This couple married at Kilkhampton on 3 July 1717.
John’s parents have been the subject of much speculation, but recent research confirms that they were Francis Yeo and Joyce Kestle. Francis Yeo, baptised at Morwenstow in 1639 as Francis Tuck, was an illegitimate half brother of William Yeo of Morwenstow, who married Margaret Holman in 1676. The Holman family were researched by Humphrey Toms and Reg Walter.
John and Margaret had two children; there were no children from John’s later marriages to Mary Richards at Kilkhampton in 1736 and to Elizabeth Hobbs at Stratton in 1757:
– John Yeo, see below
– Mary Yeo, baptised at Kilkhampton on 20 September 1721, but who died at the age of 20 without marrying or having children.
John Yeo (born 1717, son of John Yeo and Margaret Gist) married Grace Payne at Stratton in 1739 and farmed at Howard, just south of Stratton on the road to Morwenstow. He and Grace baptised ten children at Stratton, including:
– John Yeo (born 1739, married Elizabeth Dennis, four children)
– Hugh Yeo (1741–1741)
– Hugh Yeo (1742–1742)
– James Yeo (1744–1798, married Catherine Clase and Jane Ash, no recorded children)
– Mary Yeo (born 1748, married John Parsons)
– Grace Yeo (born 1745, appears to have married Sylvester Heale)
– Margaret Yeo (see Robert Marshall and Margaret Yeo)
Margaret Gist appears to have been related to the Elizabeth Gist who married Thomas Yeo at Kilkhampton in 1699. She was baptised at Kilkhampton on 2 February 1682/3 (her parents Edward Gist and Mary Bray had married in the same parish on 6 June 1679) and the parish register for Stratton records her burial: ‘Margaret wife of John Yeo buried 12 December 1733 age 51’.
Margaret’s husband John Yeo married twice again after her death: Mary Richards at Kilkhampton in 1736 and Elizabeth Hobbs at Stratton in 1757. There were no children from either of these marriages.
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