The couple still lived in that cottage in 1832 (when the
Land Tax ends) and Christine Jackson the local historian told me that she believed that they were
still there in 1841, but they had certainly gone by 1851.
In the 1851 Census the couple were noted as living in Horseshoe Lane,
which, while not Church End, is in fact very close by.
This is a difficult post to write because there is so much to say ! It is a bit of work in progress because I am sure that fascinating information remains to be discovered.
In about 1995, I received a letter from a guy descended from this couple who had gone to tremendous lengths (at a time when Essex records were not online and had to be dug out of the Record Office in person) to trace Ann Ricketts. He had checked every likely parish record over a vast area. He had found nothing.
One of the good things about running a One Name Study is that people give you snippets of information, often they mean nothing to anyone else but me and now and again, just now and again, there is that "Eureka" moment.
Ann always said that she was born in Rickling in Essex or Clavering there, on one occasion Quendon. There is no baptism entry. However, amazingly, astonishingly, someone sent me a letter from (but not written by) Ann dating from 1831 which survives. This letter is not in the UK but in Australia, in their archives. Furious research resulted.
We have to go back in time. In 1772 a Thomas Ricketts was born in Rickling to a William and Ann (nee Read). In 1800 Thomas married a Mary Wombwell at Rickling (born c 1769) who was the widow of a James Wombwell who had died in 1796 or so. She and James had had three sons.
Now in 1801 (still in Rickling) Thomas and Mary began to have legitimate children (it seems clear from what follows that there was at least one illegitimate child named after Tom's mother before their marriage). In 1801 they had a son Edward. There was later a son William and other children by which time the family had moved to Clavering.. The story is an involved one and I am truncating it to a large degree, but suffice it to say that in 1825 Edward married a Mary Knight at Berden and they had a daughter Louisa. Unfortunately Edward was involved in petty crime and in early 1826 was hauled before the courts in Essex for burglary and spent some time on the hulk "York" (shown above) before being transported to Australia (Tasmania) for life. On arrival it was given that Edward was married with a child and that his mother Mary was a widow (Thomas Ricketts had died at Clavering in 1825).
Now, Mary Ricketts (who died in 1838) the widow had no idea what happened to Edward when he got out to Australia and rumour had it that he had died. His wife Mary apparently disowned him, claimed him to be dead and went to marry a local chap called John Tant. She reputedly (from the text of vthe 1831 letter) had died in childbirth by 1831 but we know this to be an error and possibly said to make Edward feel better. We know from other sources that daughter Louisa Ricketts eventually married a Thomas Chappell , had a family and emigrated to Australia on the "Robert Small" in 1858. She died in Brompton South Australia in 1899. She had actually emigrated with her mother and her mother's third husband Edward Newman, John Tant also having died (1841)
It gets even more complicated because by 1831 we know that another locally born transported convict, Daniel Hollingsworth, had passed word on through friends to the Ricketts family that Edward was still alive.
So Mary Ricketts in Clavering decided that she had to get in touch with her son. She had the perfect opportunity, because it appears that her son William had also got into trouble and was also to be transported ! It was his task to take the letter.
But Mary did not write, or at least get someone to write on her behalf. She gave that task to Ann Ginn - Ann expressing herself in the letter to be Edward's sister. So, in a very convoluted way, Ann here has to be Edward's sister and we can only assume that she was born illegitimately to Thomas Ricketts and likely Mary between 1796 and 1801 in Rickling and was brought up in Clavering, hence the confusion in the information given in her census records. She thus had two brothers whom were transported convicts (Edward reputedly married again in Australia) and these contacts with Australia may have induced the movement there of her son William (see below).
I have copied into this post the small part of the letter clearly written for and signed on Ann's behalf, she signs as "Mrs An Gin". A part transcript is below. All kindly provided to me by my correspondent Barbara O'Neill*.
Jan 15th 1831
Dear Brother - I have taken the liberty of riting a few lines as it leaves me at present. I have heard many times that you was dead but Daniel Hollingsworths friends told us that you was alive and doing as well as we could expect in the country considering the situation you by [sic] under.
Dear Brother we all take it werry (very) wrong that you dont rite and your Mother thinks it werry (very) sad and unkind that you do not rite a letter to she and she wont believe what your not dead until you rite her a letter to answer the last you had ........................
So no more at present - from your tender sister
Mrs An Gin
This is a difficult post to write because there is so much to say ! It is a bit of work in progress because I am sure that fascinating information remains to be discovered.
In about 1995, I received a letter from a guy descended from this couple who had gone to tremendous lengths (at a time when Essex records were not online and had to be dug out of the Record Office in person) to trace Ann Ricketts. He had checked every likely parish record over a vast area. He had found nothing.
One of the good things about running a One Name Study is that people give you snippets of information, often they mean nothing to anyone else but me and now and again, just now and again, there is that "Eureka" moment.
