Until 2010 it was thought that the future of this family
(and its involvement in the carpentry trade) was the result of William’s
marriage to Elizabeth Lawrence in 1731.
I knew that Elizabeth was the daughter of Randall Lawrence and Ann (nee Totman),
head of a family that moved between Great Hormead and Braughing and owner
occupier of a good sized cottage (Land Tax).
The Herts historian Lionel Munby told
me of the Lawrences, numerous in Braughing, and, says Lionel, the
"outstanding" family of Braughing carpenters. All the males were in the trade, men and boys.
However it was not the Lawrence’s who introduced the Ginns
of this family to carpentry, but rather Thomas Ginn, William’s uncle and
Freeman of the Company of Carpenters and Citizen of London, for Will here was
apprenticed to him in 1723, qualifying in 1730 though not taking up his
citizenship but returning to Braughing.
So Will was a carpenter.
We can be sure of the Lawrence influence however. Why, they even named a son after the family, a fact commented on by Lionel (who, of course mentions the Ginns in his study). William Ginn was also witness to Randall Lawrence's will ( 1749 -ERO) and his signature likely therefore upon it.
The Ginns of this family were likely reasonably prosperous, never mentioned in the Overseer’s book of the
mid 18th century (HRO) and William able to pay for the apprenticeship of his
youngest son
The implication of William the Gamekeeper’s will is that
William and Elizabeth
moved into the Braughing Street
cottage in or before 1762.
Elizabeth
died in 1774, I regret that I have not noted her age. It seems probable that William sold the
cottage, it certainly disappears from the Land Tax between 1767 and 1780. I have assumed that he sold up and moved in
with his son Thomas.
William lived a long life, just as his father had done: he
died in 1794, he was 85.
William and Elizabeth had six children
William - married a Mary Dellow in 1753. They had a daughter, Ann, in
1755. Ann may have died in the same year
(or this could be William's sister) but, in any event, the family had moved by
1758. William is never in the Militia
list, and there is no trace of them in Hertfordshire. I have assumed that he was a Carpenter.
John - Untraced for sure; not in the Militia. It is either this man or his second cousin who went to Farnham in Essex - see later post
Lawrence - quite an interesting chap to research
Lawrence
was a Carpenter. He married Martha
Gayler in 1763 when he was 25. They had a
daughter, Ann, in 1767 and in the summer of 1767 the trio applied for a
Certificate of Settlement, with the intention of moving to Bishop's
Stortford. (HRO)
However, he delayed the move; because, in late 1767 they had
a son William at
Braughing.
They had still not moved in 1771, because Martha died that
year, presumably in childbirth; she is buried in Braughing.
Lawrence
then made the move to Bishops Stortford. In 1777, he married
Ann Arrows, they had just the two children.
Unfortunately, Ann was no luckier than Martha: she died in 1781,
presumably in childbirth; she was stated to be 34.
I list the children below
Ann 1764
William 1767
- ----------------------
- ----------------------
Mary 1778
John 1780
Lawrence was not buried
at Bishop's Stortford. I am pretty
certain (there being no other known surviving Middlesex candidate) that he is the Lawrence Ginn (passing through ) who I found (quite by accident) being buried in St Andrew Enfield in
1799 "poor". He may have obtained work there. If so, he was 61.
Of these four children:
Ann married Richard Tharby at Albury in 1790 (established for definite in 2022)
William is untraced.
Lawrence’s
daughter Mary had an illegitimate child - William , who died in infancy. She is thereafter untraced.
John Ginn joined the Napoleonic War Army and died in South Africa - see my post of 3rd October 2012
Elizabeth - married William South in 1764
Thomas - see later post
Ann - probably died in her teens.
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