Thomas was the eldest son of David Lanyon and Joan Shutford, he was born about 1620 but there is no record of his baptism. His father died in 1641 and his will suggests that Thomas is 21.
His father David bequeathed Thomas land that can be traced back to Richard Lanyon Esq and Margaret Treskillard.
‘Unto Thomas my sonne ye land belonging to Lanion Mill (adjoining Little Bosullow) after decease of my wife during the terme and time I have therein’
Thomas was a gentleman and yeoman. He married Elizabeth Jonnes at St Buryan in 1658. They had eight children:
John 1659-1663 died in infancy
Richard 1661-1720 married Margery Baynard – four children
John 1663-1702 died unmarried but left a will which mentions his siblings: Richard, David, Thomas, Grace, Alice and Joan wife of Edmund Eva, Uncle Barnard and mother Elizabeth.
Will of John Lanyon – Source St Buryan Deanery CRO/DSB/103Inventory of his goods DSB/103
David 1665-1744 married Margaret Shetford – five children
Joane 1667-1745 married Edmund Eva – four children
Grace 1669-aft. 1703 – no further trace
Thomas 1672 – married Mary Edwards – four children
Alice 1675-1705 married Richard Olivie – one son who lived for a day, Alice was buried eight days later so probably died of puerperal fever.
Thomas Lanyon’s tree
Thomas died in 1695 his estate was valued at £113 5/- and he left a will which mentions:
Son Richard Lanyon of Sancret 2/- 6d and his daughter Grace 5/-
Third son David
Eldest son Thomas
Daughter Jane £40
Daughter Alice
Brother Barnard, large chest , woolen clothes
wife Elizabeth and son John executors
His son David and daughters were to have meat and drink and lodging at my house at Bolanken
The church wardens account at St Buryan lists the following properties connected to the Lanyons:
Treviddron – held by Mr Charles Lanyon between 1690-1700 and up to 1711. Charles left the Parish in 1711 and the property passed to Mr Henry Davies.
Bolanken – In 1693 in the possession of Thomas lanyon, by 1699 it was in the possession of William Lanyon and remained there until 1703 when possession was transferred to Paynter.
Treve – In possession of John Lanyon in 1699 and is again mentioned in 1702. By 1703 it was in Thomas Lanyon’s possession and it remained there until 1711.
Cardinney – In 1734 David lanyon held Cardinney as far back as 1711 it was listed as belonging to Robert Shutford and David Lanyon jointly.
The rector comments that the social status of these Lanyons in the parish in the 17th and 18th centuries was that of gentlemen and non-working farm owners.
Richard was the eldest surviving son of Thomas and Elizabeth Jonnes, he was baptised at St Buryan in 1661. He married Margery Baynard at Sancreed in 1688. They had four children:
Richard 1686-1687 died in infancy
Thomas 1690-1693 died in infancy
Grace 1693-1777 married William Mason of St Just in 1715 and they had five children
Thomas 1695-1737 or 1738 married Mary Rowe – eight children
Richard died in 1720 and left a detailed will:
Richard’s Will – Source CRO/AP/L/1246
Partial transcript:
Parish of St Burian 5/-
Wife Margery £5 and bedroom furniture in hall chamber in Trovean and other furniture, brass pots and pewter marked with the letters MB belonging to her before marriage
Son-in-law William Mason, St Just
To daughter Grace, wife of William Mason, hanging press in Trevean (sic)
To granddaughters Mary and Grace the daughters of Thomas Lanyon £5
To granddaughters Mary and Joan Mason
All the rest to son Thomas
David Lanyon 1665-1744
David was mentioned specifically in his father Thomas’ will of 1696 ‘to have meat and drink and lodging in my house at Bosanken’. It seems strange to put that in a will and not mention his other brothers. David married Margaret Shetford at Sancreed in 1695, had there been a family falling out? Did they expect David to need board and lodging?
David was a yeoman of Cardinney, St Buryan. According to the church warden’s accounts David owned this house jointly with Robert Shetford, Margaret’s father.
