Charlie was born in Quadring in 1821. He appears in the 1841 census there as Charles Ginn, a Blacksmith and then he totally disappeared from British records.
I supposed for some years that he had joined the armed forces, but there was no evidence of this and a lot of army records have been checked over the years. I thought that he might have joined the East India Company army with brother George, but this was discounted in August 2015 when George was fully researched. Indeed, it was rather spookily after researching George that I consulted the records once again and realised what had happened to Charles.
Charles Genn emigrated to the United States. There seems to have been a group emigration, that is a number of people and likely an eclectic mix of local families decided to emigrate in the 1840s, but more particularly we are concerned with the Hutson family (see below). Large new areas of the States were being settled at the time and the forties, "the Hungry Forties" as they were known in rural England, was a time of rural depression in advance of the repeal of the Corn Laws and both farmers and labourers found times hard..
Charlie's emigration was obviously as I say tied in some way to that of the emigration of the Hudson/Hutson family, one of whom formed his future wife.
The Hutson family were grouped in the villages about Quadring and elsewhere in Lincolnshire - they were farmers. From what I can gather three brothers and various hangers on emigrated at various times from about 1840. The first emigrant was a Solomon Hutson who was born in circa 1801 has apparent links to Pennsylvania and was one of the very first settlers in Wisconsin (Rock County) USA, being granted US Citizenship in 1845. His brother John also went out and settled in Wisconsin. The "Hutson Boys" were and are acknowledged to have been some of the first settlers there. It is fascinating cross referencing the English and American records and noting what happened.
The person of note here is however their brother Robert Hutson, also a farmer, who was supposedly born in Spilsby, Lincolnshire in 1802. He married Ann May Luff in 1825 and they had a fair sized family, of whom William Henry Speed Hutson (lived Pennsylvania but died Wisconsin), Ann May, Thomas Speed, John Speed (later a Pastor) and Solomon survived. All of these were born in England and most at Donington, next to Quadring.
Robert and Ann and their family emigrated to join other Hutson family members in November 1847. They came into New York on two ships - Robert and Ann, their daughter and Solomon on the sailing ship "Jane Glassin" on 20th of that month. The passenger list of the other ship which contained their sons William, Thomas and John has not survived and I have speculated as to whether Charles Genn accompanied them, as not one of those children was older than 16 in 1847.
The family settled immediately in Glade Township, Warren County Pennsylvania. This was not great farming country and was just being settled and the reason for going there seems to be linked to Solomon - as in the Glade Township genealogy page online (see History of Warren County 1878) there is mention that a Solomon Hutson " entertained guests in a slab shanty at Glade Run" between approximately 1844-1850 - this being some sort of guest house. I have assumed that Solomon had links to both Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and left his holdings in Glade at this time and his brother took over. Robert and Ann both died at Glade and their grave is below.
So where in all this was Charles Genn ? The answer is I do not rightly know. Logically he had some connection/friendship/kinship and was also encouraged to emigrate or emigrated with the Hutsons. He is not in the 1850 US Census nor that of 1851 in England. My suspicion is that he left for the US in the later 1840s.
All that we know for certain is that Charles Genn married Ann May Hutson (Robert and Ann's only daughter) on 12th April 1852. We know this because of what is said in Ann May's obituary and it seems certain that the couple married at the Methodist Church at Glade Township which was built in 1833 (above - the building shown no longer stands). Ann May is known to have been a good methodist and, indeed, this was the main church in the township at that time. Charles was 30 and Ann May just 22.
We are also told that Charles and Ann May spent two years or so in Glade or thereabouts, but in 1855 they moved to Wisconsin.
They chose to move to Sparta, Monroe County. Monroe County was itself just being settled by emigrants from the Eastern States and from various countries in northern Europe. Charles, Ann and various Hutsons who arrived with them were some of the very first settlers in what was then described as a village.
Sparta in 1860 - copyright Monroe County Museum
Charles set up a blacksmith's shop on Main Street and on Christmas Eve 1855, Monroe County have a record of his noting his intention to become an American Citizen and renouncing allegiance to Queen Victoria viz..
The shop did rather well and we find the following in the local newpaper, the "Sparta Herald" of 31st August1859
Everything seems to have gone fine until 1861. In that year something very bad happened, either Charles developed a brain tumour or, quite likely, a horse kicked him in the head and caused both physical and mental trauma. All that we know is that he was ill and not capable of managing his own affairs. In May 1861, during the presidency of Abraham Lincoln which is reflected on the Grant (see below) Ann May purchased 40 acres of land in Monroe County in her own name
Ann was an eligible widow and in 1864 she remarried another English settler, the farmer John Hobson. But John also died in 1868 and Ann was a widow again.
In 1872 she remarried another Englishman now a Naturalized American, Solomon Hutson, another farmer, who was born in 1827 in England, was obviously her cousin and said that he had come to Wisconsin in 1850 (gained citizenship in 1857), so Solomon and Ann likely came over to the US in the same mass emigration, though the precise connection (he was likely a son of John Hutson above) is unclear to me. Sol had children having lost his first wife in 1870. Sol died in 1878 and Ann May after a painful illness in 1885 aged 56. They lie in Big Creek cemetery in Sparta - see below.
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