John Ginn of Farnham d.1788

John Ginn just appears in the Farnham register in 1761, then 34.  He married Susannah Thorne there that year. There is some suggestion online that he originally married Elizabeth Littlechild at Farnham in 1751 (largely because the entry has been mistranscribed in the Boys Marriage Index) but if you look carefully at the entry and compare the writing elsewhere in the pages that entry related to a "John Green" who is of no relevance here.  We have no surviving Farnham records (militia lists etc.) to work on, so I have no idea of where he had been between his birth and his arrival there, although believe that he may well be the John shown in the Hertfordshire Militia records in Bishops Stortford in 1760, gone the next year.

My view is that John did not intend to move to Farnham.  I am a great believer in visiting a place, to see it in context so to speak.  Farnham does not feature in the main work on Essex villages; I could never understand that.  Now that I have visited it, I can see why.  Don't blink if you drive through - you'll miss it; it is a tiny place.  Effectively, a couple of hamlets.

In my opinion Bishops Stortford has something to do with this move.  I suspect that John went to the Hiring Fair, was taken on by a Farnham based employer, and could never move away (having obtained settlement).  This family did not so much choose to stay in Farnham, they got stuck there.

I know very little about John.  All indeed we know for certain is that he has his origins in Braughing and the Braughing branch of the family, but his father could have been Edward or William, most likely the latter (see post of 10th February 2013)  He was a Labourer, and with a large family it must have been quite a struggle to survive. 

                   Farnham Church - photo of mine from the 1990s

Susannah Ginn died in about 1780, possibly in childbirth.  There is no burial entry.  John Ginn "widower" remarried Jane Dellow (of a local family, Dellows are still there) in 1781.  They proceeded to have many more children, Jane being considerably younger than John.

John Ginn died ("a pauper") in 1788, he was 61.  His widow remarried John Tedder the same year.

It seems certain that as soon as John died, his widow "washed her hands" of her step-children, certainly those in their teens.  There was certainly contact with Cornelius Ginn of Stocking Pelham, because by the late 1790s (probably earlier) there is evidence that two sons (William and James) were helping out in the Pelhams.  It could be that Cornelius used them to help him, or possibly acted as a contact to obtain local work.  

John and his two wives had no less than 15 children:

Ann - it was known that Ann married, but until October 2022 the correct candidate was unclear as there were two possibilities.  Then DNA evidence established that she went to Thorley with her brother John and married James Surrage there in 1790.  They had a few children, their chief descendants being through daughter Mary who was born there that year and married James Madle there in 1811, he the village Blacksmith. Ann must have been a useful local auntie for the Thorley Ginn children. 

John - went to Thorley with his sister Ann- see later post

William - see later post

James - see later post

Sarah - married William Brad in 1798

Hannah - is untraced

Simon - research is currently active.  This name is so incredibly rare in Ginn history, and no other candidate known, that this man must surely be the Simon Ginn who turned up in Leyton in Essex in approximately 1803, having married Jane Swithin in Islington that same year.  There he and wife Jane had the following children, neither of whom are yet traced.  The family clearly left Leyton and do not feature in the surviving 1821 and 1831 census returns.

Simon James Frimond 1804

John                             1808 

If anybody come across them after 1808 please let me know as I cannot trace them. 

Elizabeth - all that was known before 2007 was that she married Noah Hammond.  Noah came from Manuden and was a good deal younger than Elizabeth.

In 2007, it was discovered that Elizabeth had had an illegitimate child at Manuden in 1817 – Daniel Ginn.

Elizabeth married Noah in 1823, but she died in 1827 without issue. They likely lived in Manuden. Noah, who appears to have preferred older women, remarried a Lydia Allen in approximately that year and they were in Farnham in 1841 and ’51.

Daniel Ginn appears to have had an unhappy life and likely never really thought himself to belong anywhere.  He belongs here however.

At thirteen his mother died, and Noah likely abandoned him.  For the purpose of the Poor Law, Daniel’s settlement was in Manuden and he stayed there.  He was in lodgings there in 1841 as “Jin” and married Rebecca Bayford there in 1843.  He was an agricultural labourer.

They were missing from the 1851 census, but Rebecca was clearly dead by 1861, as Daniel is in lodgings at Manuden in that year as a widower.  He died there in 1864

Millicent ("Milly") and Jane - these girls, twins, were quite a couple.  The Overseers Book for Farnham survives from 1808, and the pair are mentioned many times

By 1808 they had both set up in their own cottages, as the Overseer was constantly having to pay their rents.

In 1808 Jane became pregnant.  The father's name is unclear, although Jane called the daughter "Grace Tubbs"  which probably tells us.  The Overseer had to pay over a pound to take Jane "over to Walden" (Saffron Walden) probably for a magistrates hearing as to the father of the child.  Grace married Daniel Whybrow at Farnham in 1833.

Milly married James Judd at nearby Stanstead Mountfitchet in 1815, while Jane married Peter Gray (who attended "The Old Meeting House" at Hazel End - the same as that of Jane's great uncle Cornelius Ginn) in 1811 (at Farnham).  Jane and Peter lived at Birchanger.

