William Genn the elder of Ely, Hoddesdon & London died 1780s ?

William was son of Richard Genn of Ely and Hoddesdon (see post  of  3rd February 2013)  and after twenty years is still being researched.  I am the first to research him.  He was a Shoemaker/Cordwainer.  He married Hannah Eastwell at Ely in 1764 and they had one child there, William, before in October 1766 making the move to Hertfordshire with his parents.  

I have absolutely no idea why he moved so far south and why to Hoddesdon.  His Certificate of Settlement for the Poor Laws is referenced D/P24A/13/5 at the Hertfordshire Archives, shoemakers barely made a subsistence wage it seems.  I have a copy somewhere and will add it to the blog shortly.  At the time of the move his brother John appeared before the Ely Justices to swear that the signature of the Churchwardens of Trinity Ely was affixed in his presence.

Whilst in Broxboume (the parish in which Hoddesdon is situated) he and Hannah had a further three children, two of whom died in infancy.  Hannah herself died in October 1773 and William remarried (as Genn) to Jane Bain at Gt Amwell Herts in January  1774. Whist in Hoddesdon the parish clerk invariably recorded them as Ginn.

Until 2019 I was confident that Jane was the "Jane Ginn of this parish" who was buried at Broxbourne in the summer of 1776, probably in childbirth I thought.  Events in 2019 have made me wonder.

Hertfordshire is very lucky in that the 18th century Militia Lists for the county invariably survive - they record every male of a certain age and, if in Broxbourne, should have counted William until he either had three children or was 45.  William is in the Militia List at Broxboume until 1773 (stated to have three children) as a Shoemaker.   His children William, Hannah and Richard were alive at this point.

What happened to William was a mystery.  He disappeared from Hertfordshire but did not go back to Cambridgeshire.  The name is far rarer than Ginn and that is rare, but I could not find him.  His son Richard died at Hoddesdon in 1774, and Jane I thought in 1776 - so where did he go?

Now 2019 has seen me almost certainly finding his son, so he likely went to London, but where was William snr ?

There is no mention of William on Family Search, or Findmypast, or Ancestry, but look at Londonlives and I am sure he turns up in the Middlesex Sessions (Court records) for in 1777 and again in 1781 we have William Genn and his wife Jane, he a shoemaker, coming up before the Magistrates for Assault - he and Jane were a pugnacious couple it seems.  Ironically, that same year, ie 1781, he was one of the many Constables of St Lukes, so he followed his father in that. So either the first Jane did die and he swiftly found another (like he replaced Hannah) or the first Jane survived.  The most likely scenario is that the buried Jane was an unbaptised infant of the couple - the parish clerk did not distinguish children from adults.  We even have an exact address, they lived at 73 Golden Lane, which is St Lukes Islington, North London, pretty much where I would expect immigrants from Hoddesdon to turn up and where Ginns from this blog had arrived previously …. research continues......but the Land Tax shows William there until at least 1788 (when son William was 22)……..

                                     William Genn in London 1781

William and Hannah had four children and he and Jane one

William - born in Ely but  went to Hoddesdon as an infant and alive aged 7 in 1773.  See next post

Mary - died infancy

Hannah  - alive in 1773 aged 2.  Untraced

Richard - died in 1774 in infancy

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Jane - died infancy in 1776