Richard Lanyon Esq and Margaret Treskillard had two sons both called John!
Both sons are listed in J.L.Vivians 1887 edition of:
‘The Visitation of Cornwall: Comprising the Herald’s Visitations of 1530, 1573 and 1620’ by The College of Arms.
Initially this looks like it must be a mistake but Jane Veale Mitchell (an early 20th century Lanyon family history researcher) writes to Dr Bullmore on 10th Sep 1926.
‘I took up these two Johns with the Herald, Coll/Arms and he distinctly states that there were two Johns, sons of Richard and M. Treskillard. John the elder married Mylliton/1563.’
Perhaps when the second son was born the first was ill and not expected to live so the parents hurriedly named their new son John in order to perpetuate the family name and then the first son survived! (the elder John had a son William who also had two daughters both called Elizabeth who were both living at the same time!)
John was probably born late 1530s early 1540s. He married Phelype Myliton on 18th Jan 1562 at Breage, Cornwall. Their marriage is one of the first recorded in the Breage Parish Register.
John the elder (later he was John Lanyon Esq)
Phelype (Philippa) was one of six daughters of Sir William Myliton and Honor Godolphin of Pengersick Castle at Breage. In 1561 the two families agreed a marriage settlement:
William Myliton of Pengersick, William Lanyon of Gwinear and Richard Lanyon of Morvah his son and heir. Upon marriage of John, son of Richard Lanyon and Phelype daughter of William Myliton. Covenant to settle various manors with lands in Gwinear, Madron, Morvah, Buryan, Sennen, St Levan, Kenwyn, St Just, Paul, St Merryn, St Ervan, St Issey and Padstow to the use of Richard Lanyon for life then to John Lanyon and his issue. Source: Royal Institution of Cornwall – Rashleigh MSS.
Phelype Myliton had a number of sisters who were her co-heirs after the death of her only brother, William in 1571.
- Avice Myliton married Richard Erisye and Sir Nicholas Parker
- Grace Myliton married Nicholas Trefusis and Nicholas Tregodeck
- Elizabeth Myliton married Thomas Trenwith, Robert Arundell and Thomas Hearle.
- Eleanor Myliton married John Bonython (21st Jun 1562)
- Anne Myliton married William Abbott (23rd Nov 1563)
- Mary Myliton married William Penhellick
- Margaret Myliton buried 9th Apr 1570
Source – Letter Rose B Tolman to WSL 15 Aug 1971.
John and Phelype’s first son and heir was Francis Lanyon he was followed by William. There may have been other children from this marriage but no records have been found.
In 1569 John Lanyon junior gent took action against John Olliver, Thomas Jarinan, Henry Arthur & William Carno over property in Treveglos in the parish of St Merryn.
Source: Kings Bench Plea Rolls – KB27/1229
In 1571 Honour Myliton (John’s mother-in-law) and John Lanyon lease to Gabriel Robyns land in Treworran Wollas in Breage.
Source: Royal Institution of Cornwall – HD/11/52
On 29th Dec 1578 Phelype Lanyon died at Madron. Plague had affected the area for several months that year and Madron’s parish register shows a big increase in the number of burials of many local residents. Perhaps Phelype also succumbed?
Sometime after December 1578 and before July 1581 John Lanyon married for a second time to Katherine/Catherine Kekewich, daughter of George Kekewich Esq, MP and Catherine Courtenay. There is no record of the marriage but we know that Katherine married John Lanyon from other records.
George Kekewich’s will written in July 1581 states “To my daughter Cate Lanyon the £6.13.4 given her by her grandmother Buller & £3.6.8 more”.
Katherine is also mentioned in a property transfer.
In 1589 Richard Lanyon Esq, John Lanyon and Katherine his wife transferred to William Lanyon of Gwinear (John’s younger brother) the Manor of Tregamynion. William paid £100 for the estate.
Source: Royal Institution of Cornwall 19 Jan 1589 HJ/3/12. Cornwall Feet of Fines 31 Elizabeth.
Katherine and John had a son called George. There is no trace of George’s baptism or burial but we know he existed from Kekewich family wills.
“I give the blynde Lanian, my kinsman xxs a year towards his mayntenance untill my heire accomplish the age of xxi years.”
Source: The will of George Kekewich, Katherine’s brother, was written 22 June 1607 and proved 20 May 1612. The National Archives; Kew, Surrey, England; Records of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, Series PROB 11; Class: PROB 11; Piece: 119
“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.”