David and Margaret had five children:
John 1696-1751 married Ann Hicks – seven children
Elizabeth 1697-1779 married William Hutchens – four children
Robert 1699-1700 died in infancy
Mary 1701- married John Vingoe – three children
Richard 1702-1766 married Grace Phillips – four children
Thomas Lanyon 1672-
Thomas was the youngest son of Thomas and Elizabeth yet his father’s will calls him the eldest! He lived at the Tenement of Kerrow and was called a gentleman. He married Mary Edwards at St Buryan in 1703. They had four children:
Isabella 1703- possible marriage in 1738 at Madron to Thomas Teague?
Francis 1704-1705 died in infancy
Jane 1706- married John Inch at St Buryan in 1728 no further trace
Francis 1708- no further trace
We’ll follow this family in the post ‘Thomas Lanyon’s Grandsons’.
George Peter Lanyon was born in St Ives in 1918, the son of William Herbert Lanyon and Lilian Priscilla Vivian. He was a leading figure in the St Ives group of artists and is best known for his abstract landscapes of Cornwall. He died at Taunton in Somerset following a gliding accident at the age of 46.
Peter Lanyon in his glider
He studied at the Penzance School of Art and in 1939 he met Ben Nicholson and Barbara Hepworth and was tutored by Nicholson. He married Sheila Margaret St John Brown in 1946. They had six children some of whom also became artists.
Peter with some of his children
‘When Lanyon returned to St Ives after active service in the second world war, he fell out with most of the other artists. As the only native Cornishman among them, he saw them as incomers who did not share his interest in getting under the skin of the landscape – which he attempted literally, scrambling down mine shafts as well as soaring above them.
The rift became so bitter that, according to local legend, every time he passed Nicholson’s house on the coastal path, he urinated on the gable wall – hoping that the house would eventually fall down.’ Source -The Guardian 17th Aug 2015)
Peter Lanyon
He taught at the Bath Academy of Art and held his first exhibition in London in 1949. In 1959 he began training as a glider pilot “to get a more complete knowledge of the landscape” and this became the basis for his art.
Peter with his children at Lanyon Quoit
He was buried at Lelant in Cornwall and his headstone bears the inscription:
I will ride now The barren kingdoms In my history And in my eye
An old May Day tradition, which was still being observed in 1879, was for many young folks to head from Penzance before sunrise, to perform a ceremony, to learn the number of years they would have to wait before they got married. (Source – The Cornishman. No. 43. 8 May 1879. p. 4)
The Rev R.S Hawker even penned a poem about the well.
"PLUNGE thy right hand in St. Madron's Spring,
If true to it's troth be the palm you bring;
But if a false sigil thy fingers bear,
Lay them the rather on the burning share"
Loud laughed King Arthur when as he heard
That solemn friar his boding word;
And blithely he swore, as a king he may,
"We tryst for St. Madron's at the break of day."
How many Lanyons walked over the fields to visit the holy well near their manor house?
John ‘Golden’ Lanyon was the eldest surviving son of William Lanyon who died at Sancreed in 1624 and the grandson of John Lanyon Esq. He was “commonly called ‘the Golden Lanyon’ as having gotten great riches by tin, which he divided among his numerous issue”. source – ‘The Parochial History of Cornwall’ – Davied Gilbert 1838 – Volume 2. He was also according H.L Douch in his article on John Smyth the vicar of Sancreed, a moneylender. (See the post ‘The Scandalous Vicar of Sancreed’).
His siblings were:
Elizabeth 1593- who married John Nowell alias Peares at Sancreed in 1617.
John 1596-1601 died in infancy
Jane 1602- married Thomas Flavell 21 Nov 1619 at Sancreed.
William 1603-1687 married Grace at Illogan 24 Nov 1636 (when he was aged 33), and was buried at Illogan 27 Feb 1687. (There is a Catheren Lanyne buried at Illogan in 1623, could this be a first wife to William?)
