Harry Ginn of Cheshunt d. 1647

Son of Richard in the last post. I sadly know very little about Harry and his wife.  He obviously married before he arrived in Cheshunt.  He gets a seperate entry in this blog because of his likely connection to the "Theobalds Park" Ginn family and because, frankly, most researchers would not otherwise know who he was, the answer being far from obvious.

My view is that he had one or two sons before he arrived in Cheshunt (see my comments in the later post regarding the Ginn family of Theobalds Park)  and it seems very likely that he lived in Waltham Cross (two sons having an association with Waltham Abbey or Waltham Holy Cross church which was easier to walk to from there than Cheshunt) and was a Husbandman, possibly also with a trade.  In 1605 he inherited his uncle Jonas' house/shop in Standon in Hertfordshire and likely the profits from the sale of that did not do him any harm.  It does seem clear that he was passably prosperous, because at least two of his sons were not that badly off.

Harry arrived in Cheshunt in about 1599. Initially he was known as "Harry Gene" which is why one or two entries do not appear under the right name in the IGI. Henry stayed in Cheshunt the rest of his life, dying in the spring of 1647 when he was about 75.  As for his widow, (whose Christian name is unknown) she lived on. 

Almshouses were built in Turners Hill, Cheshunt in 1620: the result of money given to Cheshunt by James the 1st as compensation for lands taken to extend Theobalds Park (as to which see later). The ten "ancient" almshouses survive, as do some later additions and are shown below.

Henry's widow for some reason went to one and "Widow Gyn from almshouses" was buried in 1659, she must have been nearly 90.

Harry and his wife had a number of children:

Richard - no baptism at Cheshunt.  I have assumed he was the eldest son.  "Richard Ginne of Waltham Cross" was buried at Cheshunt in 1640.  Plague seems to have been rife there that year, but he is not marked as having died of that disease.There is no evidence of  a marriage. He would have been about 40.

Mary - married John Preston at Cheshunt in 1623

Jane - married Edward Lane at Cheshunt in 1633


Uriah - a Husbandman - see post of 10th November 2019

Henry - born in 1608 and married Sarah Cutts in 1628 and Mary circa 1645. By his first marriage he had Margaret (1629) who is untraced and Ann (1631) who died "a spinster daughter of Henry" in 1658 aged 27.  By his second marriage he had Mary (1646) who is untraced.  It is not clear when Henry died, presumably after 1658.  He was dead by 1666 as in that year the Great Plague that had hit London arrived in Cheshunt and in August there was a mass burial of 16 souls, including "widow Gynn ye plague"

Margery - died a maid aged 29