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The Green family

See photos of places associated with the Greens and Greswells

Records of the Green family

Records of Greens connected with Kea begin with a John Green living at Kea who was baptized there on June 13, 1621. His father was also John Green.
A John Green was buried at Feock on January 22, 1686.
John Green from Kea (there is no baptismal record for him) married Thamson Lampen in Kenwyn parish (Kea?) on February 27, 1685.
        She had been baptized as Thamsyn Lampen at Kea on April 14, 1659
Hugh Green, the son of John Green, was baptized at Kea on August 4, 1695.
Hugh Green married Elisabeth La(m)pen(n) on April 28, 1728 (Elizabeth Lampenn, daughter of Edward, was baptized at Kea on April 28, 1702)
One Hugh Green was buried at Kea in May 1737, another on March 18, 1767.
Edward Green, the son of Hugh Green, was baptized at Kea on March 29, 1729.
Edward Green married Mary Eddy of Feock on April 15, 1754, at Kea.
In 1755 a first son Edward was baptized on March 25 and buried April 12.
On May 6, 1759, another son, Hugh, was baptized at Kea.
A second son named Edward, born in Kea, was baptized in Kenwyn parish on May 24, 1768.

My great-great-great-grandparents Edward Green and Ann Dunstan, both residing at Kea, were married in Kenwyn parish on January 25 1800.
     Ann Dunstan was baptized on December 25, 1781, at Feock, her parents being Nicholas and Dorcas.
Their son John Green was baptized in Kea on May 18 1800, which is only possible if Ann was already pregnant at her wedding, of course, but there is no other match in the records and John Green was 40 in the 1841 census.
Another son, Hugh Green was baptized on May 4, 1806 and was buried in Feock on April 24, 1853.
Edward Green was buried at Kea on December 8, 1854.

John Green and Mary Lewarne my great-great-grandparents were married in Feock on July 29 1826.
     Mary was born on October 5, 1799, the daughter of Sampson and Susannah Lewarn(e), but  she was only baptized (in Feock) on August 7, 1821, together with 4 or 5 other siblings, James (born May 9, 1802), Thomas (November 30, 1806), William Sampson (30 October, 1817), and Susannah (May 9, 1802) (and John born 1802, the record is damaged). A first son, William Lewarne, had been baptized 6 October 1794 at Feock. The baptismal records from 1821 names their father as 'John' but in actual fact, the father's name was Sampson.
         Sampson Lewarne was baptized at Mawgan in Pydar on August 6, 1759, the son of Sampson Lewarne (who was perhaps the Sampson Lewarn baptized at Helston on November 5, 1717, the son of John Lewarn). Sampson Lewarn (senior)  married  Margaret Robarts at Mawgan in Pydar on December 31, 1752. Sampson Lewarne (junior) and Susanna Rouse were married at Feock on May 12, 1794. Susanna had been baptized there on February 16, 1772. At the 1841 Census, Sampson (78) and Susana (68) Lewarne were living in Feock Townsend, in the home of Susana's brother John Rouse (66) farmer. Sampson (not 'Samuel' as transcribed) was buried in Feock on September 18, 1843. Susanna was buried in Feock on July 8, 1847. [For more about the Lewarne family click here]

In the 1841 Census, we find the following family living in Feock, seemingly the first Greens to live there:

John Green (40) Porter, my great-great-grandfather
Mary (40)
Susan (14) She was the first Green ever to be baptized in Feock. Born August 15, 1827, she was baptized December 25 1827.
John (12) my great-grandfather
Edward (10) (the West Briton dated 20 July 1855, Friday, reported the death in "California, on the 11th of May last, of fever," of Edward, "second son of Mr. John Green, of Feock, in this county, aged 24 years." ) Edward Green (who died in California) was baptized in Feock on December 25 1831
Mary (7)
James (5) James Lewarn Green was baptized in Feock on May 22 1836  James Green was buried at Feock on April 8, 1842, aged 6.
Elizabeth (2)

No registers seem to survive for 1829 so there is no record of the baptism of John Green (later of the New Inn).

By the 1851 Census John Green the father is now a "coal porter" and one more child has been born, Belinda (6). The son John, now 21, is still at home, working as an Agricultural Labourer.  John Green senior was buried in Feock on November 26 1868. Mary Green was buried at Feock on June 13, 1878.

