William Saunders Yeo was baptised in the Cornwall parish of St John, near Torpoint on 5 November 1826 to parents John Yeo and Mary Ann Sanders. His name was later recorded as William Saunders Yeo.
Sheila looked into his family with correspondent Melody Sharpe in 2001. David Yaw has also researched William’s life, and has kindly sent us his Navy service record.
William spent much of his life in Ireland, where he worked as a coastguard. He married Elizabeth Smith in Ireland in 1952; they had five children there:
– Elizabeth Yeo (born 1859)
– William Peter Yeo (see below)
– Katherine Yeo (born 1865, married Sydney Gardener)
– George Henry Yeo (1867–1924, married Jane Mulholland, five children)
– Charles Edwin Yeo (1869–1967, married Alice Ball, seven children)
then moved to Bangor in north Wales where another daughter was born:
– Florence Yeo (1872–1864)
and finally to Fleetwood in Lancashire, where two more daughters were born:
– Jessie Yeo (born 1874)
– Ellen Yeo (1877–1949).
William Sanders Yeo is recorded in Fleetwood in the 1901 census at the age of 74, ‘living on own means’ (i.e. retired; his wife Elizabeth is 66 and the return shows her birthplace as Devonport; living with them are their widowed daughter Catherine Gardener and her 12-year-old son Sidney Gardener. In 1902, William gave away his granddaughter Evelyn Claudia Yeo de Marseille.
William Peter Yeo (1863–1940 son of William Sanders Yeo and Elizabeth Smith) was born in Ireland and later moved with his parents to Lancashire. He married Annie Letman in 1887 [note 1]; they had nine children:
– John Yeo (1888–1953, married Christobel Iddon)
– Ethel Annie Yeo (1889–1935)
– Kate Elizabeth Yeo (1890–1964, married Frederick Charles Bamber)
– Clara Yeo (1892–1963)
– William Saunders Yeo (1894–1947)
– Edwin James Yeo (1895–1950)
– Louisa Yeo [note 2] (1897–1988, married William Fleetwood Bennett)
– Jessie Yeo (1899–1986, married Robert Stephen)
– Minnie Yeo (1905–1983, married Frederick William Whiting).
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See also John Yeo, coastguard in Ireland.
Notes
1. Recorded by some researchers as Annie Unsworth.
2. Birth registered as Louie Yeo.