James here was brother of Benjamin in my last post. There is a surprising scarcity of parish records for Gt.
Hormead in this period. As James and
Elizabeth did not own land I therefore know very little about them.
James Ginn was a Labourer and married Elizabeth Howe. The couple married in August 1789, but in January 1790 there was
something of a scandal. A young girl in
Gt. Hormead called Ann Lawrence, reported to the magistrates that her
illegitimate baby was the child of James.
This child was baptised Mary.
James was hauled before the magistrates with a view to a maintenance
order being made (to relieve the burden on the parish). I cannot trace such an order but if made it
would have not helped James’s limited finances. Nothing of Mary is known.
I noticed in the Land Tax that James was the tenant of a man
called Francis Andrews in 1790. I then
ploughed through the mountain of notes that Christine Jackson deposited at the
HRO on the history of Hormead houses. The
cottage in question had the less than romantic name of “Pest House Lane
Cottage”. It was a small thatched
cottage, apparently built in the 1600s.
It stood at Church End in Gt. Hormead on the corner of Horseshoe Lane, not
far from the "Three Horseshoes” Alehouse which had been held by James' dad. It was pulled down in 1895 and Mrs Jackson
notes that Fred Ginn (died 1987), the last descendant of James to live in Gt.
Hormead, could remember seeing part of the brickwork on the ground, when he was
a boy. Fred had not known that his
ancestor had lived there. After the
cottage was pulled down the grounds were incorporated into "Church End
Cottage”, which I understand still stands.
Horseshoe Lane is the image on the bottom left
I regret that I have no information on Elizabeth Howe. She stated that she was "of Gt.
Hormead" when she married, but was clearly not born there.
The couple lived in Pest House Lane Cottage all their
married lives. Elizabeth died in 1819, stated to be about 60
years of age. James died in 1825, aged
63.
James and Elizabeth had four children:
Jane - Jane married Thomas Parker at
Braughing. Her cousin of Royston married his cousin.
William - William Ginn "of Gt. Hormead" married Elizabeth
Drage at Furneux Pelham in 1812
William was an Agricultural Labourer. In the 1851 Census the couple were living at
Hobbs Farm at Braughing, doubtless in a small cottage there.
Ironically, a John Ginn and his wife were William's
neighbours at Hobbs Farm in the 1851 census. I smiled when I saw this. The couple were very distant cousins and
certainly did not know it - their respective branches of the family had
separated 300 years before!
As far as I am aware William
and Elizabeth did not have any children.
In the 1871 census, William’s age was understated by 4 years
and he was in Layston Union Workhouse at Buntingford.
John - see later post
James - see later post
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