John Lanyon and Ann Hicks of St Just had three grandsons who produced at least 126 grandchildren between them. This post follows some of them.

Thomas Lanyon & Cordelia Bennetts Sons

Thomas and Cordelia had nine children and at least 61 grandchildren, we’re going to follow their sons: John, James, William and Hugh.

Most of the people in St Just at this time were connected to the mining industry. All of Thomas and Cordelia’s sons were miners. In 1800 the population of St Just was under 3000 by the 1840s it had tripled. The boom was over as quickly as it began and by the 1860s it was in decline and the great migration was underway. Miners and their families emigrated all over the world in search of mining work.

Botallack Mine is just one of many mines in the St Just area.

John Lanyon 1808-1855

John was baptised at St Just in 1808 and was a tin miner. In 1831 he married Elizabeth Jelbard née Bowden a widow. Sometimes when researching a family you come across a tragedy, poor Elizabeth Bowden suffered several tragedies.

Elizabeth’s first husband, also called John, was drowned in 1830, in 1831 she married John Lanyon. They had seven children:

• John 1832-1857 married Jane Shakerley in 1854. They had one child, John who emigrated to Montana USA. John died age 25 of Phthisis Asthenia (TB, fatigue).
• Elizabeth 1834-1895 she married Charles Davey at St Just in 1853 they had two children both called Charles. The first child was drowned in a well age 18 months. The family emigrated to Ballarat, Australia.
• Thomas 1835-1888 married Elizabeth White – nine children, six died in infancy, one in a mining accident
• Cordelia Bennetts 1838-1916 she was a tin ore dresser, she was 47 years old when she married John Gendall who was also a tin dresser, thirteen years her junior. They had no children.
• Richard 1839-1843 died in infancy
• James 1841-1867 was a tin miner, he married Jane White and emigrated to Ballarat, Australia. They had one son James who was born the same year his father died.
• Richard 1844-aft. 1891 the various census returns make it clear that Richard was a ‘dumb imbecile’ who eventually ended up living with sister Cordelia and then the Madron Union Workhouse, where he died.

John Lanyon was killed in a mine accident in 1855.

The Royal Cornwall Gazette, 16 November 1855

Coroner’s Inquest John Lanyon
On the following day (the 10th inst.) in the parish of St. Just in Penwith, on the body of John Lanyon, aged 47 years. The deceased was a miner, and worked at Park Noweth Mine, in that parish, and was at the 80 fathom level, assisting in changing the boxes of the lift, when the engine being working, the rod came down, and the navel-pin thereof struck him on the head and caused such injury thereto that he died on the following day. It appeared to be the usual practice to change the boxes whilst the engine is at work, and that the same may be done without fear of accident where the party doing it is ordinarily careful. Verdict “accidental death.” The deceased was very much respected. He leaves a widow and five children to deplore their loss. The poor woman has been very unfortunate, having had her first husband drowned, her father killed, her son killed, and now her second husband also killed, and not long since a grand child was drowned in a well.

Poor Elizabeth, both husband’s killed, her father dead. Of her children: John died age 23, Richard died age 3, James died age 26 and her last Richard was a ‘dumb imbecile’. Of her grandchildren, Charles accidentally drowned in a well age 18 months, six of Thomas’ children died in infancy and another son was killed in a mining accident. Even by the standards of the day this was an especially tragic family.

James Lanyon 1811-1863

James was a miner and he married Mary Nankervis in 1836. They had ten children:

• Mary Ann 1837-1851 died young
• Peggy 1838-1839 died in infancy
• James 1840-1840 died in infancy
• Peggy 1841-1925 married William Warren in 1862 – two children
• James 1842-aft. 1871 was a tin miner, married Susan Hill – four children
• Thomas Henry Nankervis 1843-1896 he was a tin miner and emigrated to New Zealand where he worked as a grocer. His first wife was Caroline White. She died eight days after her second daughter was born in 1873. Thomas married Ester Ann Williams in 1874 and they had at least three children together. He died after a long painful illness after contracting influenza.

