William Yendle Yeo was born at Parracombe in 1862, the younger of two sons of George Yeo and Elizabeth Squire Yendle [note 1] and a great grandson of Henry Yeo and Elizabeth Blackmore. He emigrated to Canada from Liverpool in 1883 on the SS City of Paris [note 2] and married Jessie Louise Baker [note 3] in Windsor, Ontario the same year.
William and Jessie had two daughters in Windsor before moving across the border to Detroit:
– Mabel Minetta Yeo (born 1887, married surname Reese)
– Lilian Maud Yeo (1888, married surname Hoeder)
in Detroit, they had two further daughters:
– Bessie Mildred Yeo (1889, married surname Jones)
– Jennie Melete Yeo (1891, married surname Stiver)
they then moved further west to Portland, Oregon, where their remaining two children were born:
– Dorothy Marguerite Yeo (1901, married surname Cooper)
– William Frank Yeo (see below).
William Frank Yeo (1905–1995, son of William Yendle Yeo and Jessie Baker) married Catherine Hughes. They had one son:
– Richard Dene Yeo (1932–2024).
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Notes
1. Did William learn the auctioneer’s trade in Devon, where livestock markets were and still are an important part of rural life? Exmoor is sheep-farming country, so did he perhaps attend local auctions with his father?
2. William Yendle Yeo’s US naturalisation record from 1921 records him as an auctioneer; the 1930 US census for Portland also records him as an auctioneer, a widower living with his unmarried daughter Lilian. The 1920 US census showed him living in Portland with his wife Jessie, so we have a ten-year window for her death – children Lilian, Dorothy and William are also shown in this return.
3. Jessie had been born in Plymouth in 1865 – did they meet during the sea crossing?