This post is about the grandsons of Henry & Mary, the sons of John & Peggy, William & Jane and Henry & Elizabeth.

John & Peggy’s Sons

William Lanyon 1810-1898

William was John & Peggy’s eldest son, he was born almost four weeks before they married in Dec 1810. In 1833 he married Mary Ann Bennett at St Allen, they emigrated to Wisconsin, USA before 1840. He was a blacksmith and ironmonger. He and Mary had fifteen children, fourteen sons and one daughter who died in infancy.

• William 1834-1908 he was born in St Allen, he was a produce merchant at Mineral Point Wisconsin, in 1855 he married Maria Thomas – seven children
• Josiah 1835-1835 died in infancy
• Mary Ann 1836-1840 died in infancy
• Cyrus 1838-1838 died in infancy
• Cyrus 1839-1904 he was a lawyer and he married Mary Jane Vivian in Wisconsin in 1865 – no children traced
• Josiah 1841-1924 married Jane Trevorrow at Iowa, Wisconsin in 1862. He set up a machinist shop and foundry and a zinc smelting business in Pittsburg with brother William. They had extensive zinc interests, buying ore and owning three smelters. He was also a director of Joplin National Bank. They had five children.

• John 1843-1906 married Francis Jones in 1867, he was a hardware merchant – seven children
• Henry 1846- 1851 suffocated age 5 in a blacksmith’s furnace
• Simon 1847-1911 worked as a machinist, married Mary Simmons in 1879, she died in 1883, they had no children. His second wife was Kate Richards, they married in 1901, no children.
• Albert Charles 1850-1935 he worked as a contractor in a cement works, he married Margaretta Stupinsky in 1876 in Michigan, no children. He married her sister Minnie Stupinsky in 1929, no children.
• Samuel 1851-1927 was a ‘moulder’ and worked in a machine shop, he married Jennie Williams at Grant, Wisconsin in 1884, they had one son who died age 2.

• Edwin Vincent 1855-1923 he was a blacksmith and married Augusta Imogen Sherman at Mineral Point in 1876. Five children. In 1912 he married his brother Simon’s widow Kate Richards.

• Robert Henry 1855-1923 was a machinist at a zinc mine, he married Clara G Gorseline at Jasper, Missouri in 1887, they had four children

• Delos B 1856-1864 drowned in a cistern

William senior and Mary Ann Bennett were married for 65 years.

Henry Lanyon 1812-1876

Henry was the second son of John and Peggy Vincent. He was working as a farm labourer at Polstein, St Allen when he married Grace Rose Anna Bennett in 1839. He later worked as a butcher and farmer. They had nine children:

• Olivia 1840-1917 was a dressmaker and a farmer in Hertfordshire, spinster
• Ellen 1842-1848 died young
• William 1843-1925 born in St Allen married Charlotte Couch at Northill, Cornwall in 1875 and moved to Essex, he was a farmer, two children, one died in infancy

• Henry 1846-1886 was born in St Allen and married Mary Hancox Raby at Lancashire in 1873. Henry was a commercial traveller in drapery, based in Exeter. Four children. He died aged 40 of congestion of the lungs, pleuro pneumonia and congestion of the brain, coma.

• Ellen 1848-1924 married Nathaniel Reed, a farmer, at Bodmin in 1870 and later moved to Hertfordshire. Seven children.
• Simon D 1849-1933 he was born in St Allen but emigrated to Wisconsin in 1870. He was a farmer and a coal merchant. He married Ellen Treseder in 1871 – six children.
• James 1852-1924 he was a farmer and married Mary Grace Reed at Lewanick in 1884. They had four children, three died in childhood. In 1911 he married again to Martha Helen Souden at Plymouth. He lived in Hertfordshire. He left a will leaving his estate to his only surviving son James with an unusual clause:

“….provided he does not marry a relation by blood as I wish to mark my great objection to marriage between blood relations ….”

Last Will & testament of James Lanyon Probate 13th Aug 1924

(This clause was sent to the High Court and found to be invalid.)

• Edith 1854-1940 the census lists her as a farmer and a spinster, she died in Hertfordshire in 1940.

• Edwin 1857-1922 he was also a farmer, in 1890 he married Mary Ellen Hayne at Camelford, Cornwall, she died of Typhoid fever in 1893 and in 1895 he married Mary Anne Keast at Truro. They moved to Hertfordshire and Edwin died at Bishops Stortford in 1922. They had one daughter.