Ann always said that she was born in Rickling in Essex or Clavering there, on one occasion Quendon. There is no baptism entry. However, amazingly, astonishingly, someone sent me a letter from (but not written by) Ann dating from 1831 which survives. This letter is not in the UK but in Australia, in their archives. Furious research resulted.
We have to go back in time. In 1772 a Thomas Ricketts was born in Rickling to a William and Ann (nee Read). In 1800 Thomas married a Mary Wombwell at Rickling (born c 1769) who was the widow of a James Wombwell who had died in 1796 or so. She and James had had three sons.
Now in 1801 (still in Rickling) Thomas and Mary began to have legitimate children (it seems clear from what follows that there was at least one illegitimate child named after Tom's mother before their marriage). In 1801 they had a son Edward. There was later a son William and other children by which time the family had moved to Clavering.. The story is an involved one and I am truncating it to a large degree, but suffice it to say that in 1825 Edward married a Mary Knight at Berden and they had a daughter Louisa. Unfortunately Edward was involved in petty crime and in early 1826 was hauled before the courts in Essex for burglary and spent some time on the hulk "York" (shown above) before being transported to Australia (Tasmania) for life. On arrival it was given that Edward was married with a child and that his mother Mary was a widow (Thomas Ricketts had died at Clavering in 1825).
Now, Mary Ricketts (who died in 1838) the widow had no idea what happened to Edward when he got out to Australia and rumour had it that he had died. His wife Mary apparently disowned him, claimed him to be dead and went to marry a local chap called John Tant. She reputedly (from the text of vthe 1831 letter) had died in childbirth by 1831 but we know this to be an error and possibly said to make Edward feel better. We know from other sources that daughter Louisa Ricketts eventually married a Thomas Chappell , had a family and emigrated to Australia on the "Robert Small" in 1858. She died in Brompton South Australia in 1899. She had actually emigrated with her mother and her mother's third husband Edward Newman, John Tant also having died (1841)
It gets even more complicated because by 1831 we know that another locally born transported convict, Daniel Hollingsworth, had passed word on through friends to the Ricketts family that Edward was still alive.
So Mary Ricketts in Clavering decided that she had to get in touch with her son. She had the perfect opportunity, because it appears that her son William had also got into trouble and was also to be transported ! It was his task to take the letter.
But Mary did not write, or at least get someone to write on her behalf. She gave that task to Ann Ginn - Ann expressing herself in the letter to be Edward's sister. So, in a very convoluted way, Ann here has to be Edward's sister and we can only assume that she was born illegitimately to Thomas Ricketts and likely Mary between 1796 and 1801 in Rickling and was brought up in Clavering, hence the confusion in the information given in her census records. She thus had two brothers whom were transported convicts (Edward reputedly married again in Australia) and these contacts with Australia may have induced the movement there of her son William (see below).
I have copied into this post the small part of the letter clearly written for and signed on Ann's behalf, she signs as "Mrs An Gin". A part transcript is below. All kindly provided to me by my correspondent Barbara O'Neill*.
Jan 15th 1831
Dear Brother - I have taken the liberty of riting a few lines as it leaves me at present. I have heard many times that you was dead but Daniel Hollingsworths friends told us that you was alive and doing as well as we could expect in the country considering the situation you by [sic] under.
Dear Brother we all take it werry (very) wrong that you dont rite and your Mother thinks it werry (very) sad and unkind that you do not rite a letter to she and she wont believe what your not dead until you rite her a letter to answer the last you had ........................
So no more at present - from your tender sister
Mrs An Gin
I know very little about James and Ann themselves, save that they were
poor. Poor but respectable as my grandmother would have said. They obtained frequent assistance
from the local poor relief (apparently administered directly by the Vicar
here). James was also one of the
bellringers at the church; he helped ring in Christmas Day 1847 (see Vicar's
Journal HRO). Their surname was often rendered as Gin, which concurs with the spelling in the 1831 letter
Ann died in 1876, quoted as 79. James was unfortunately immediately deposited
in Layston (Buntingford) Workhouse what remains of that building is shown below.. He
died there in 1878, aged 83.
James and Ann had no less than thirteen children:
Eliza - A lively girl. She
had three illegitimate children: Joseph, Henry and
Charles all three of whom died in infancy. I can trace no burial so assume that she got together with someone on a common law basis and took their name. One of the children's fathers was a George Spicer which may be a clue
Thomas - see later post
Mary - married Thomas Cranwell in 1839.
William - see next post
Sarah - married William Stevens: A correspondent has told me that they moved
to Mile End, London.
Charles - see later post
Edward - likely named after Ann's brother. See later post
Henry - see post of 13th August 2012
* Barbara originally thought that the letter referred to Mary An Gin.Research has shown that the statement above has to be correct
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