Paskas abt. 1606 – we’ll cover her in a separate post.
Elizabettie abt. 1607- Elizabettie was still alive in 1624 as she was mentioned in William’s will but we don’t know what happened to her.
John ‘Golden’ Lanyon’s baptism wasn’t recorded but he must have been born after the death of his elder brother in 1601 and before his brother William in 1603.
His first marriage was to Ann (Nan) Jopp on 29 Oct 1636 at Sancreed. Ann died in childbirth, she was buried on 2 Feb 1637 aged just 17. Her daughter also called Ann was baptised the same day. Baby Ann was buried on 2 Sep 1638 at Sancreed.
On 17 Feb 1639 John and Mary Ellis, the daughter of Charles Ellis and Alice Penwarne, were married by licence at Sancreed.
Sancreed Parish Register 1639
Mary was aged 20 and went on to have fourteen children of which only two died in infancy.
John 1641-1720
Mary 1643-1723
Hugh 1644-1645
Philippa 1645-1646
William 1647-1726
Jane Jan 1648-
Tobias Nov 1648-1698
Francis 1651-1725
Joane 1653-1703
Elizabeth 1654-1737
Rebecca 1656-1705
Charles 1658-1721
Phillip 1659-
Thomas 1661-1738
John & Mary were the founders of the Botrea branch of the Lanyon family and with twelve surviving children it was quite a branch!
The children of John Lanyon and the Botrea branch of the Lanyon tree.
John and Mary lived at Botrea house in Sancreed.
In 1659 his cousin John Lanyon of Morvah sold John Lanyon of Botrea House, Sancreed the Manor of Tregaminion for £1500. – Source Henderson MSS Vol XII p83 Bundle 15.
John was buried on 17 Apr 1664 at Sancreed. After his burial John Smyth the unconventional vicar at Sancreed stated ‘the old hog is dead!’ Mary Lanyon, his widow, prosecuted John Smyth in the Consistory Court in 1668 (see post ‘Scandalous Vicar of Sancreed’).
He left a detailed will – note the name Johannes Lamon!
Source: NA PROB 11/315/384
In the name of God Amen Johannes Lamon Dated the Eleaventh day of Aprill In the yeare of our Lord God One Thousand Six Hundred Sixty and Foure 1664 I John Lamon of Bottreth in the parish of St Crett in the County of Cornwall gentleman being now in perfect mind and memory Thanks be to God doe make this my last will and Testament in manner and forme following First I doe bequeath my soule into the hands of my Redeemer And my body to receive Christian burial Amen First I doe give and bequeath to the reparacion of the parish Church of St Crett Twenty shillings Item I doe give and bequeath To the poorest sort of the Parish of St Crett Twenty shillings Item I doe give the whole houses that I have built in the Trerise in the parish of St Crett to the poorest sort of people of St Crett parish for ever to remaine and the little plott of land which is excepted upon my deed for ever To be disposed by my Executor or their Assigns for ever.