Simon Lanyon 1815-1888

According to the stained glass window in St Allen church Simon was the fourth son of John & Peggy. His brother Josiah was baptised after him but may have been born before him as the Chicago census estimates his birth year as 1811. Another child must have died before he was baptised and does not appear in the records. Simon married Mary Batten at St Allen in Jun 1838, three months later their son Simon Henry was born. By 1840 they had emigrated to Wisconsin. He was a farmer. He and Mary had nine children:

• Simon Henry 1838-1897 he was a zinc manufacturer and capitalist! He married Emily Matthews Dabb and they had two sons, Alvin and Arthur. Alvin was one of the richest men in Pittsburg, Kansas and both he and his brother Arthur were cashiers at the National Bank of Pittsburg. Simon kept a diary about his journey back to Cornwall in 1889. During his trip he arranged for a memorial window to be erected in St Allen church.

Photos: Simon Henry, Alvin and Arthur

• Mary Ann Batten 1841-1917 Mary was the first Lanyon born in America! She married George Carter at Wisconsin in 1872, one son
• William John 1843-1918 he was a farmer in Nebraska he married Elizabeth Jane James at Grant Wisconsin in 1866 – seven children

• Caroline 1844-1904 married Elijah Webber in 1875 lived in Pittsburg, Kansas – two children
• Josiah 1846-1855 died young
• Sophia 1848-1859 died young
• Robert James 1850-1858 died young
• Reuben Searle 1853-1903 he was a zinc dealer married Martha Jane Bennett in 1880 at Wisconsin and lived in Joplin, Missouri. Seven children.
• Franklin Watson Samuel Vincent 1859-1892 married Lavon Curtis Willard in 1884 at Crawford Kansas, four children

Josiah Lanyon 1816-1898

There were three Josiah Lanyons baptised within eighteen months of one another: Josiah baptised March 1815 the son of William Lanyon and Peggy Exter Richards, Josiah baptised 18th Jun 1816, the son of Simon Lanyon and Dorothy Hoskins and Josiah baptised 26th Jun 1816 the son of John Lanyon and Peggy Vincent.

Josiah the son of John and Peggy married Esther Brenton at St Merryn in 1838, they then headed to London to make their fortune. Josiah was working as a carpenter when in 1844 aged 29 he got into a fight with Thomas and Lucretia Pike. He was charged with stabbing, cutting and wounding Thomas with a screwdriver and beating Lucretia. Josiah was drunk and lucky to be found guilty of a lesser crime and sentenced at the Old Bailey to just a month in Newgate prison.

Along with his brothers he emigrated to Wisconsin where he worked as an undertaker and cabinet maker. In the 1880s they moved to Chicago and he died there in 1898.

He and Esther had nine children:

• Elizabeth Caroline 1839-1910 she was born in Newington, Surrey and married Gilbert, Belden Maxfield, a labourer, in 1859- four children
• Esther 1841-1927 born in Newington, married Byron Purinton, a farmer, at Iowa Wisconsin in 1860 – five children, she died in California in 1927
• Kate 1843-1899 born in London, married Samuel Hocking, a smith, at Mineral Point, Wisconsin in 1867- seven children
• John Brenton 1845-1931 born in London, he was an undertaker like his father, married Mary Hopper in 1870 and in the 1880s moved to Chicago – four children
• Mary Jane 1847-1931 married her widowed brother-in-law, Samuel Hocking in 1901, no children
• Charles Henry 1849-1925 was a harness maker he married Ann Whistler in 1875, one child who died in infancy
• Richard Norman 1852-1935 he was a sign painter and a shipper of clay goods, he married Harriet Emma Buck in 1873 at Ontario Canada, they lived in Chicago and had ten children
• Byron 1855-1925 he was a jeweller and watchmaker and married Sarah Wilson at Alameda California in 1878, they had one child
• Frederick William 1859-1930 was a salesman, he married Gertrude Beale in 1885 and they had two daughters. In 1903 he married Katherine Bauman Astleford at Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Paul Lanyon 1817-1897

Paul was born in 1817 and baptised in 1824 at St Allen. He was a farmer and married Johanna Kendal in 1846 at St Mawgan in Pyder, Cornwall. By 1870 they had emigrated to Wisconsin and then onto Omaha Nebraska where Paul and Johanna both died in 1897.

Paul and Johanna had five children:

• John 1817-1897 he was a farmer at St Mabyn in Cornwall. In 1869 at St Neot he married Olivia Stephens, three children. Olivia died in 1875 of TB and in 1876 John emigrated to Wisconsin where he married Annie Lavinia Sherrell, they had six children together, they moved to Minnesota and he died there in 1911.

