John Yeo was baptised at Pilton in 1824. He married Sarah Jopson at the parish church in Walton-on-the-Hill, Liverpool on 25 December 1845. Their marriage certificate describes John as a bachelor and a mariner, and records his father as Thomas Yeo deceased, a millwright [notes 1, 2]. Sarah is described as a spinster. She had been baptised in the same church in 1824 to parents Robert Jopson and Alice Rigby.
John Yeo was captain of the merchant ship Whinfell – he died at sea while sailing to New South Wales in 1863. His wife Sarah remained in England and lived until 1897. John and Sarah had seven daughters:
– Mary Elizabeth Yeo (1846–1850)
– Alice Louisa Yeo (see below)
– Margaret Rowson Yeo (1851–1922, married George Roberts)
– Sarah Elizabeth Yeo (1854–1932, married Matthew Leavens Fawcitt)
– Elizabeth Caroline Yeo (1859–1930, married Edward Thomas Lloyd)
– Emily Miriam Yeo (1860–1956, married Harry Coop)
– Florence Mary Yeo (born 1862).
The 1851 census for Liverpool records Sarah as a 26-year-old mariner’s wife, living in Portland Place, Everton. Her daughters Alice and Margaret are listed with her.
Alice Louisa Yeo (1848–1915, daughter of John Yeo and Sarah Jopson) married German rope maker Augustus Frederick Hanewinkel (1861–1904) in 1873 [notes 3, 4]. Alice had been baptised at the parish church of St Martin, Liverpool in 1848; her father was originally from north Devon.
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We are grateful to James Evans and Sarah Carrington for their assistance, and have drawn on a 2008 pedigree by the late Patricia Gore.
Further investigation is focusing on John Yeo’s origins, as previous researchers have not identified them with any certainty. He had an aunt Elizabeth Yeo (c1798–1874, did not marry), and another aunt Mary Ann Yeo (baptised 1819, Elizabeth’s half sister). Mary Ann married Philip Tucker in 1825. But who were John Yeo’s parents?
Notes
1. John’s parents might have been Thomas Yeo and Elizabeth Shapland, who married at Barnstaple in 1824, or Thomas Yeo and Sally Bale, who married at Bideford in 1829. Further research is required.
2. Millwright Thomas Yeo of Pilton appeared in court in 1825 after failing to pay wages to John Furse.
3. They married at the church of St Stephen the Martyr, Edge Hill, Liverpool on 30 June 1873. The marriage was recorded in the West Derby registration district.
4. Shortly after Alice’s death on 20 March 1915, the family changed its surname from Hanewinkel to Armstrong. Her eight children included Alice Yeo Hanewinkel (1880–1882).