Item I doe give and bequeath to the reparacion of the parish Church of the parish of St Just Tenn shillings
Item I doe give and bequeath to the poorest sort of St Just Tenn shilling
Item I doe give and bequeath to my daughter Mary the wife of John Perrow Five pounds in money
Item I doe give and bequeath to my daughter Joane Lamon Three Hundred pounds of good English money
Item I doe give and bequeath to my daughter Jane Lamon Two hundred and Fifty pounds of good English money
Item I doe give and bequeath to my daughter Rebecca Lamon Two Hundred and Fifty pounds of good English money
Item I doe give and bequeath to my sonne William Lamon All my Estate in Bottreth and in Bossence and in Deanerall Chegwine vean Treronacke and Treronacke Mill and Lanes and Mannen within the parish of St Crett Lease and Fee And all my Estate of the houses and Land that I Did buy of Thomas Chergwine of Penzance And the Fee land that I did buy of David Graffe being the land that Mrs Margery Rogers hath a Lease of it in Penzance And the One halfe of all my houshould goods And the One halfe of all my Tynn Bounds And Two Hundred pounds in money
Item I doe give and bequeath to my sonne Tobias Lamon all my Estate in Tredgion issueing Lease and Fee in Tregenebres within the parish of St Crett And all my Fee land in Brane in St Crett parish and two Hundred and Fifty pounds in money
Item I doe give and bequeath to my sonne Francis Lamon All my Estate in Reynald Madderne ?‐‐‐ living in Trigenibres within the parish of St Crett and my Fee land in Cardeney within the parish of Burian And Two Hundred pounds in money
Item I doe give and bequeath to my sonne Charles Lamon All my Estate in Bowanante and Bowanante Vean within the parish of St Crett and the Fee Estate of Boddeneak within the parish of St Crett and Two Hundred pounds in money
Item I doe give and bequeath to my sonne Philipp Lamon All my Fee land in Laves Treaven and Nanceathon within the parish of St Crett and three Hundred and Fifty pounds in money
Item I doe give and bequeath To my sonne Thomas Lamon All my Fee land in Terdeny in Burian parish which I did buy of Mr William Keygwine and Mr William Madderne And Two Hundred and Fifty pounds in money
Item I doe give and bequeath to the Child That is in my wife if shee be with Child att the tyme of my death Two Hundred pounds in money
Item I doe give and bequeath to my sonne John Lamon the Fee Estate of the Land in Keygwin within the parish of St Just which I bought of Mr Peeter Cely and Foure young mares which I have att Tregenminion And the one halfe of all my Tynn bounds
Item I doe give and bequeath To my wife Mary Lamon the living in Sennen parish called Bussume (words illegible) But if she doe stay Unmarried I doe make her my Childrens (words illegible) doe give her all my goods and Chattells moveable and unmoveable (words illegible) given But if shee doe marry she is to have the living in (words illegible) called Busume during her life and noe longer and Thirty pounds (words illegible) if doe stay a widow woman she is to have the benfitt and profits of the (word illegible) of Bownonce and Bownance vean And the one halfe of all the profits of Reonald Madderne is living and the one halfe of all the profits of ?‐‐‐ living in Tregenebres And the one halfe of the profits of Bottreth (words illegible) of yeares And the one halfe of all the benefit All the rest of my Children is portions towards their maintenance until they come of yeares But if shee doe not marry I doe make her my full and whole Executor and to fulfil this my last will and Testament But if shee doe marry I doe make my sonne William Lamon and my sonne Tobias full and whole Executor Joyntly and to fulfil this my last will and Testament ?‐‐‐ call their mother to give a Just ?‐‐‐. of what she did re come which should be due to them as to any of their brothers or sisters That they may have it from her to pay them I doe give to my man Francis Ellis Twenty shillings I doe appoint and ordaine my brother in Lawe Pascoe Ellis and my sonne John Lamon to see that my wife may be carefull to maintain my Children and to put their ?‐‐‐ in good hands whereby they may have it when they come to yeares.
By kind permission of the Cornwall OPC – Transcription: Kath Chaveli/Judith Upton
His will shows just how wealthy he was and how many of his children were still very young at the time of his death. His youngest child Thomas was just three years old.
His wife Mary outlived him by twelve years, she never remarried. She left a will which gives us the names of a number of her grandchildren and helps us to build the next generation on the tree.
Will of Maria Lanyon widow of St Levan – Source NA PROB/11/351
Arthur was the third son of John Charles Lanyon and Jane Stacy Bennett. Their first son John Charles died as a baby and it was soon apparent that the second son Sydney Howard Lanyon had a variety of health problems.
John Charles Lanyon’s tree
Sydney suffered with severe eczema. After Wellington College he attended Cambridge University where he suffered from appendicitis and failed his degree. He was rejected by the army before the first world war and committed suicide on 24th Oct 1914 by jumping off Westminster Bridge in front of his nephew Noel Hindley. His body was eventually found at Rotherhithe on 4th Nov 1914.