• William Henry 1852-1932 emigrated to Wisconsin in 1867, he was a physician and married Evalyn Trobee, they lived in Joplin, Missouri and had three children
• Samuel Searle 1856-1929 he was a druggist he married Eva Dena Hagan in 1895 and they lived at Omaha, Nebraska – two sons
• Esther Ann 1857-1925 married George Theodore Brazee at Lafayette Wisconsin in 1881, one son. She died at Omaha. Nebraska in 1925

• Anne Louisa 1859-1940 married Charles H Graham, a glass stainer, three children. She died in Manhattan in 1940.

Robert Lanyon 1829-1909

Robert was born at St Allen in 1829 He emigrated to Wisconsin and in 1854 married Mary Ann Grose Curnow at Mineral Point. He was a wheelwright and wagon maker and later worked in the smelting business. They had two sons:

• Robert Henry 1857-1933 he was a smelter manufacturer and appears to have had an illegitimate child with Rachel Beecher in 1877, Albert Beecher, Robert then married Minnie Stearns Snow in Crawford Kansas in 1886. They had five children.

• William 1862-1938 was a smelter owner and married Annie Georgine Willette at Williams Ohio in 1888. They moved to St Louis, Missouri and had four children. William was described in his son Robert’s marriage announcement as: the ‘ex-mayor of Pittsburg, Kansas and millionaire mine and smelter owner”. His son was described “…has given up his course at Yale and married Miss Alice Lillian O’Connor, 19 years old, a vaudeville actress. They were married in New York.”

John Lanyon 1832-1916

John was born abt 1832 and baptised in 1837 at St Allen. He emigrated to Wisconsin in 1855 and married Annie Plimmer in 1866, she died in 1867 and he married again to Amelia Osborne. John was a grocer and dry goods merchant. They had three children:

• John Everett 1869-1917 he was a salesman in a shoe store. Bachelor
• Nettie B 1875- aft. 1940 spinster
• Arlington Osborne 1877-1958 he was a post office clerk and married Lucile M Reed at Joplin, Missouri in 1902, two children

Samuel Lanyon 1833-1908

Samuel was born in 1833 and was twenty three years younger than his elder brother William. He was a woollen cloth buyer and Manchester draper and married his first wife Cecilia Edwards at Camborne in 1860. She died in 1866 “after a painful illness, the beloved wife of Mr Samuel, draper.” (her illness was TB.) They had two children:

• Frederick Vincent 1861-1923 he was a draper’s assistant and a clerk and a bachelor and died at Helston in 1923
• Herbert Hyne 1865-1866 died in infancy

Samuel married again this time to Lucy Ellen Brown in York, England in 1868. They had four children and emigrated to Chicago.

• Lucy Florence 1869-1901 born in Manchester, England and died in Illinois, USA, spinster
• Eleanor Mabel 1872-1906 born in Manchester and died in Illinois, may have married someone called Keyes
• Edith Ellen 1877-1925 born in Manchester and died in California in 1925, spinster

• Samuel Herbert 1879-1961 born in Manchester and married Florence Lee Foljambe in Cuyahoga, Ohio in 1904. He was the manager of a street car company, he died in California in 1961. They had two daughters.

Eliel Lanyon 1824-1909

Eliel was John and Peggy Lanyons second youngest son, he never married or had children. he was a farmer of 100 acres and lived at Henver in the ‘old house’ where John and Peggy had lived. He was also a methodist lay preacher and is remembered in a beautiful stained glass window at St Allen church.

This is where we must leave John & Peggy’s sons and grandchildren. So many of them emigrated to the United States especially Wisconsin. John and Peggy like so many parents with emigrant children probably never saw them again once they had left. If letters were exchanged they probably took months to arrive and yet Simon Henry Lanyon returned to St Allen in 1889 and erected a beautiful stained glass window in their memory even though he would have been too young to remember them.

In a family that likes to perpetuate the same names every generation I find it unusual that there is not a single daughter with the name Margaret or Peggy. Out of at least 62 grand children there are no Margarets or Peggys and just 5 grandsons named John.

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.

The Lanyon family in St Allen intermarried with the Vincent, the Clark, the Gill, the Hoskins, the Clyma and the Searle families of St Allen and the surrounding areas. Their children and grandchildren intermarried as well and it’s fair to describe this part of the tree as ‘complicated’! So complicated that I may not have it 100% right!

The Searles

When John Lanyon and Sarah Straight moved to St Allen three of their children married into the Searle family.

The Vincents

Richard and Henry Lanyons children married into the Vincent family. Three of Oliver Vincent and Catherine Paul’s children married three Lanyon cousins.

