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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 Cooke at St Giles in the Wood in 1834 [note 1]. They had fifteen children at St Giles in the Wood [note 2], four of whom did not survive infancy:
– Sarah Yeo (1836–1838) [note 3]
– Mary Ann Yeo (1837–1881, married Henry Roberts and James Rowland) [note 4]
– William Cooke Yeo (see below)
– John Yeo (see below)
– Mary Jane Yeo (born 1841)
– Sarah Margaret Yeo (1843–1881, married John Harper at St Giles in the Wood in 1870)
– Eliza Yeo (1844–1925, had a daughter Sarah Margaret Yeo (see below) before marrying Henry May at St Giles in the Wood in 1870) [note 5]
– Elizabeth Yeo (born 1845, married Henry Levi Davey)
– Charles Yeo (1847–1849)
– Giles Yeo (born 1847) [note 6]
– 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 7].
William Cooke Yeo (1840–1914, son of George Yeo and Margery Cooke) married Elizabeth Anne Glanfield [note 8]. They moved to Yorkshire, where they had five children:
– Charles Glanfield Yeo (1870–1870)
– Ernest Glanfield Yeo (1872–1925, died in Minnesota)
– Herbert Cooke Yeo (1874–1938, died in Minnesota)
– George Harold Yeo (1875–1929, married Jennie Evelyn McCorison, died in Minnesota)
– Elsie Maud Yeo (1876–1957, married Charles Durham Campbell, died in Minnesota).
William and Elizabeth emigrated to the United States about 1880 with their four surviving children.
John Yeo (1841–1869, son of George Yeo and Margery Cooke) married Grace Glover [note 9]; 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).
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).
Sarah Margaret Yeo (born 1868, daughter of Eliza Yeo [note 10]), married Frederick A. Arderlay in London, Ontario in 1889.
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. William Yeo and Grace Cooke also had children at St Giles in the Wood (between 1841 and 1847). Were Margery and Grace related?
3. Sarah was baptised at a ceremony in the Bideford Wesleyan Methodist circuit, so the precise location is not known.
4. Second marriage and year of death subject to confirmation.
5. Henry and Eliza emigrated to Canada in 1873 and Sarah appears to have emigrated with them.
6. No marriage or death record has been found for Giles, who is presumed to have died as a child.
7. 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.
8. Married at Crediton in 1869 (William was living in Co Durham at the time). Elizabeth’s surname is also recorded as Glenfield, and this spelling has also been used for the second forenames of her two eldest sons. Her second forename is also recorded as Ann.
9. 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.
10. Sarah was baptised at St Giles in the Wood as Sarah Margaret Cook [sic] Yeo and was recorded as Maggie Sarah May when she married; no record of her death has been found. She has been confused by some researchers with her aunt Sarah Margaret Yeo (see above).