He left his estate to his brother Arthur who was the reluctant heir to the family business.
Arthur’s other siblings were: Alice who married Walter Paton Hindley. Jane who never married or worked and died age 88 in 1949. Vivian who worked as a colonial agent and married his nurse, Eliza Crowe. They never had any children. Mabel who married James Buckley, a venereologist and had four children. Arthur’s youngest brother, Alfred Leonard Lanyon died in infancy.
Arthur Herbert Lanyon
Arthur left Harrow in Dec 1883 at the age of 17 to join the family business JC Lanyon & Sons. On 22 Apr 1899 he married Catherine Septima Lamotte at St John the Evangelist, Croydon. (Catherine was descended from Huguenot refugees).
Their son John Arthur Lanyon was born in 1900 and their daughter Joan was born three years later.
John Arthur Lanyon and baby sister Joan about 1903.
John with his father Arthur and formal portrait aged about 5.
John and Joan with their mother Catherine Septima Lamotte.
The early photos were taken at Sanderstead, Surrey, the family home. At age 11 John was a pupil at Farnborough school. In 1918 he was briefly in the Royal Artillery and then he went on to read chemistry at New College Oxford.
Joan didn’t attend school. She was mildly epileptic and her mother disapproved of school so a governess, Cath Blakeney was hired.
Joan became a senior commander in the ATS during the second world war however during peacetime she didn’t work. She travelled extensively, played polo and never married. Joan died aged 92 in 1995.
Joan Catherine Lanyon
In 1927 John married Nancy Eleanor Mitchell and worked as a research chemist at ICI.
When I started working on the family tree I very quickly progressed on all branches apart from Margaret Hunter’s family. I was completely stumped.
Margaret Hunter
Margaret was the mother of Nancy Eleanor Mitchell and Nancy’s birth certificate gave me her maiden name of Hunter. I found Margaret’s marriage to Isaac Haig Mitchell on 29 Oct 1899 and the marriage certificate stated that her age was 33 and that her father was called John Hunter, a deceased hosiery worker.
Margaret’s marriage certificate
I easily found Isaac and Margaret on the 1901 and 1911 census. In 1901 Margaret is listed as age 34, born in Scotland and on the 1911 census she is described as age 44, born in Hawick and living in Sutton, Surrey. (I haven’t yet managed to find them on the 1921 census.)
1911 Census return
I then started a search for a Margaret Hunter born about 1866/67 in Hawick the daughter of John Hunter a hosiery worker. There weren’t any candidates so I expanded the search to the whole of Roxburgh and, as Margaret Hunter is a fairly common name, I found lots. I found a few with father’s called John but none of them was a hosiery worker or similar and whilst people did change their occupations I thought it unlikely that a man would, in middle age, change from mining or agriculture to become a hosiery worker.
I decided to search in the 1871 census for a 4/5 year old Margaret Hunter in Hawick and then the whole of Roxburgh and again had no real luck. I then searched the 1881 census (the Mormon Church has transcribed this whole census and it is easy and free to search) for the whole of the UK and found a Margaret Hunter born in 1865 in Scotland with a father called John Hunter who was a weaver now living in Cumberland. After months of searching I thought I had at last found ‘our’ Margaret. At age 16 this Margaret had an illegitimate child who was raised by his grandparents. Her father John Hunter was a blind weaver born in Scotland but as there are thousands of John Hunters born in Scotland I thought I couldn’t go any further and I left the story there and moved onto another branch of the tree.
Months later I returned to this branch of the tree and decided to look for John Hunter’s death certificate. He was recorded as deceased on Margaret’s marriage certificate so his death must have occurred sometime after the 1881 census and before October 1899. I eventually found his death on 10th Feb 1887 in Carlisle. He was 68, a woolen weaver and his daughter Margaret registered the death. The only problem was she was called Margaret Martin now. It was fairly easy to find her marriage and then to find her on the 1901 census with Mr Martin so she couldn’t possibly be ‘our’ Margaret.