The Hoskins & Clarks

Where to begin? Paul Clark 1773-1854 married Ann Carveth Hoskins and they had a son also called Paul Clark born in 1805. When Ann Carveth Hoskins died Paul married Jane Lanyon (the daughter of Henry Lanyon & Mary Searle) then had a son called William Clark.

Ann Carveth Hoskins had a sister called Dorothy who married Simon Lanyon, the brother of Richard Lanyon. Paul Clark 1805-1888 married Mary Lanyon who was the daughter of Richard Lanyon and Elizabeth Vincent and when Mary died he married her sister Louisa Lanyon! Paul’s half brother William married Caroline Lanyon his mother’s niece.

Not shown on the diagram above is the fact that Peggy and Elizabeth Vincent are sisters!

There is also a Thomas Hoskin/Hoskyn who married Sarah Lanyon (the daughter of Henry and Mary Searle) in 1803 at St Allen who is probably related to the other Hoskins but I haven’t worked out the connection yet!

The Gills

The Gill family also married into the Lanyon and Hoskins families.

The Clymas

Mary Ellen Lanyon and her sister Dorothy Hoskins Lanyon (the daughters of Simon Lanyon and Dorothy Hoskins) married an uncle and nephew. Dorothy married John Clyma and Mary Ellen married his nephew George Clyma.

To add to the confusion George Clyma’s father William Clyma had a wife and mother with the same name, Jenney Jennings. It appears that his wife was the niece of his mother but I haven’t got proof of that!

All clear then?

Henry and Richard Lanyon married two sisters, Elizabeth and Mary Searle. Henry and Mary had ten children. This post is about their four sons who had children.

Henry and Mary’s son Henry married Elizabeth Lanyon the granddaughter of Richard and Elizabeth Searle!

John Lanyon 1782-1859

John was the eldest son of Henry and Mary. He married Peggy Vincent at St Allen in 1810. John was a farmer of 80 acres and a butcher at Zelah, St Allen. He and Peggy had fourteen children!

• William 1810-1898 married Mary Ann Bennett
• Henry 1812-1876 married Grace Rose Anna Bennett
• Simon 1815-1888 married Mary Batten
• Josiah 1816-1898 married Esther Brenton
• Paul 1817-1897 married Johanna Kendal
• Mary Ann 1822-1896 married James Polkinghorne at St Allen in 1846 – no children
• Elial 1824-1909 was a farmer and a Methodist preacher, he never married and died at Henver aged 86
• Caroline 1824-1893 married William Clark, a gardener and farmer, two children
• Sophia 1826-1847 never married, she committed suicide by throwing herself down a well, cause of death – temporary insanity

• Ann Vincent 1827-1896 married James Williams, a farmer – no children
• Robert 1829-1909 married Mary Ann Grose Curnow
• John 1832-1916 married Annie Plimmer and Amelia Osborne
• Samuel 1833-1908 married Cecilia Edwards and Lucy Ellen Brown
• Elizabeth 1837-1897 married William Ripper Cock (that’s definitely one of the more memorable names on the tree!) at St Allen in 1858 three children and they emigrated to Wisconsin where the name was changed to Cox.

John died in 1859 and Peggy in 1877, they are both buried at St Allen. Their son erected a beautiful window in their memory in St Allen church.

William Lanyon 1791-1864

William was the second surviving son of Henry and Mary, they also had another son called William who died in infancy and was buried in 1875. William was a yeoman farmer of 280 acres, employing 7 labourers. He married Jane Veale Rowe at Newlyn East in 1836 and they had four children:

• Jane Veale 1839-1905 married Samuel Mitchell in 1859. They had nine children including Jane Veale Mitchell the early 20th century Lanyon researcher mentioned throughout this website. Jane (junior) was born in 1866 and died in 1929 (she was accidentally knocked over and killed by a passing train) a spinster.
• Mary Ellen 1841-1842 died in infancy
• Isabella 1842-1852 died young
• Charles Scott 1844-1890 married Elizabeth Jane Rowe

William died in 1864 aged 73 and was buried at Higher Treluddra.

Simon Searle Lanyon 1794-1858

Simon was a farmer and a great athlete.

