The St Allen branch of the Lanyon family began when John Lanyon and his wife Sarah Straight moved to Henver Wartha farm in St Allen in the 1730s.
John was the youngest son of Thomas Lanyon and Margaret Paule and Thomas was the youngest son of the Golden Lanyon of Botrea, Sancreed.
John Lanyon 1711-1767
John was baptised at Paul in 1711 and married Sarah Straight of St Erme in 1735. John was a farmer.
John and Sarah had six children:
- Margaret 1736-1802 married John Searle, a labourer at Newlyn East in 1759 – six children
- John 1740-1771 unmarried
- William 1743-1763 unmarried
- Richard 1746-1747 died in infancy
- Richard 1749-1838 married Elizabeth Searle
- Henry 1752-1838 married Mary Searle
Margaret, Richard and Henry married siblings. This post will follow Richard and Henry’s children.
John died intestate in 1767 and administration of his estate was passed to Sarah his widow, Richard Straight, his brother-in-law and James Fox of Lostwithiel.
Sarah was mentioned in a legal document of 1787 about the farm Henver Wartha: Copyhold land on the Manor of Cargol, Newlyn East leased to Sarah Lanion (sic) widow, Henry Lanion son and John her grandson.
Sarah died in 1791 at the age of 82.
Richard Lanyon 1749-1838
Richard was baptised at St Allen on New Year’s Day 1749. In 1774 he married Elizabeth Searle. There is a mention of a Richard Lanyon in St Allen in Dec 1775 as a master cordwainer taking on an apprentice Stephen Harris. Although the time frame fits with this Richard I’m not sure it is him. Richard was a yeoman and farmed at Polstein in St Allen.
Richard and Elizabeth had ten children:
- Mary 1775-1845 married Nicholas Gill at St Allen in 1801 – eight children
- William 1777-1850 married Peggy Exter Richards
- John 1779-1848 no trace of a marriage a possible burial in London in 1848
- Henry Lanyon 1781-1862 married Isabella Lanyon
- Richard 1738-1860 married Elizabeth Vincent
- Simon 1785-1839 married Dorothy Hoskins
- Robert 1786-1834 married Grace Roberts
- Francis 1789-1790 died in infancy
- Josiah 1790-1864 was a shopkeeper, and later an agricultural labourer, he married Sally Messer at Gwennap in 1822. By 1851 he was no longer living with her and she was running the grocers shop. On the 1861 census she is listed as the head of house and a former school mistress and he is listed as a boarder at an alternative address. They had one daughter: Elizabeth Martha Lanyon born in 1822 she married Thomas Johns in 1843 and he was dead by 1846. They had two daughters. Josiah was found dead in a ditch after a fit in 1864 and died ‘by the hand of God’ Source – Royal Cornwall Gazette.
- Elizabeth 1792-1831 married Oliver Vincent at St Allen in 1820 – seven children
Richard and Elizabeth lived at Polstein estate, St Allen. Elizabeth died there in 1825 at the age of 77. In 1827 at the age of 78 Richard married again! His second wife was Catherine Charles age 57, she was a widow.
Richard died at Lanner in 1838 at the age of 89, he left a will.
Partial Transcript:
Date of will 1833 and codicil 1834
- I give estate called Polstein in Par St Allen to my son Richard Lanyon and his assigns for his natural life if my son William Lanyon shall so long live subject nevertheless to payment thereout to my said son William Lanyon providing he shall surrender said estate and premises in manner hereinafter mentioned….after William shall have surrendered said estate into hands of the Lord of the Manor of which same are respectively parcel….subject to the term and interest of my son Josiah.
- If son William die then estate to my grandsons Richard Lanyon and Robert Lanyon (sons of said son Richard) £7 to be paid yearly to my grandson Josiah Lanyon, son of my son Simon Lanyon
- I bequeath £100 to my son Richard
- Residue of estate to my grandson Richard Lanyon son of my son Richard
Codicil
- Revoked £7 to William Lanyon his son also to Josiah Lanyon his grandson.
Proved 27th Sep 1839 effects under £300.
Henry Lanyon 1752-1838
Henry was baptised at St Allen in 1752 and married Mary Searle (sister of his brother’s wife Elizabeth) at Crantock in 1775. They had ten children as well.
- Sarah 1776-bef. 1788 died young
- Jane 1780-1857 married widower Paul Clark, a farmer at St Allen in 1814. They lived at Perranzabuloe and had two children
- John 1782-1859 married Peggy Vincent
- William 1785-1785 died in infancy
- Isabella 1786-1858 married her cousin Henry Lanyon
- Mary 1787- married William Penprase at St Allen in 1809 – ten children
- Sarah 1788-1838 baptised in 1788 but may have been born earlier married Thomas Hoskyn at St Allen in 1803 – four children
- William 1791-1864 married Jane Veale Rowe
- Simon Searle 1794-1858
- Henry 1797-1872 married his cousin Elizabeth Lanyon
Henry was a yeoman farmer and his estate was Trevalsa at St Allen. He was married to Mary for 63 years and he died just 3 weeks after her. His older brother Richard died three weeks after him.
Henry died at Trefannick Farm where his daughter Sarah lived with her husband lived. (Sarah died in Nov 1838 of a paralytic seizure at Trefannick just a few months after her parents died.)
Henry left a will.
Partial Transcript:
- Debts to be paid by my son William Lanyon by a note drawn for £85 12/- 6d now due in the hands of John Searle in the parish of Newland
- To my grandson William Zachariah Penprase £5
- To my granddaughter Mary Lanyon Hosken £10
- To my grandson Henry Lanyon son of John Lanyon £10
- To my son Henry Lanyon, executor and residuary legatee of estate called Trevalsa in Par, St Allen
Proved 12 Apr 1838 Value under £450
Richard and Henry were the ancestors of hundreds of Lanyons who ended up all over the world and we’ll follow their sons in separate posts. Get ready for some complicated intermarrying!
The Lanyons 