My great-grandfather John Green (1839 - 1906)
 

The Hichins (Hitchens) family lived behind Treslissick House, just up the road from Feock. John Green junior and Mary Jane Hitchins were married in Feock on December 21, 1858, when he was 28 and she was 26. Her father, James Hitchens, was a 'boatman.' At the following Census in 1861 Mary was living alone In Feock, working as a "Seamstress." The death of John's brother in California in 1855 may be linked to this absence, for it seems that John also went to search for gold, perhaps together with his brother before his marriage and certainly just after, perhaps in South America. Be that as it may, by the 1871 Census, John, now 41, is back with his wife and working as an Innkeeper. He had brought back enough gold to pay for a license! Next door to them is living the widowed Mary Green (71), John's mother. They have had several children: Edward (5), Henrietta (4), Rosemund (1) and John (1 month old).

By the 1881 Census, when John is now 52, James (5) and Mabel (3) had been born. The New Inn is here named as their residence. In the 1891 Census John Green (62), identified as “Licensed Victualler, Employer,” is living at the New Inn with his wife, Mary J. Green (58) and their children: Rosamund Green (21, Dressmaker), John Green (20, General Labourer), James Green (17, Servant Domestic), Mabel J Green (14). It was James who was to be my mother’s father.  The amazing thing about this family is the advanced age at which the parents began to have children. The eldest, Edward, was born in 1865 when his mother was 33, his father 35 or more. The youngest, Mabel, was born when her mother was 44 !

Mary Jane Green was buried in Feock on February 13, 1903 aged 70. John Green was buried in Feock on May 8, 1906.

The children of John and Mary Jane Green

Edward Green was baptized in Feock on June 4 1865.
     In September 1900, Edward married Mary Annie (Anna) Ellis in St Mary's Wesleyan Chapel, Truro, and at the 1901 Census they were living in Feock with William Ellis (70), Mary Annie's father. Mary A. was only 28. Both Edward and his father-in-law are listed as "Fisherman." By 1911 Edward and his wife have moved to The New Inn, he is listed as "Publican" (his father having died in 1906) and they have Edward's fragile sister Mabel Jane Green (25) living with them.
     Mary Annie's grandparents were Robert and Peggy Stephens. In the 1841 Census they had 8 children, Jane was 9. On August 3, 1854, William Pyman Ellis (born in West Mersey Essex) married Jane Stephens in Feock. The bride's father is listed as Robert Stephens, publican, the groom as a mariner whose father William was a coastguard. Mary Annie Stephens, the next to the youngest of 5 children, was baptized at Feock on February 9, 1873. William P. Ellis was was absent at the 1891 Census. Jane Ellis was buried at Feock on March 21 1894. William Pyman Ellis was buried at St Stephens by Saltash on January 18, 1916 aged 85 living at Waterloo Rd. Saltash.

An online resource  reports: “The other inn (as opposed to one on Pill Creek), now a private dwelling known as Greenbank, was located in the upper part of the village at Lane End, La Feock. Its name was The Red, White and Blue and was known locally as “The RWB”. Later it was renamed The New Inn. The railway men from Devoran used to come by boat to Yard Beach between Penpol and Harcourt and then walk across the fields to reach it. In the 1871 census the innkeeper is given as John Green, aged forty‑one, with wife Mary and five children, including a five year old son, Edward. According to the local Kelly’s Directory, by 1910 Edward had become the innkeeper and by 1919 he was the owner of both The Punchbowl and Ladle in Penelewey and The New Inn, both on part‑time licenses. He proposed to the authorities that he relinquish the license for The New Inn in return for a full-time license for The Punchbowl and Ladle. On the 5th March 1919 the Royal Cornwall Gazette announced the granting of a full‑time licence to The Punchbowl and Ladle, and The New Inn then closed. There was a small shop there after this time but the premises never again became an inn. The great grandson of John Green, Mr Jim Green, lives locally at Porth Kea.”

I have been told that after he moved to Killiow, my grandfather used to ride all the way to the Punchbowl for a drink, then let the horse take him home while he dozed off in the saddle. There was a tragic end to this part of the story because, some time after retiring from the Punchbowl, Edward Green killed himself on January 28, 1932, going out in a boat at Loe Beach and shooting himself with a revolver (according to the death certificate). The family was shocked and (typically) "ashamed," so only spoke of the incident in hushed tones. There seemed to be no apparent motive. "Whilst of unsound mind" was used in the death certificate as the usual way of saying that there was no knowing why. He was buried at Feock on January 30, 1932. His widow, Mary Annie ('Anna' on the gravestone) Green died in Redruth on October 26, 1955 in the geriatric hospital at Barncoose, Redruth, and was buried with Edward in Feock churchyard.