• Elizabeth Nankervis 1846-1909 married William Semmens in 1870 – two children, emigrated to Australia
• Jane 1848-1917 married Christopher Wallis Jelbart at St Buryan in 1870 – seven children of which five died in infancy. Emigrated to Australia
• Grace James 1849-1911 married James Thomas Gill in 1874 in Australia – six children
• Nanny 1851-1851 died in infancy

Mary died in 1854 at Pendeen. James remarried in 1858 and this is where it got a little bit complicated! James married Mrs Jane Lanyon (Shakerley), widow of his nephew John Lanyon!

James and Jane had two more children:

• Nanny 1860- she married William Thomas Collins in 1880, she died in Canada in 1945.
• Jane Shakerley 1862-1876 died young

Jane was widowed for a second time in 1863 and in 1868 she gave birth to an illegitimate daughter, Sarah. Sarah married William George Rounsley in 1886 and they emigrated to Pennsylvania, USA and had five children.

Jane then married for a third time to Charles Jenkin, a miner and had another child in 1878 called Jane. Jane senior died in Australia in 1923 aged 90.

William Lanyon 1820-1858

William was Thomas and Cordelia’s 5th son and the second called William. The first William died in infancy. He was baptised in 1820 at St Just. Like so many in his family he was a miner. In 1842 he married Aves Pearce, they had five children:

• William Henry 1843-1895 he was a miner and married Jane Randall, they had seven children and emigrated to Wales.
• Mary Cordelia 1845-1912 she had a son, possibly illegitimate, called Thomas Warren 1864-1934 (we can’t trace a marriage for Mary to Thomas’ father) Before 1881 she married William Bolton an engine driver and emigrated to Wales. Her widowed mother lived with her.

• Nanny 1849-aft. 1871 no trace after 1871 census (there is more than one Nanny Lanyon at this time and it is hard to know which is which.)
• Elizabeth 1852-1857 died young
• Susan Ann 1857-1931 married Samuel Muxworthy, a miner, in 1875 and had 11 children, she too emigrated to Wales.

William senior died in 1858 at Pendeen aged just 38, he was suffering from consumption (TB).

Hugh Lanyon 1824-1884

Hugh was the youngest child of Thomas and Cordelia. He was baptised in St Just in 1824. He worked as a tin dresser and he married Mary Guy in 1848. (A tin dresser was usually a woman and they worked on the surface with hammers breaking the larger bits of stone into smaller pieces.)

Hugh and Mary had six children:

• Mary Delia 1849-1915 married Robert Matthews, a tin miner, 10 children
• Thomas 1850-1898 a tin miner, he emigrated to Colorado, USA and married Susie Louise Vance, five children
• Elizabeth 1853-1896, a laundress never married
• Cecilia 1855-1940 married George Hocking Ellis in 1874 – eight children emigrated to Colorado and in 1894 she married James C Grenfell and had three more children.
• Jane 1859-1859 died in infancy

What it was like to go down into a tin mine every day!

William Lanyon and Honor Davy’s Sons

William and Honor had twelve children including one set of twins. We’re going to follow four of them in this post: William, Richard, Thomas and Henry.

William Lanyon 1812-1852

William was baptised at St Just in 1812. He was a miner. He married Elizabeth (Peggy) Veal in 1836. They had two children:

• John 1839-1905 he was a miner who emigrated to Australia and there married Honor Marie White and they had twelve children. John died at Bendigo, Australia in 1905
• Honor (later known as Annie) 1840-1926 she emigrated to Australia in her early 20s and married James Clark in 1875, two children. Honor died of influenza on 25th Jul 1926, the day before her daughter died of influenza.

Peggy died in 1842 aged just 24. In 1847 William married Mary Woolcock and in 1849 they emigrated to Australia. They sailed on the ship ‘William Money’. They had three sons:

• William Henry 1848-bef.1850 died in infancy
• William 1850- no further trace
• James 1851 – no further trace

William senior died in 1852 aged just 40 and was buried in Australia.

