498 PAST AND PRESENT OF have made him known as the "gentlemanly old gentleman," and one of the grand old men of the province. He displays remark¬ able physical and mental vigor and this spring undertook a trip to England in con¬ nection with the building of the new steamer "Empress." In religion Mr. Richards is an Episco¬ palian. In 1849 he married Susan, daughter of the late Hon . James Yeo , a prominent merchant and ship owner of , for¬ merly of Cornwall , England . His family consists of two sons and one daughter, viz: Hon . James Richards , M. L. A ., of Bide- ford, John Richards , of Bideford , and Isa¬ bel M. now Mrs. \ Y . .McLea Walbank, of Montreal.. Hon . John .Yeo, a successful farmer, prosperous merchant and highly esteemed citizen < i " , is a son of Hon . James Yeo , who came to Prince Edward Island in his young manhood from Kilhampton, Corn¬ wall county, England , and was located in Lot 13, Prince county, where he engaged in general business and shipbuilding on a large scale. He owned the vessels he built and sent them to sea in the foreign and coast trade. His son William, who resided in Appledore, County Devon, England , man¬ aged the shipping and importing business there. James Yeo acquired large land hold¬ ings in Lot 13, comprising some twenty thousand acres, from Sir George Seymour , the original proprietor. He brought in settlers and they leased the land, which sub¬ sequently was bought by the Provincial Gov ¬ ernment and re-sold to the tenants. Mr. Yeo retained for his own purpose several thousand acres and farmed these on a large scale. He was a Conservative in politics, was elected a member of House of Assem ¬ bly and appointed a member of the Execu¬ tive Council, without portfolio, and after¬ wards elected .a member of the Legislative Council. He died in 1868, at the age of eighty-one. He married in England and became the father of two children, William, now deceased, who resided in Appledore, County Devon, England , and Ann. After the death of his first wife, James Yeo mar¬ ried a Miss Sargent , of County Devon, Eng¬ land, and their children were as follows: Susan, the wife of William Richards , of Lot 13; Mary Jane , the wife of John Ings , of Charldttetown; Isabel, the wife of the late Joseph Saunders , of Gloucester, England ; James Yeo , Jr., who was a member of the Dominion Parliament for Prince county from 1876 to 1891 as a Liberal; Caroline, who died in youth; Hon . John, the subject of this sketch; Alice, the wife of John May - nard, . Hon . John Yeo , Senator, is now the only member of his family living and since his father's death he has carried on the exten¬ sive mercantile and farming interests inaug¬ urated by the firm. He was born at and educated in England , returning to the Island when quite a young man. Since then he has been actively engaged in busi¬ ness and politics, and occupies one of the most prominent positions in the commercial and political life of the province. For forty- seven years he has seen continuous service as a legislator in the Provincial Legislature, the Dominion House of Commons and in the Dominion Senate, being now a member of the last mentioned body. He entered political life in 1859, when he was elected for the second district of Prince county as a member of the Provincial House of Assembly . He .was returned at