Leonard Laity dies 1747

[gatp63]

Hi,

I am trying to identify the ancestry of Leonard Laity of St Hilary.

He is the father of John. I descend from his daughter Elizabeth and  her second husband Phillip Rogers.

Leonard marries Elizabeth Trythal in 1744 and dies in 1757 all in St Hilary.

There appear to be a few possible fathers having children in St Hilary about the right time. 

John and Mary nee Bennetts marry in 1711 and have children up to about 1728.
John of Perranuthnoe and Mary nee Slade  marry in 1722 and have children up to about 1739.
William and Jane nee King marry in 1728 and have children up to 1748.

If Leonard is the first child of John of Perranuthnoe he is still barely 20 when married and were William the father Leonard would be a teenage husband. So if Leonard is a son of St Hilary he is likely to have been sired by the elder John.

Leonard is name that doesn't seem to feature in any Laity family in Cornwall between 1600 and 1800.

Leonard and Elizabeth have two children before his untimely death, John in 1747 and Elizabeth in 1745. Why is the first born boy not given his parents name as is his sister? 

There is a John born of the elder of the two John's referred to above however he is accounted for as the husband of Grace Polkinghorne. So there needs to be another son born around 1711-1720 to fit but how do I find him?

Any ideas? John of St Hilary dies in 1744 the year of Leonard's marriage as does another John in 1713, a possible grandfather. They both leave wills and I will be ordering copies so this may reveal all.

Glad of any advice.

Glenn

[Cornish Terrier]

Well Glenn - it has been a 'fun' chase and the results are far from conclusive but I have at least been able to come up with a possible solution for you.

No guarantees on this but this is the best and most logical solution I have been able to find after searching FamilySearch, the OPC site and my own copies of the PRs.

And I must admit that it was only a 'last minute' thought as I was about to give up that led me to this!

There are two things to consider:-
1. As you have already stated Leonard is not a Laity name.
2. After a lot of searching a baptism can not be found and there appears to be no obviously logical family for him to belong to.

These points combined lead to the probability that Leonard was an illegitimate child. But even so there is no baptism anywhere that I can find for a Leonard Laity or for a Leonard where the reputed father is a Laity. In fact I don't think I found an illegitimate Leonard anywhere ............................... UNTIL I stumbled across the following:-

St Martin in Meneage Parish Register - Baptisms, Marriages, Burials 1697-1812

Leonard the son of Kezia was baptized the 12th Day of August 1716 - No surname was entered in the register!

St Martin in Meneage is some distance from the St Hilary area but even back then people did move about more than you might think.
Whoever Kezia was she may have been employed as a servant or there may have been a family connection to St Martin - perhaps relatives of her mother for example.

Despite the lack of a recorded surname with the above baptism there is no other Leonard that I have been able to find who might be considered. And a birth/baptism in 1716 would make him around 28 when he married in 1744 which is more than acceptable!

Now - that on its own does not give us much at all. But this next little item certainly gives us some hope!

Perranuthnoe Parish Register - Baptisms, Marriages, Burials 1726-1804

Thomas Cooke and Keziah Laity were married June ye 13th 1733


I don't blame you if you are wondering why the heck I have added this to the mix but I think it might tell part of the story.

Kezia is not exactly a prolific name and in fact FamilySearch has just four baptisms for this name between 1680 and 1720 and even the OPC site has just five to 1730. (Unfortunately none of them are Keziah Laity )

It is most interesting that I have not been able to find any children from this marriage. That may suggest that Thomas and Kezia might have been 'getting on' a bit.

Perranuthnoe Parish Register - Baptisms, Marriages, Burials 1726-1804

Kezia Cook was buried December 28th 1759

So we now have an illegitimate child named Leonard whose mother is named Kezia. She may or may not have been Kezia Laity but ..............
We then have a possible late marriage for Keziah Laity to Thomas Cooke in 1733 and then Kezia Cook is buried in 1759. (Thomas Cooke possibly buried St Michael's Mount 22nd July 1768)

Placed in a time-line this actually looks quite good for your Leonard and I think it certainly worth considering.