Richard Lanyon 1825-1878

Richard was a twin, his brother Thomas died age 6 months. Richard like so many in his family was a miner. He married Elizabeth Angwin in 1846 at St Just. They had nine children:

• Elizabeth 1846-1921 married William James at Ballarat Australia in 1869 – nine children
• Jane 1848-1927 no trace of a marriage, died at Bendigo, Australia.
• Richard 1850-1912 baptised at St Just, married Mary Wesley Caddy at Ballarat, Australia in 1873 – twelve children
• Mary Ann 1853-1874 married James Roach Hore in Australia in 1872, one child who also died in 1874
• William 1854-1854 died in infancy
• Honor Frances 1856-1938 married Francis Rowe in Australia – six children
• Margaret 1860-1952 spinster died in Australia age 92
• Ada 1864-1945 married Thomas Allen in Victoria in 1886 – one daughter
• Annie 1867-1925 arrived in Australia age 9 months, married Joseph Tredinnick in 1890 – five daughters

Thomas Lanyon 1827-1892

Richard was William and Honor’s tenth child. He was a tin miner and in 1851 at St Just he married Jane Thomas. In 1854 he emigrated to Australia on the ship ‘Thetis’ and arrived in Adelaide on 4th Sep. Thomas and Jane had a whopping fifteen children!

• Jane 1851-1851 died in infancy
• Eliza Jane 1853-1855 died in infancy
• Elizabeth Jane 1855-1918 born in Australia married Edward Alfred John Carey in 1877 – five children
• Thomas 1857-1863 died young
• Hannah 1858- married James Gowifey no further trace
• Honor 1859-1938 married James Gourley – two sons both died in infancy
• Margaret Ann 1861-1861 died in infancy
• Thomas 1862-1862 died in infancy
• Thomas 1864-1933 married Alice Maria Goulden in 1889, three daughters, all died young and one son
• Margaret Ann 1865-1866 died in infancy
• John 1866-1907 married Margaret Sheehan in 1898, died in 1907
• James 1868-1940 married Sarah Oats – three children
• William 1871-1875 died in infancy
• Ruth 1873-1938 married Alex Borland
• William Henry 1875-1916 he was a farmer, he married Emily Jane McGillivray in 1902- four children. According to his inquest William committed suicide by shooting himself

Of the fifteen children seven died in childhood. How did they cope with the death of so many of their children?

Henry Lanyon 1829-1902

Henry was baptised at St Just and followed his father and brothers down the mines. In Apr 1854 he married Grace Leggoe and they went on to have twelve children.

• Grace Leggo 1854-1934 Grace was born in Jul 1854 and in 1882 she married James Francis Batch in Australia
• William Henry 1859-1917 He was born in Victoria, Australia and married Mary Barkas in 1888 – four children
• John Leggo 1860-1915 bachelor
• James Leggo 1861-1933 married Charlotte Rooney in 1891 – three daughters
• Honorah 1863-1948 married Arthur Goodwin Stace, a signwriter in 1887 in Australia – two children both died in infancy in Australia and it appears as though they returned to England where Arthur died in 1890 in Surrey age 31. Honorah married again in 1893 in Australia to Alfred John Rowsell and they had a daughter who died in infancy and one son also called Alfred who was killed on 4th Oct 1917 at Ypres.
• Jane 1864-1953 married William Penberthy Millar in 1883 at Victoria – ten children
• Thomas 1866-1911 married Mary Jane Johns in 1889 at Victoria – seven children
• Richard 1868-1943 married Charlotte Myhill – three children
• Christopher 1869-1904 bachelor
• Elizabeth 1872-1957 married William Speedie – three sons
• Mary Ann 1876-1952 married Alfred Joseph Henry Harrison – no children
• Albert Henry Leggo 1877-1940 married Lucy Elizabeth Mew – no children

Many of Henry’s children died at Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. The family like so many others from Cornwall went out to Australia for the Goldrush of the mid 19th century.