Sir John Yeamans (1611-1674)

He was born at Bristol and rose to the rank of Colonel with the Royalist Army in the English Civil War. He emigrated to Barbados where he became a large landowner, Judge and Member of the Governor's Council. Eight English noblemen acquired Carolina as a Proprietary Colony in 1663 and on being named Governor of a new settlement there (that failed), Yeamans was given a Baronetcy. Carolina's Proprietor's established a hereditary aristocracy of Landgraves (owners of 48,000-acres) and Cassiques (owners of 24,000-acres) and in 1671 Yeamans was named as a Landgrave of Carolina, becoming Governor of South Carolina in the following year and laying the foundations of the town of Charleston. He married twice and was survived by 8-children.