Henrietta Green (Hettie) was baptized on February 10, 1867 and married William Henry Hodge in Feock on August 18, 1892. He died, aged 62, in 1931. Widowed, she went on running their jewelry store at the bottom of Lemon Street in Truro, next to Lloyds Bank, into my childhood. She lived up the hill in the direction of Kenwyn Church. She died in 1958, aged 91. Their only child, seen in the photo, Edgar Cecil Hodge, was born in March 1894. He married  Mary M. Bennett in June 1929 and died in Truro in June 1962. I do not recall ever hearing of him or meeting him.

Rosamond Green was baptized at Feock on 18 July 1869.  She married a Danish seaman, Peter Andersen Jacobsen, on July 8, 1906, (she was 37 he 39), in Feock. He died in Falmouth aged 82 in 1949. Their only child, a daughter, Betty Christina, my mother's "Cousin Betty," was born in 1907, married James Edey in 1945. They lived on Castle Drive in Falmouth, overlooking the sea. Aunt Rose died, also aged 82, also in Falmouth, in 1952. 

John Green was baptized on May 19, 1871, and married Amelia Jane Tucker in December 1906. He died in December 1963. In my childhood, when an outing to Loe Beach was a treat, we met "Uncle John" more than once but I never spent any time with him.

James Green was baptized on May 8 1874, he was my maternal grandfather (see below).

Mabel Jane Green was baptized on January 21 1877, and was buried at Feock on March 25 1919, having died in the 'asylum' in Bodmin. She was born with Down syndrome. There is a report that a boat was named after her

My grandfather James Green

Born in 1874, my maternal grandfather James Green worked in the garden at Porthgwidden House, Feock, for Canon Phillpotts for 5 years before working at Trelissick for 2 years. then the head gardener at Trelissick recommended him and he was able to spend 2 years as a "subforeman" (gardener) in Kew Gardens 1893-5. He then came back to Trelissick to work as “Gardener Domestic.“ On August 6, 1907, the marriage of my grandparents, Louisa Greswell and James Green, was celebrated at Cookham, Berkshire, the home of the bride, presumably after meeting (being formally introduced by their employers?) in Trelissick during one of the summer visits by the Davies-Gilbert family.

When Carew Davies-Gilbert died in 1913, the Trelissick estate was sold and that might have been the moment when James Green moved to another estate, that of Killiow House beside Kea Church, the home of “Squire” Daubuz and Miss Daubus his sister. On August 24, 1914, Honor May Green was born, and in March 1918 Edward’s birth was registered. He developed type 1 diabetes and died in 1925. He is buried in Kea churchyard, a few yards from the ashes of my parents (who were married in Kea church).

John Greswell Green  (March 27, 1909 - July 12, 2009) married Enid Glanville in 1931, they had 3 children, my cousins Barbara (born 1931), Godfrey (1933 - December 29, 2001) and Margaret (born March 19, 1945).

Honor (August 14, 1914 - Febuary 17, 1996) married Claude William Lamble (May 22, 1914 – December 16, 1986) late in 1941, while he was serving in the armed forces. They had 2 children: Diana (September 25, 1943 - January 22, 2008) and John (born August 5, 1945).

My mother, Nan, received a scholarship to attend the County School in Truro, walking there and back every day from Kea. She then became a telephone operator. Honor did not receive a scholarship so could not study there, the family being too poor after the illness and death of Edward. Much later, perhaps when Killiow was declining, James Green moved back to Feock to be a gardener at Porthgwidden, on the road from Feock to Restronguet Creek. In 1935 this rather beautiful property passed to Mr and Mrs K. Holman, who only sold it in 1956. While he was working there (essentially during the war and for a few years after) James Green and his wife had the use of an estate house half-way down the hill leading to Loe Beach. The bus to Truro left from just beside the wall of the stable-yard behind the main house, where there was a greenhouse. As we were leaving to catch the bus back to Truro my grandfather either emerged or, at least once, tossed a carnation over the wall for me.


From left to right: Me, Mum, Gran, Grandad, John Lamble, Honor, Diana, Bill Lamble. (August 1946)

From there he retired to a small miner’s house at Mount Ambrose, Redruth, impressed by the size of the garden behind it. He had bought it with his life’s savings, for some 2-3 hundred pounds. Then he discovered that the soil was poisoned by the tin mining and nothing would grow there. He took to his bed and died in 1950. His widow my grandmother lived on, stone deaf and lonely, for another 10 years, dying of old age at Tehidy late in 1960..