 51; her death registration and burial records show her as Margaret Yeo.
2. Sarah was baptised at a ceremony in the Bideford Wesleyan Methodist circuit, so the precise location of her baptism is not known.
3. Second marriage and year of death subject to confirmation.
4. No marriage or death record has been found for Giles, who is presumed to have died as a child.
5. Listed with George, who is recorded as a widower, are his son Augustus Yeo (age 13), his daughter Lydia E. Yeo (10), Henry May (age 21, a blacksmith; George’s son-in-law, but he is recorded as a lodger), George’s daughter Eliza May (26), Henry’s daughter Sarah M.C. Yeo (3) and Henry’s son William May (3 months). The birthplace of all seven people is given as St Giles.
6. After John Yeo’s death, Grace married Horace Day Bligh. She has been confused by some researchers with the Grace Glover who married Thomas Yeo in 1853.
7. Sarah was baptised at St Giles in the Wood as Sarah Margaret Cook [sic] Yeo.