I started again from a slightly different angle. I had found a record for a burial of a Margaret Mitchell in Banstead Surrey on 15 Nov 1921. Margaret was recorded as being 53 years old giving an approximate date of birth as 1868. I had assumed this was ‘our’ Margaret as there was only one death of a Margaret Mitchell in this area. I decided to obtain the death certificate just to confirm the information. When the certificate arrived many weeks later it stated that she was the wife of George Mitchell a ‘carman’ so she wasn’t ‘our’ Margaret.
The wrong burial!
I spent several days searching for her death. Her death wasn’t registered near her residence in Surrey so I had no idea where to look. Eventually I found her death registered in Lambeth/Brixton on 5 Aug 1922 where she is recorded as being age 55 giving an approximate date of birth as 1867. (She died of stomach cancer and pneumonia.)
Death certificate
I now searched in Scotland for every Margaret Hunter born between 1864-1870, there are lots! I then checked the census and married up every one of them with a family. Some had fathers called John Hunter. I was able to eliminate any John who was still alive after 1899. I was able to eliminate any Margaret who was still a spinster after 1899. I was able to eliminate any Margaret who married someone other than Issac Haig Mitchell and was still married in 1901. I then eliminated any John Hunter who’s occupation didn’t fit with the description ‘hosiery worker’, so all the miners, heavy labourers, farmers etc. Slowly but surely I whittled the list down and still could not find ‘our’ Margaret.
I then took a different approach. I decided to look for all John Hunters in Hawick who were working in any capacity in the wool/cloth industry. Hawick and the surrounding towns in Roxburgh are famous for their wool industries so there were quite a few candidates but one stood out.
1871 census for 50 Loan Street, Hawick. John Hunter age 40, wool frame work knitter but the only problem was he was unmarried. He did however have a daughter called Margaret Hunter. Unfortunately she was aged 11 and therefore born 1860 which is several years before ‘our’ Margaret was supposedly born.
I searched for a birth of Margaret Hunter in 1859/60/61 in Hawick. Again without success.
I then concentrated on John Hunter and slowly but surely worked out the story.
In 1851 John Hunter was recorded on the Hawick census as age 19, a woollen frame work knitter and living as a lodger with the Thomson family. His place of birth is listed as Langholm Dumfries.
I found him again in 1861 lodging with Margaret Graham and her mother Margaret Notman at Myreslaw Green in Hawick. He was age 27, a power stocking frame tender, unmarried.
Margaret Graham is listed as a married seamstress. The following children are also listed at the same property: Elizabeth Graham age 12, Joan Graham age 9, John Hunter age 6, William Hunter age 3 and Margaret Hunter age 1, all born in Hawick. The relationships are listed against the head of the house Margaret Notman so it’s not always clear if they are actually related to the lodger John Hunter.
1861 Census Hawick
By 1871 John Hunter was listed as the head of the household and the children were listed as his sons and daughters. Margaret Graham is listed as his married housekeeper and there were two more children: Isabella age 7 and Mary age 2. Unfortunately his surname was transcribed as Hanler and hers as Crahan which made the search a little more tricky!
1871 Census Hawick incorrectly transcribed.
It appears as though John Hunter was co-habiting with Margaret Graham. I decided to search for a birth for a Margaret Graham born 1859/60/61 in Hawick, without success. I then tried using the surname Notman and hit the jackpot!
Margaret’s birth record
Margaret Notman (or Graham) 27 Mar 1860 in Hawick. Margaret is listed as illegitimate but there is a note “Margaret Notman wife of George Graham who the informant declares she has not seen for 9 years”. So having been abandoned by her husband George Graham (a mason’s journeyman) in 1851 she went back to her parents and later met John Hunter, who she lived with until her death in 1877 age 47.
After her death John Hunter continued to live in Hawick with his daughter Isabella and appears on the 1881 census still working as a wool frame work knitter. He died on 4 Nov 1890 at the Melrose District Asylum age 62. Cause of death was paralysis of the insane four years (late stage Syphilis). The death was registered by Andrew Butler, Isabella’s husband.
