Phillimores Marriage Records show that on 3 May 1615 Elizabeth Lanyne married Oliver Neilder at Menheniot in Cornwall. Despite several attempts I couldn’t initially place Elizabeth on the Lanyon tree, who was she?

Early marriage records rarely mention the parent’s names and Elizabeth is one of the most common names in the Lanyon family so I decided to look at Oliver Neilder in more depth to see if I could discover anything useful.

Oliver Neilder baptised at least four children at Menheniot in the early 17th century: Marye 1619, Jane 1621, John 1624 and Elizabeth 1627. The Menheniot parish register also lists the following burials: Elizabeth Neilder was buried on 15 Jan 1659 (she was noted as being ‘old’) and Oliver Neilder was buried the following year on 26 Sep 1660 (he’s noted as ‘old senr’.)

Neither Oliver nor Elizabeth left a will so that avenue for research was closed. I did find Oliver Nealder (sic) listed on the 1641/2 Protestation Return for Menheniot but that was it. I then turned to Kresen Kernow (The Cornish Record Office) and the National Archives to see if there was anything useful there.

I found just one relevant record at Kresen Kernow. Assignment of land at Trenant, the parties were Oliver Nealder, yeoman of Menheniot and Peter Carveth also a yeoman of Menheniot (BRA991/120).

The National Archives were more forthcoming. I found records of litigation between the Neilder family and the Kekewich family. I’ve come across the Kekewich family before whilst researching the Lanyons so I was curious to find out more.

The Kekewich’s were one of the most powerful families in Cornwall in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The family resided at Catchfrench near Saltash and Trehawke near Menheniot. So Oliver and Elizabeth Neilder were neighbours of the Kekewich family.

The Herald’s Visitation of Cornwall gives us the Kekewich family tree for that period.

George Kekewich married Katherine/Catherine Courtney, descended from an aristocratic family. Her mother Margaret, daughter of Thomas Trethurfe, was one of the co-heirs of Edward Courtenay, Earl of Devon. Margaret married three times; first to John Boscowen, second to Edward Courtenay of Landrake and third to Richard Buller of Tregarrick.

George and Katherine Kekewich had several children but we’re interested in their first born daughter Katherine and their fourth son Edward. Edward Kekewich of Trehawke was baptised on the 17 Aug 1561 at Menheniot, he married Jane, the daughter of John Coode of Morval on 22 Nov 1603 at Morval. Edward was buried at Menheniot on 18 Dec 1621. Edward and Jane’s second son, Peter Kekewich, was born in 1605 and he was the man involved in litigation with the Neilder family.

National Archives document C9/47/58 Neilder v. Kekewich 1668 states that Nicholas Honey on behalf of his stepchildren, Oliver and Elizabeth Neilder, who were under 18 started the litigation. Honey stated that in 1657 Oliver Neilder was 83 years old (giving him a birthdate about 1574) and he was blind and decayed in memory. Honey alleged that Peter Kekewich and his brother-in-law Roger Porter were not related to Oliver Neilder and had conned the elderly man.

Peter Kekewich and Roger Porter (the husband of Peter’s sister, Elizabeth) responded that Oliver wasn’t quite so blind or so poor in memory, despite his age. They also pointed out that Oliver Neilder’s wife Elizabeth (Lanyne) was cousin germane to Peter Kekewich and Roger’s wife. (National Archives C10/178/69 & C8/352/249)

A cousin germane is a first cousin so Elizabeth Neilder (Lanyne) must have been the daughter of one of Edward Kekewich’s sisters. Edward had five sisters: Katherine, Grace, Anne, Mary and Margaret. We know that Anne married Oliver Clobery of Bradston, Devon and Mary married John Crewse so we can discount them.

That leaves Katherine, Grace and Margaret as possible mothers. George Kekewich’s will of 1581 is in the National Archives (PROB 11/64/488) and it shows that his eldest daughter Katherine/Catherine had married a Lanyon.

His will states that his daughter “Cate Lanyan have the sixe pounds thirtene shillings Fower pence given her by her grandmother Buller and three poundes sixe shillings eighte pence for to make the whole somme Tenne poundes.”

So ‘Cate’ had married a Lanyon, but which one?

Richard Carew’s ‘Survey of Cornwall’ states:

“Diverse other Gentlemen there dwell in this Hundred: as Lanyne the husband of Kekewich his father married Militon and beneath s. a castle a. standing in waves b. over the same a falcon hovering with bells o.”