This does not answer the question of why Leonard and Elizabeth named their son John but perhaps that was the name of an uncle who, if Leonard was indeed illegitimate, looked after Leonard and his mother until she married.
It may also have been the name of Elizabeth Trythall's father although at the moment I have her as the daughter of Edward Trythall.

The one remaining query is that name ....................... LEONARD!

This now is based on the reasonable assumption that your Leonard Laity was the illegitimate son of Kezia. For the sake of the excercise here is the baptism again:-

St Martin in Meneage Parish Register - Baptisms, Marriages, Burials 1697-1812

Leonard the son of Kezia was baptized the 12th Day of August 1716 - No surname was entered in the register!

1. Why did Kezia baptise her son so far away at St Martin in Meneage?
2. Why was no surname recorded? <====

The logical answer to these questions is that there was a 'hush-up' involved. And that infers that this was not just your run-of-the-mill illegitimate birth but rather that there may have been someone of prominence involved!

Enter the MILLET family! And perhaps this might have had something to do with it:-

St Hilary Parish Register - Baptisms, Marriages, Burials 1677-1745

Marriages - 1716

Leonard Millet and Mrs Jane Millet June 23rd

I should think an illegitimate child dumped on the doorstep just two months after the wedding might have been a little awkward! ;D

CT

[gatp63]

Dear CT,

I can see why you have been styled 'terrier'. Impressed doesn't even come close to describe how I view the tenaciousness with which you have grappled with this one.

I think you have got this spot on and I am pleased that I can at least add something to this thorough and speedy piece of research.

So, Leonard is the illegitimate daughter of Kezia born around 1716. I think I know who Kezia is.

Kezia is Kezya Laity born 1680 In Perranuthnoe to Henry Laity and Margaret Batton. And Kezya should have known better! 5 years earlier her younger sister Grace also had an illegitimate child!

So, Kezya is around 35yo when she gets pregnant outside of marriage and about 18 years on, at 53yo she finally gets married to a Thomas Cook and dies in 1759 at the ripe old age of 79.

Is Leonard Millet the father? I think a good guess. If he wasn't, choosing the name Leonard, not familiar to the Laity's would have been a cruel joke. Especially if Kezya and the boy are in St Hilary at the time. We do know they are their by 1744 because that is where Leonard marries. But Kezya marries in her home town of Perranuthnoe. However her brother John is in St Hilary by the 1720's because that is where he marries his wife Mary Slade so the parish is clearly known to the family in the early 1700's.

You have Leonard's wife as Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Trythal and I wondered why you had her as this Elizabeth and not the Elizabeth born about the same time to Robert Trythal of Gulval? I have been keen to determine which of these two Elizabeth's I am descended from. Can you help?

Thank you very, very, very much for this.

Glenn

[Cornish Terrier]

Hi Glenn - your input here pleases me no end!

Based on the information I have been able to find I do believe that I have arrived at the most likely solution. Some conclusive evidence would be handy and maybe there will be something in one of those Wills.

As soon as I considered the possibility that Leonard may have been illegitimate and even before finding that baptism the first name that came to mind as the possible father was Leonard Millett.
And once I realised that Leonard Millett was married just a couple of months before young Leonard was baptised at St Martin in Meneage without a surname it became very interesting. Especially knowing that Leonard Laity was back at St Hilary a little later.

But I did not find Kezya Laity's baptism so I will need to berate myself soundly!

BTW - Leonard Millett was much more an obvious choice rather than a guess.

I don't know how good your geography of Cornwall is but Perranuthnoe is on the South Coast and to the East it has a border with Breage. But to the West and North it is almost surrounded by St Hilary so the Laity and Millett families may well have almost been neighbours!

