Great x3 Grandfather George Yeo

My great x3 grandfather George (1834 - 1873) was a farm servant, quarry labourer, and father of six.

George Yeo was born in 1834 in West Down, Devon, to Thomas Yeo (38), a husbandman and farm labourer, and Mary Yeo (nee Manning) (34), a dressmaker.

George was baptised on 2nd June 1834 in West Down.

George was the sixth of seven children:

• James  1822 -
• William  1825 -
• Marianne  1827 - 1838 (10 years old)
• Emma  1830 -
• Thomas  1832 -
• George  1834 -
• Anne  1836 -

All seven siblings were born in West Down.

In 1838, when George was three years old, her older sister Marianne alas passed away, aged ten, in West Down.

1841 Census:

As a teenager, George worked as a farm servant for the Menhinnit family in Braunton, which is about four miles south of his native West Down.

1851 Census:

On 26th March 1862, George (27), an agricultural labourer, married Ann Gliddon (24), a single mother of one, in Okehampton. They married in the presence of Ann's brother John Gliddon.

On their record of marriage, Ann left only her mark, but George was able to sign his name:

George Yeo's Signature, 1862

George and Ann had six children (one son and five daughters):

• Thomas 'Tom'  1863 - 1904  (40 or 41 years old)
• Mary 'Mary Anne' Gliddon  1864 - 1941  (76 years old)
• Emily Ann  1867 - 1872  (5 years old)
• Annie  1868 - 1948  (80 years old)
• Ellen  1869 - 1937  (68 years old)
• Harriet  1872 - 1893 (21 years old)

George and Ann lived with their young family at Chichacott Cross, Okehampton. There George worked as a quarry labourer.

1871 Census:

In the Western Times on 2nd December 1871, George was described as 'a poor man':

Sadly, in October or November 1872, George's second daughter Emily Ann passed away, aged only five years old. She was buried on 8th November 1872, in Okehampton.

About three months later, George himself passed away, aged thirty-nine, in early 1873, in Okehampton. He was buried on 30th January 1873, in Okehampton.

And about three months after that, George's wife Ann also passed away, aged thirty-three or thirty-four years old. She was buried on 30th April 1873, in Okehampton.

I wonder if they all succumbed to the same disease.

Unless relatives took them in, George and Ann's remaning five children (aged 0 to 9) would likely have ended up in the workhouse. Indeed, in the 1881 Census, George's youngest daughters Ellen and Harriet can be found at the Okehampton Union Workhouse.