Richard and Elizabeth had a huge family, we’re following some of their grandsons and a grand daughter in this post. The sons of William & Peggy Exter Richards, the sons and daughter of Richard and Elizabeth Vincent and the sons of Robert and Grace Roberts.

William & Peggy’s Sons

We’ve already written about Josiah and Reuben in the post about the East Wheal Rose mining disaster. William and Peggy had eleven children and William also had an illegitimate son with Ann Jolly. To make things even more confusing he had two sons both called William!

William Lanyon 1812-

William was baptised in 1812 and married Elizabeth Gill Bishop at St Allen in 1835. They had five children:

• Eliza Jane 1839-
• William Nicholas Bishop 1841-
• Mary Elizabeth 1843-1844 died in infancy
• Matthew Henry 1845- possibly in Wisconsin and still alive after 1920
• Mary Elizabeth 1846-

William may have died in 1864 and his wife in 1873 in Cornwall but I’m not sure and there are so many Williams and Elizabeths that it is difficult to pin them down.

William Lanyon 1816-1883

This William was the illegitimate son of William Lanyon and Ann Jolly who was a farm servant at Tolcarne. He was a miner at Newlyn. William married Nanny Swan at Newlyn East in 1844 and they had two children:

• Elizabeth 1844-1918 she married Moses Morrish, an agricultural labourer and they had six children
• William Jolly 1848-1863 died young

John Lanyon 1818-1882

John was a miner and a farmer. He married Johannah Roberts at St Allen in 1838 two months before their first child was born. They had eleven children:

• William 1838-aft. 1851 no trace after 1851
• Jane 1841-1891 she married Edward Ripper, a miner, in 1862 and had two sons
• Cyrus 1844-1904 married Mary Jane Richards – four children emigrated to California, USA.
• Eliza 1846- no further trace
• Hubert 1848-1902 was a dairyman he married Myra Brewer – five children
• Francis John 1850- lead miner no trace after 1871
• Simon 1852- miner no trace after 1871
• Selina 1855-1905 married Frederick Bunt in 1877 – three children
• Josiah 1857- married Elizabeth Kernick – four children emigrated to New York in 1892? no further trace
• Reuben 1863-1913 married cousin Mary Ellen Lanyon no children
• Annie 1866-no trace after 1881

John died in 1882 in Cornwall but we lose track of quite a few of his children, presumably they emigrated.

Francis Lanyon 1821-1876

Francis was a shoemaker and an engine engine driver. In 1845 he had an illegitimate son with Maria Wilton:

• John Francis Lanyon/Wilton 1845- there is a John Wilton working as a labourer on the railways in Liskeard who may be the same person.

In 1855 Francis married Alice Meryfield who had an illegitimate daughter, Elizabeth. They had four children:

• Ruben 1860 – a Reuben Lanyon born about 1860 emigrated to Queensland in 1879, it may be the same person
• Sabey 1861- not on 1871 census so presumably died
• Joseph 1862-1937 was a decorator he married Rosina Jane Brickwell Higg in 1887 at Bethnal Green – three children
• infant son 1864 – died age 3 days

Jocelyn Joseph Lanyon 1827-1882

Jocelyn was a copper miner and later a life insurance agent. He married Grace Coplestone at Bodmin and they had five children:

• Hubert Charles 1853-1868 died young
• Alfred John 1855-1923 married Jane Brown who died giving birth to their first son Joseph who also died in 1889. He then married Alice Battersby in 1890- six children
• Minnie 1856-1919 married George Cooke at Wigan in 1883 – three children
• William Henry 1859-1860 died in infancy
• Annie 1861- not on 1871 census presumably died

The family moved to Wigan in Lancashire.

Richard & Elizabeth’s Sons

Richard Lanyon and Elizabeth Vincent had thirteen children, we’re following the children of Richard 1809-1878, Robert Vincent 1814-1894, Bella 1816-1894 and Elizabeth 1810-1893.

Richard Lanyon 1809-1878

Richard was a farmer of 40 acres at Polstein, he was also the innkeeper at Zelah public house. He married his cousin Catherine Lanyon at St Clement in 1842, she was the daughter of Simon Lanyon and Dorothy Hoskins. They had eleven children:

• Simon 1846-1865 – Simon was killed in a mine accident aged just 19.

Coroner’s Inquest Simon Lanyon

Local and District News.

FATAL ACCIDENT.—On Tuesday, an inquest was held at Zelah, before E. T. Carlyon, Esq., deputy coroner, on the body of Simon Lanyon, of the above place, who was accidentally crushed to death under the bob of the engine at Cargoll mine. A verdict of “Accidental death” was returned.

Royal Cornwall Gazette 24th March 1865

Transcribed by Adele Cutlack – reproduced with permission of Cornwall OPC

• Richard 1847-1901 he emigrated to Victoria Australia and was a pioneer farmer. He married Alice Pixton in 1876 and they had seven children. He died of liver disease aged 53.

• Robert 1849- he’s on the 1861 census and then no further trace
• Edwin 1850- he’s also on 1861 census and then no further trace
• Emma 1853-aft.1911 she married James Hicks in 1895 – no children
• Elizabeth 1855-1856 died in infancy
• Henry 1855-1855 died in infancy
• Paul 1857-1857 died in infancy
• Mary 1859-1946 she emigrated to Australia and married George Wamage at Manly in 1883, they had three children including a son called Sirodian Walatamay Wamage! (Known as Norman!)
• Eliza 1860-1890 – spinster
• Louisa 1866-1867 died in infancy

Richard senior died in 1878 and his wife was admitted to Bodmin Asylum in May 1889 and released a year later, she was described as a pauper. In Mar 1892 she was readmitted, described as a lunatic pauper and she died there in 1894.