Source: The will of Francis Kekewich, Katherine’s brother, who died in 1633. The National Archives; Kew, Surrey, England; Records of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, Series PROB 11; Class: PROB 11; Piece: 164
There is no mention of George in any Lanyon will yet he appears to have been alive from the 1580s to the 1630s. How did he survive after his mother’s death?
George’s mother Katherine died 29th Oct 1592 at Breage. The relevant page in Breage’s parish register has been damaged and it is not possible to read the whole entry to confirm her name!
“uxor Johis Lanyon armiger” – wife of John Lanyon Esquire
Sometime between 1592 and 1599 John Lanyon Esq married for a third time. We know this from the sale of the Manor of Treskillard and land at Illogan in 1599 which mentions his wife Margaret. There is no record of this marriage but early parish registers have damaged and missing pages.
John must have inherited this property from his mother Margaret Treskillard.
‘Final concord, Manor of Treskillard (Trescullard), Illogan and Camborne
Parties: 1) Alexander Thomas alias Pendervas, querent
2) John Lanyon, esquire and Margaret his wife and John Trewren, gentlemen, deforciants
Consideration: £60 sterling – Manor of Trescullard with appurtenances and six messuages, six gardens, sixty acres of land, sixty acres of pasture, one hundred and twenty acres of furze and heath and forty acres of moor, with appurtenances in Trescullard Veor, Truscullard Vean, Trewone, Polcarrowe, Newton, Carmothe, Logan and Camborne.
Dated at Westminster in the octave of St Michael in the forty first year of Queen Elizabeth after the Conquest.’
Source: Cornish Record Office PD/2/7
The death of John Lanyon Esq is not recorded, nor is there a will however we do have an administration for John Lanyon Esq dated 18 Mar 1605, St Merryn.
John Lanyon Esq of Merrine died June 1604/5, adm of his goods granted to his widow Margaret on 18 March 1605 (Julian calendar). This was “prayed” by Richard Vivian gent, Otes Merifeild, gent, William Marfield gent and Thomas Speare.
Household goods and items connected with a small farm, inc a harrow, a cornpike, two pigs, etc. Total £40 12/- 3d
Otes Merifeild (sic) was his brother in law. It seems a very small estate for a man who was once so wealthy. Could it have been the estate of a different John Lanyon? Could it have been his younger brother John? There was only one John Lanyon Esq, he did own lands at St Merryn and it seems unlikely that three gentlemen would have been involved with the estate of someone who was impersonating John Lanyon Esq. John Lanyon the younger would not have been entitled to call himself esquire.
If this is John Lanyon Esq son of Richard Lanyon and Margaret Treskillard what happened to his fortune? Perhaps he has already passed much of it onto his children and grandchildren? Perhaps he had lost it through legal disputes, so popular with the landed gentry at this time. I found one such dispute between a John Lanyon, his wife Margaret Trewynnard and others.
A John Lanyon and his wife Margaret Trewynnard were involved in a legal dispute with John Nance alias Trengove in 1600. In the late 16th century Martin Trewynnard mortgaged his manor for £500 to John Nance alias Trengove. He subsequently died and the mortgage was unpaid. John Nance took advantage of Trewynnards heir and pressured him into signing an unfair agreement. When Trewynnard’s heir died his four sisters became the legal heirs. The court ordered the four girls to repay John Nance £450. John Lanyon and his wife Margaret agreed to pay their quarter share by 1603 but they were unable to do so. Margaret’s brother-in-law Christopher Maynwareing agreed to take over their share on condition they paid him by 1604 which they failed to do. John died and by 1608 Margaret was ordered to pay the rest and damages of £10.
Is this the same John Lanyon Esq married to Margaret who died at St Merryn in 1605? It’s impossible to say for sure but John Lanyon Esq’s grandson Richard’s ante-nuptial settlement states:
“Richard Lanyon of Nancothan in Madron esquire, to Philippa Risdon of Buckland Brewer esquire (sic) and John Allyn of Little Torrington, gent. Conveyance in consideration of his late marriage with Jane his wife – of all the manor of Treveglos in St Merryn, the barton and demesnes of Nancothan in Madron, the manor of Lanyon etc. the life interest of Margaret Lanyon widow in Treveglos reserved. “
Which implies that it must have been his grandfather who lived at Treveglos in St Merryn.
The Lanyons 