We know that John Lanyon (the son of Richard Lanyon Esq) married Phelype Militon on 18 Jan 1562 at Breage. Their eldest son Francis married Alice Trewren in 1584. John & Phelype’s second son William married Jane at Sancreed in 1592. There is one other son, John who is described as the son of John Lanyon esq. and he was buried at Madron in 1587, he appears to be a child but his age isn’t given. Phelype Militon was buried 29 Dec 1578 at Breage.

So which ‘son’ of John Lanyon married Cate Kekewich?

John and Phelype’s son Francis was born at the earliest in 1563 and he married Alice Trewren in 1584. He was still married to her at the time of his death in about 1593. Cate Lanyon was named in her father’s will which was dated 1581 so whilst it was just about possible for Francis to have married her when he was aged 17 or 18 years old she would have to have died before 1584, when he married Alice. There is no evidence that Cate Lanyon was buried at this time. Francis did have an illegitimate daughter called Elizabeth who was baptised in 1587 however I think it highly unlikely that Cate Kekewich would have had an illegitimate daughter who was later described as a cousin germane by her nephews. I think we can safely disregard Francis as a possible husband to Cate and father to Elizabeth Neilder.

That leaves his second son William Lanyon as a possible candidate. We don’t know when William was born but it must have been 1564 at the earliest and it could have been a few years later. The oldest he could have been was just 17 and that’s if Cate married the same year as the will was written. If she was married a year or two before that William would have been only 15 or 16. We don’t know when Cate was born but she was the eldest daughter of George Kekewich and Katherine Courtenay. Their date of marriage is suggested as 1555 at Landrake, in Cornwall. We know that their eldest son and heir was baptised on 14 Aug 1556, it seems likely that Cate was born soon after. Her mother Katherine Courtenay died in 1571 so all nine children must have been born before that date. This makes Cate several years older than William Lanyon.

William Lanyon did marry a woman called Jane at Sancreed in 1592 and they had six children. He died in 1624 and his will survives and names his children. He had two daughters, both called Elizabeth! The eldest was born in 1593 after his marriage to Jane so Cate couldn’t be her mother. The youngest was born in 1607 and would be too young to marry Oliver Neilder in 1615.

George Kekewich was an MP for Saltash and Sheriff of Cornwall, Katherine Courtenay was descended from an aristocratic family, would they have married their eldest daughter to a teenage second son?

It seems much more likely that Cate Kekewich married the recently widowed John Lanyon, the eldest son and heir to Richard Lanyon Esq and the head of the Lanyon family.

Whilst there is no record of a marriage for John Lanyon and Cate Kekewich there is a record which may help prove the relationship. In 1589 Richard Lanyon Esq and his eldest son John sold Tregemynion in Morvah to Richard’s fourth son William. The agreement is signed by Richard, John and Katherine his wife. (Hendersons MSS Vol XII p.83)

So it appears as though sometime after 29 Dec 1578, when Phelype Militon died, and before 1581 when George Kekewich’s will was written, that John Lanyon married for a second time to a woman named Katherine.

Breage parish register also has an interesting entry for a burial. On 29 Oct 1592 there is the following entry ‘uxor Johis Lanyon armiger’. Sadly the page is damaged so the wife’s name is not legible but John Lanyon, who has the right to bear arms, buried his wife. There is only one John Lanyon who has the right to bear arms at this time.

There are no records of any children of this marriage being baptised or buried. However looking at the wills of Cate’s brothers gives us some more clues. George Kekewich the younger’s will was written 22 Jun 1607 and proved 20 May 1612. It states:

“I give the blynde Lanian, my kinsman xx s a year towards his mayntenance untill my heire accomplish the age of xxj years.”

So Cate’s brother had a ‘kinsman’ called Lanian who was blind.

Cate’s brother Francis also left a will which was written 20 May 1633 which states:

“I give George Lanion twenty shillings a year during my lease of Manoby with the proviso that he wander not the country as a beggar contrary to God’s and Man’s laws. Hoping the rest of his friends will make up the rest that must be paid for his board.” (National Archives PROB 11/164/299)

So it appears as though Cate Lanyon had a son called George who was blind. He’s not mentioned in any Lanyon wills however most of the 16th century Cornish wills were destroyed during World War II bombing.

There is no record of a baptism, marriage or death of George Lanyon and we wouldn’t know anything about him but for these wills. None of the wills mentions Elizabeth Lanyne or Oliver Neilder.

Whilst none of this is actual proof that Elizabeth Neilder was the daughter of Katherine Kekewich and John Lanyon Esq it’s probably as close as we’ll come.

We know what happened to Elizabeth, she died an old woman in Menheniot. Perhaps ‘Blynde George’ lived out his life with her?