Elizabeth Lanyon 1810-1873

Elizabeth was the second child to be named Elizabeth, the first had died aged two in 1807. In 1831 she married her cousin Henry Lanyon, the son of her great uncle Henry Lanyon and Mary Searle. They had twelve children:

• Albert Cornelius 1834-1887
• Mary Searle 1835-1882
• Simon Searle 1837-1859
• Emily 1838-1888
• Henry Scott 1893-1903
• Lewis Edwin 1841-1886
• Elizabeth Catherine 1842-1908
• Sarah 1844-1904
• Obed 1846-1914
• Isabella 1848-1913
• Louisa Ellen Jane 1850-1928
• Eliza Ellen 1852-1943

We have covered them in the post “Henry & Mary Lanyon’s Sons”.

Robert Vincent Lanyon 1814-1894

Robert was a butcher and a farmer. He married Elisabeth Bowden at Perranarworthal in 1844. They had nine children:

• Charles 1845-1921 he was a butcher and farmer, married Jenny Grigg Tinney and they had eight children
• Emma Jane 1846-1848 died in infancy
• Robert Henry 1847-1850 died in infancy
• Emma Jane 1850-1926 married William Tinney, brother to Jenny Grigg Tinney, a farmer – five children
• Elizabeth Ann 1852-1874 died young of TB
• Olivia 1854-1947 married Josiah Clark, a farmer, no children
• Annie 1858-1949 spinster
• Catherine (Kate) 1860-1936 married Thomas Augustus Powell in 1887, he was a district manager for an insurance company – no children
• Ellen 1862-1930 married Charles William Michael at Kenwyn in 1883, they emigrated to Australia – seven children

Bella Lanyon 1816-1894

We must mention Bella Lanyon, she was Robert Vincent Lanyon’s younger sister and possibly the first Lanyon in Ballarat Australia. For many years she was betrothed to Thomas Johns but her parents weren’t keen on the marriage as Thomas had made it clear he wished to emigrate and they didn’t want to ‘lose’ their daughter. In 1853 at the age of 37 she finally married him without her parents’ consent and they emigrated to Melbourne Australia, aboard the ship ‘Madagascar’. They had seven children:

• Mary Johns 1854-1854 died in infancy
• Amos Johns 1854-1855 died in infancy
• Luke Johns 1856-1931 he was a teacher, preacher and taught temperance classes. His first wife was Prudence Hilliard who died of TB shortly after their daughter May was born. he married again to Emily Parker and had two more children: Violet and William who was killed at Gallipoli.

• Annie Johns 1857-1938 spinster
• Mary Johns 1859-1860 died in infancy
• Emily Johns 1860-1941 spinster

• Wesley Johns 1863-1933 Methodist preacher who married Elizabeth Davies. As a child he had beautiful gold curls and this saved his life when he was lost as a little boy in the Ballarat gold fields and was spotted by his hair!

Thomas Johns was a miner and mine agent and he was also the unofficial dentist in the gold fields. His dental instruments were displayed for many years at the Ballarat Museum! A memorial window to Thomas Johns and Bella Lanyon was erected at Ballarat Methodist Church by their daughters Annie & Emily Johns.

Robert and Grace’s Sons

Robert married Grace Roberts at Probus in 1817. They had nine children and this post is about their sons Robert and Edwin.

Robert Lanyon 1819-1920

Robert was a centenarian! He was born at Gorran in 1819, he was a farmer of 300 acres and he married Elizabeth Pound at St Michael Caerhays in 1842. They had four children:

• Robert Henry 1842-1926 married Fanny Trestain, one son also called Robert
• Caroline 1844-aft. 1901 married Frederick Taudevin a grocer and draper born in Guernsey – several children
• Ann 1846- no trace after 1851
• Georgina 1846-1923 born the same year her mother died married Richard Jennings – seven children

In 1849 Robert remarried. He married Charity Rosevear at St Mewan. They had four children:

• Edwin 1850-1936 also a farmer married Catherine Lelean in 1893 – no children
• Frederick John 1851-1926 was a farmer, he married Elizabeth Colliver Kirkin in 1897, they had two children Alice who died in infancy and Frederick Donald who emigrated to Canada.
• Grace abt. 1850- she married Capt. WL Williams in 1871, there was a Grace Williams who died in Bombay in 1913 which may be her
• John 1855-1926 farmer, bachelor

Edwin Lanyon 1822-1870

Edwin married Ellen Brewer at Tiverton, Devon in 1849. He was a commercial traveller. They had five children:

• Ellen 1851-1874 died young not married, she contracted Typhus
• Edwin 1853-1896 he was a bank manager, he married Georgiana Jennings in 1890 in Plymouth, Devon. One son also called Edwin.
• Emily 1856- no further trace
• Julia Evelyn 1858-1884 married Edward Walter Ward in 1883 and died a year later, no children, she died of meningitis
• Frederick William 1859-1924 emigrated to Australia and married Mary Brown at Sydney in 1884 – three sons, two died in infancy

Edwin and Ellen both died within a few weeks of one another in 1870 in Devon. Edwin died of chronic pneumonic phthisis (TB) and Ellen of a goitre (2 months).

Here we must leave this branch of the tree.