John Hunter’s death record
By 1881 Margaret Notman/Hunter had left home and I spent quite a long time looking for her on the census. The most credible entries I found were:
Margaret L Hunter age 21, birth year 1860 Hawick, Roxburgh. Working as a tablemaid at The Scores, St Andrews, Fife. (I couldn’t find a Margaret L Hunter born in 1860 in Roxburgh).
B) Margaret Hunter age 18, birth year 1863 Roxburgh. Working as a domestic servant and described as a visitor staying with Robert & Helen Gilholm at their home in Ancrum Roxburgh. I did find a Margaret Stodda Hunter born in Roxburgh 1863 but it wasn’t ‘our’ Margaret.
By 1891 there was no obvious candidate for her in the UK census. I decided to look at both Margaret Notman/Graham’s family and John Hunter’s family to see if Margaret had gone to live with any of them.
Margaret’s Tree
John Hunter (born 20 Nov 1830) was the son of John Hunter born about 1792 and Margaret Budge baptised 7 Aug 1794 Langholm. He had several brothers and sisters. His elder sister Agnes Gaskill Hunter was born in 1815, she married Andrew Little and their first child was born in 1833. They had several children and their daughter Margaret Little was born in 1837. In 1856 Margaret Little gave birth to an illegitimate child called Alexander Mitchell in Hawick. He grew up to be a wool scourer and dyer. It’s pure speculation but I wondered if he could be the illegitimate son of Isaac Haig Mitchell’s father who was also called Alexander Mitchell who was also a wool scourer and dyer. It would perhaps explain how ‘our’ Margaret knew Isaac Haig Mitchell.
John Hunter’s Tree
Alexander Mitchell, father of Isaac Haig Mitchell and possible father of Alexander Mitchell born 1856.
Alexander Mitchell/Little died age 28 of pulmonary consumption. In 1879 he was involved in a Sheriff Court paternity case with Sarah McWatters over the paternity of her daughter Ellen L Stainton McWatters. He went on to marry Betsy Young the year before he died.
I still don’t know where ‘our’ Margaret was in 1891. But it appears that at age 39 she married 32 year old Isaac Haig Mitchell. In 1901 age 41 she gave birth to Nancy Eleanor Mitchell, her only child. She maintained the lie about her age for the rest of her life.
Margaret with her daughter Nancy Eleanor Mitchell
Of course this was all speculation until my husband submitted a DNA test to ancestry.com and we discovered several distant cousins all descended from John Hunter and Margaret Notman/Graham which confirmed at long last that I had indeed found ‘our’ Margaret Hunter.
What happened to Margaret’s brothers and sisters?
Elizabeth Graham her half sister was born about 1849. There are a couple of possible marriages but I could not find anything to prove which was correct.
Joan/Jane Graham/Hunter born 1852 may or may not be George Graham’s daughter. By 1871 she is no longer with the family, she may have died or moved away. No further trace of her.
John Hunter born 1855 and died 3 May 1930 Kilmarnock. He married Isabella Wilson and they had 7 children. Their youngest, born in 1898, was called Maggie Notman Hunter.
William Hunter born 1857 married Agnes Sanderson Hutton and moved to Peebles. They had 4 children, the youngest was born in 1886 and was called Margaret Notman Hunter.
Isabella Hunter born 1863 died 5 Feb 1931 Paisley. She was run over by a lorry and killed, there is a procurator fiscal’s report attached to her death certificate. She married Andrew Butler and had 6 children, the eldest was born in 1885 called Margaret Notman Butler.
James Hunter born 7 Mar 1867 and died 6 Sep 1867 of whooping cough.
Mary Hunter born 17 Aug 1868 and died 19 Mar 1877 of tubercular meningitis.
Without DNA I would never have ben able to confirm that this was indeed ‘our’ Margaret Hunter.
The Lanyons 