James Yeo

James Yeo

James Yeo, shipbuilder and owner, entrepreneur (b at Kilkhampton, Eng 1789; d at Port Hill, PEI 25 Aug 1868). Beginning as an agent for a Devonshire merchant, he established his own transatlantic commercial enterprise between PEI and N Devon, Eng. By 1833 he was the pre-eminent individual in Prince County and, by the mid-1840s, the most powerful businessman in the colony. At mid-century, he was engaged in agriculture, fishing, lumbering, merchandising and shipbuilding, while his son William had established facilities for shipbuilding and repair at Appledore in N Devon. Entering the Legislative Assembly in 1839, Yeo was a powerful member of the government from the late 1850s.