The family of John Yeo and Charlotte Widger, who married in Plymouth in 1863, has intrigued researchers. Unfortunately, some of them have confused John with the draper and businessman John Yeo who ran a department store in Plymouth – see John Yeo and Julia Longley.
The John Yeo who married Charlotte Widger probably descends from cordwainer Walter Yeo of Stratton (who died in 1692), via his grandson Richard Yeo of St Breward. John was born at St Austell in 1831 to parents Isaac Yeo and Ann Harvey. Isaac was a sawyer born at St Breward in 1796 and had married Ann at St Austell in 1820; John was the third of their seven children, and he joined the Royal Navy, which explains his presence in Plymouth.
Widger is not a common name – so might there be a connection to Henry Widger Yea, who was born in Torquay in 1859? See Descendants of William Yeo and Agnes Savery by Mike Darch and David Yaw.
The record of John and Charlotte’s marriage, at the parish church of St Andrew on 8 February, shows John as a 26-year-old bachelor, a mariner serving on HMS Indus. Charlotte is recorded as a 23-year-old spinster of 20 Willow Street (which no longer exists but was in the parish of St Andrew near King Street), with her father identified as John Widger, a wool comber. Charlotte had been born in Ashburton in 1839; she and John had two children:
– Charles Henry John Yeo (see Charles Henry John Yeo and Frances Elizabeth Baker)
– Florence Louisa C. Yeo (born 1867)
before they moved to Ireland.
John (sometimes referred to as John Thomas Yeo, although there doesn’t appear to be any evidence for this) commanded a customs vessel in the area near Achill Island in County Mayo on the west coast of Ireland. Four further children were born there:
– William James Yeo (1869–1909)
– Henrietta Ellen Rogers Yeo (born 1870)
– Amy Maud Dray née Yeo (1872–1938)
– Lillie Rogers Yeo (1874–1943).
If you can add to or correct the information shown above, please use the Contact Us page.
The Richard Yeo mentioned in the second paragraph above was an ancestor of another Richard Yeo, who married Rosina Victor at St Neot in 1850 and emigrated to Ontario. Their descendants have been studied by Alan Richards, a contributor to Sheila Yeo’s former site. Also in this line from Stratton is Isaac Yeo of Blisland on Bodmin Moor, who married Mary Cary in Tintagel in 1711. If you have a connection to these lines, please use the Contact Us page to tell us about it.