Why do I have Elizabeth Trythall as daughter of Edward? Simple really - at the time of her marriage to Leonard Laity the Parish Register records that Elizabeth Trythall was 'of St Earth' and Elizabeth daughter of Edward Trythall was baptised at St Erth 8th September 1717.

Now that I have so many more records available to me I should re-check everything just to be certain. But at the time that information was entered into my database I did have transcripts for St Erth and did not find any burial record for Elizabeth. Elizabeth was the third of seven children baptised at St Erth and her younger brother Edward was buried there in 1780 so I don't think there will be any need for changes. But St Hilary and St Erth also share a border so proximity is involved as well.

So, further evidence still required - if it can be found!
It would be nice to find something in writing that positively links the data together to prove my conclusions. Perhaps a Will might be the best we can hope for so I would certainly pursue that option.

Whatever else you are able to find please let me know.

Oh yes - 'Cornish Terrier'. You are pretty much spot on with the reasons for that moniker and I received it in the Cornwall Record Office back in 1994. I met a cousin there for the first time and she decided I was like a cornish terrier because once I got my teeth stuck into a problem I was reluctant to let go until I had found a solution! ;D

CT

[gatp63]

Thanks CT,

I agree Elizabeth Trythal of St Erth is my Elizabeth. The only concern I have is 3 burials for Elizabeths in St Erth 1746, 49 and 59. However these could be explained thus. '46 and '49 are my Elizabeth's mother and infant niece. '59 is wife of her brother John, who marries yet another Elizabeth the following year in 1760. But I have no idea who Edward Trythal married so do not know the mother's name.

I suggested that John Laity of Perranuthnoe married in St Hilary in 1722 was Kezya's brother. He is not. While his parents are Henry and Margaret they are a much younger couple than the Henry and Margaret

[gatp63]

Sorry - post sent in error before I had finished it.

I don't think Kezya and John are directly related but could well be second or third cousins or some such.

I have found Perranuthnoe a very difficult Parish to find information on on-line. Is that fair?

Thank you very much for your help.

Regards,

Glenn

[Cornish Terrier]

Glenn - I am also unable to find a marriage for Edward Trythall but there are a number of burials at St Erth that could be his wife. Unfortunately only names were recorded on the most part so with minimum three burials for Edward (I think probably five!) and several for Elizabeth as well as other names it will be difficult to be sure.

Even possible parents is a bit of a lottery with some uncertainty due to the possibility of either missing records or records not yet transcribed.

However, it does seem that there is really only one possibility at the moment but even that raises questions.

First of all there are only two male Trythall (sic.) marriages from 1660-1692 showing up in a search of FamilySearch.
I find that a little strange although it is possible I suppose that there were no others.

Richard Trithall married Grace Nicholls 25th June 1681 at Gulval
Samson Trithall married Katherin Cock 12th November 1687 at Gulval

And there is only one baptism for an Edward between 1660 and 1695:-

Edward son of Richard Trithiall baptised 19th February 1681 Gulval

There was a Grace Trithall buried at Ludgvan in 1731 which 'could' be the wife of Richard. Ludgvan is bordered to the West by Gulval and to the East by St Erth so that could be useful information.

But the main problem here is that neither Richard nor Grace were names that featured amongst the children of Edward Trythall at St Erth.

I think the Trythals will be a project for another day!

Perranuthnoe information - there is actually more there than what you might think.

Log into FamilySearch at - www.familysearch.org/


Under 'Browse by Location' click on 'British Isles' and then scroll down until you find:-

England, Cornwall Parish Registers, 1538-2010 .............. Browse Images

Click on this link and then on the next screen click on 'Browse through 202,481 images' and then 'Cornwall' after which you will be presented with a list of Parishes.

Go down to 'Perranuthnoe' and ................................ HAVE FUN!

You will find links for 13 folders of images with the titles of each link being self-explanatory.
Coverage is from 1562 with Baptisms to 1883, Burials to 1906 and Marriages to 1907.

CT