Great x4 Grandfather Thomas Yeo

My Great x4 Grandfather Thomas (1795 - 1884) was a husbandman, farm labourer, gardener, and father of seven.

Thomas Yeo was born around 1795 in Atherington, Devon, to John Yeo (?) and Elizabeth Yeo (nee Punchard) (26).

Thomas was baptised on 1st December 1795 in Atherington.

Thomas was the second of three sons:

• John  1793 - 
• Thomas  1795 - 
• James  1799 -

On 31st August 1822, Thomas (26), a farm labourer, married Mary Manning (22), a dressmaker, in West Down, which is about fifteen miles north of Thomas' native Atherington. Mary was about five months pregnant when she married.

Thomas and Mary would have seven children (four sons and three daughters):

• James 1822 - 
• William  1825 -
• Marianne 1827 - 1838 (10 years old)
• Emma  1830 -
• Thomas  1832 -
• George  1834 - 1873 (39 years old)
• Ann  1836 - 

All seven were born in West Down.

Sadly their eldest daughter Marianne passed away aged only ten, in 1838, in West Down.

1841 Census:

1851 Census:

From the 1850's, Thomas' wife Mary lived and worked as a dressmaker in Ilfracombe, four miles north of West Down.

1861 Census:

Interestingly and lovingly, it seems Thomas took in his youngest daughter Anne's illegitimate son George.

In the 1860's, Thomas, his youngest daughter Ann and her son George moved to Ilfracombe. There they lived only a few streets away from Thomas' wife Mary.

1871 Census:

Photograph of Fore Street, Ilfracombe, c 1906

Painting of Fore Street, Ilfracombe
by Henry Bowser Wimbush (1906)

Thomas and his family lived there around 1870.

In late 1872 and 1873, tragic illness struck Thomas' son George and his family. First George's daughter Emily Ann passed away, aged only five, around November 1872; followed by George himself in January 1873, and George's wife Ann, around April 1874. Unless relatives or friends took them in, George and Ann's five surviving children (aged 0 to 9) would likely have ended up in the workhouse. Indeed, in the 1881 Census, their youngest daughters Ellen and Harriet can be found at the Okehampton Union Workhouse; whilst the older children are out living and working as servants on local farms. Did Thomas know about the tragic fate of his son and grandchildren? Could he not help them?

Whilst his young orphan grandchildren were in the workhouse, Thomas reunited with his wife Mary, and the couple, in their eighties, settle in Ilfracombe. Though elderly, they still worked - he as a gardener, and she as a laundress.

Interestingly, they were able to keep a servant. (Normally my ancestors are the servants)

1881 Census:

Thomas passed away aged eighty-eight, in 1884. He was buried on 12th May 1884 in West Down.