“It will be in the recollection of many of the older Cornish people that the Henver family (of Lanyons) were remarkable for their physical build and great strength. Perhaps the best specimen of them in this respect was Simon Searle Lanyon whose powers when a young man were quite remarkable. Polkinghorne, who in the wrestling ring so manfully upheld his county in the contest with Cann for the championship of Devon and Cornwall could not stand before him. As a member of the Cornish Yeomanry Cavalry, he was their first athlete on their annual sport days of the Corps at the conclusion of their yearly training. The late Mr J.C.Lanyon of Redruth who was his second cousin took great delight in relating his feats on these occasions. One of the things which he did was to ride through the narrow lanes at full gallop, and with a cut of his sword divide two turnips placed opposite to each other on either side of the road!”

The Royal Cornwall Gazette Dec 1889

Simon never married but lived for many years with Elizabeth Batten/Batting a charwoman and they had a daughter:

• Priscilla 1832-1905 married Oliver Robert Northey – two sons

Simon died at St Merryn in 1858 from inflammation of the bowels. Elizabeth was present at his death.

Henry Lanyon 1797-1872

Henry was the youngest child of Henry and Mary. He married Elizabeth Lanyon, the daughter of his cousin Richard Lanyon. They had twelve children:

• Albert Cornelius 1834-1887 married Mary Ellen Varcoe
• Mary Searle 1835-1882 married William Collins, a smith – ten children
• Simon Searle 1837-1859 emigrated to Ballarat, Australia in 1857 and died in a mining accident in 1859 age 23. No children
• Emily 1838-1888 emigrated to Ballarat, Australia in 1857 and in 1859 married Thomas William Bull – eleven children

• Henry Scott 1839-1903 married Maria Westcott
• Lewis Edwin 1841-1886 married Sarah Osman
• Elizabeth Catherine 1842-1908 married Henry Olver, a carpenter at St Allen in 1860 emigrated to South Africa – six children

• Sarah 1844-1904 emigrated to Australia and married Robert Quine at Victoria in 1866 – no children

• Obed 1846-1914 farmer of Polstein, St Allen, he never married and was described by his cousin Simon Henry Lanyon in his diary as “a rough jolly good fellow who weighs 210lbs and is not at all fat.”
• Isabella 1848-1913 never married and worked as a grocer, draper and sub postmistress at Zelah, St Allen. The 1911 census mentions that she was paralysed. She lived with her sister Louisa and a niece, Mabel. She was very deaf and was killed when she failed to hear the approaching train at a rail crossing in Zelah.
• Louisa Ellen Jane 1850-1928 never married and lived with her sister Isabella

• Eliza Ellen 1852-1943 in 1886 she married William Phillips, a farmer, at Truro – three sons

Henry Lanyon was a farmer at Trevalsa and Simon Henry Lanyon described him in his diary as “Great Henry, the champion wrestler of Cornwall”

Richard Lanyon 1739-aft. 1779

Richard was baptised at St Buryan in 1739 and married Mary Gomer at Paul in 1766. We know very little about Richard, not even the date of his death. He and Mary had seven children:

• Richard 1766-1766 died in infancy
• Richard 1767-1767 died in infancy
• David 1768-1846 married Elizabeth Carter
• Mary 1771-1771 died in infancy
• Richard 1773- was a farmer who married Anne Chapple, a widow, at Paul in 1809 – no trace of children
• Mary 1776- possibly married Richard Crocker at Paul in 1802, no further trace
• John 1779-1831 married Grace Lanyon

David Lanyon 1768-1846

David was baptised at Paul in 1768 and married Elizabeth Carter at Paul in 1790. They had two children:

• David 1799-bef. 1838 David was a shoemaker who married Anne Strick at St Buryan 1831. He died before 1838 as Anne ‘Street’ remarried that year. There were no children.
• John 1803-1866 was baptised in Mousehole in 1803. He was a fisherman and only married Grace Crocker in 1848 at the age of 45. They had one daughter Elizabeth Harvey Lanyon born in 1849 who married Robert Allison, a boilermaker, in 1874.

David senior was admitted to the Penzance Dispensary in 1835, he was described as a poor man. He died age 79 at Paul in 1846. His wife died the following year.

John Lanyon 1779-1831

John was a fisherman, he married Grace Lanyon his cousin at St Buryan in 1804. She was the daughter of Charles Lanyon and Martha Ellis. They had four children before Grace died of the effects of childbirth in 1810.

• Mary 1805- no further trace
• Martha 1807-1884 married John Watt, an iron founder at Phillack in 1829 – eight children
• David – 1807 died in infancy
• Grace 1810-1810 Grace died suddenly age 1 month and her mother Grace died of the effects of childbirth two days later.

John remarried in 1817. His second wife was Alice Mann, there were no children of this marriage.

With no male descendants to carry on the Lanyon name this little branch of the tree died out.

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.