Isaac - died in infancy

Susannah, Edward and Mary - are untraced

James Ginn of Great Hormead d. 1825

 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

 

Benjamin Ginn of Royston d.1805

Benjamin  (son of William Ginn in my post of 3rd February 2013 ) moved to Royston from Great Hormead in 1780 (Land Tax).  He was 24.  I started researching him in 1992, and it was clear that they were the same man; but I had no proof.  Then I found some (see extract from 1825 document and the notes re: his son James  - later post - May 22nd 2014).

Exactly how Ben met Fanny Chapman, I don't know.  Fanny's father was Daniel Chapman, a Wheelwright from Sandon.  I would imagine that he often visited Royston market, patronised the Inns, and there introduced his daughter to young Benjamin.

Ben had, of course, been well versed in the victualling trade by his father; who from 1772 was the Landlord of the "Three Horseshoes" at Great Hormead.  For a lad with ambitions in that line, Royston was a good place to head for.  It was an important coaching centre, having many splendid Inns.  It was also a malting town, albeit on a lesser scale than Hertford and Ware.

From his first arrival (until his death) Ben was described as a Maltster.  This was a man who actually made the malt for brewing, by fermenting the grain.  The Land Tax shows that he had (presumably leased) a certain amount of "malting land".  More interestingly, Benjamin was also described as a Victualler for at least part of his life.  This fascinated me.  He is not mentioned in any surviving Victualler's Recognisance’s (chiefly for 1781 and 1806), nor in the book on Royston Inns at the Herts Local Studies Library.  This defeated me for two years.  Then, in the most unlikely of documents, I discovered that he lived part of his life at "The Black Swan", presumably as the Licensee.

"The Black Swan" was a house in Butchery Row.  In the old days (19th cent.) there was what was called "Kennedy's Auction Market" on the south side of Market Hill, east of "The Green Man".  Beyond this was a side street (Butchery Row) in which stood "The Bell and Anchor" and "The Black Swan".  They flanked a small butchers shop, hence the name of the street.  As I understand it, none of this still stands.

This apart, I know very little about this couple.  However, some original signed documents do survive.  In 1804, Ben and Fanny inherited £10 from her father, there are signed receipts for this at the HRO.

Sadly, Benjamin did not live to see old age; he died in 1805, aged 49.  Fanny did not long survive him; she died in 1808.  I have not researched her family.

Ben and Fanny had nine children:

Catherine Chapman - married William Parker in 1803

James - see later post - May 22nd 2014

  

Fanny - married Joseph Law in 1817

Benjamin - there were three - for the survivor - see later post 8th March 2014

Mary - I looked for her for decades and it was not until a correspondent, Ian Cruttenden, saw my blog that we found out what happened to Mary.  She went with her sister Ann (they probably went in service together) to Somerset, Radstock in fact. Neither sister lived to 1851, but both were born "out of county" in 1841.  Mary Ginn married Samuel Hitchens at Radstock  in 1815.  She died there in 1841 with a quoted age of 50, which was exactly correct.  The couple had a number of children including a Fanny Ginn Hitchens and a Benjamin Hitchens which gave the game away.  Ian is a descendant of this family

 Ann - married Robert Latchem at Radstock in Somerset in 1822.   Robert was an Engineer/Engineman.  They had a number of children including sons Aquila who I know married and had issue and a James Ginn Latchem and a Benjamin Latchem.  Ann died at Radstock in 1850 with a quoted age of 57 which was exactly correct.

Thomas -is untraced as yet

William Ginn of Newfoundland & Hertford d. 1865

William here, the eldest illegitimate son of Bet Ginn (see Joe Ginn's post of today's date) was pretty much left to fend for himself after the death of his mother, finally deciding that his best bet was to join the army.

Thus on 3rd May 1833 Bill enlisted with the 66th Foot (the Berkshires). He was said to be 17, a groom and born at Brickendon, near Hertford.

Billy did not serve abroad with the 66th, spending less than three years with them.  The army was maintaining a low strength at the time, and it may have been the threat of an early discharge that led him to volunteer to serve with the Royal Newfoundland Companies at the close of 1835.

These companies, as their names suggests, were a battalion of men recruited from various regiments for garrison duties in Canada.  The British had had a series of confrontations with the Americans over the position of the border, so it was felt necessary to maintain a permanent garrison around the St Lawrence seaway.

                     St Johns Newfoundland in 1844

Bill spent the next twenty damp, cold and generally uneventful years in Newfoundland. The men were largely on garrison duty in St Johns and in various posts around, and it is known that it was so cold in some of the outposts that it was not that unusual for men of the companies to freeze to death whilst on guard duty.

 The battalion was not dignified with a regimental number until 1858, when they became the sixth regiment to be numerated as the 100th Foot (Prince of Wales's Royal Canadians).

Bill Ginn was a sound soldier, of reasonably good character and earning four good conduct badges over the years.  But like many of his contemporaries he was fond of a drink.  Thus in an early escapade he floored the commander of the escort sent to arrest him for drunkenness, having time in prison to sober up.

Indeed it was the booze that indirectly put an end to Bill's martial career.  In early 1856 he was so drunk (off duty) that he fell over and badly smashed his forehead.  The swelling was so bad that he was taken to hospital.  Whilst there the medical staff noticed chronic rheumatism, caused by the island's damp climate; sufficient to make him virtually "legless" even when sober it seems.  He was therefore listed for discharge and sent home.

William Ginn was discharged (to pension) from the army at Chatham, on 23rd September 1856.  He was 5ft 9ins tall, with light brown hair, hazel eyes and a fresh complexion.  Oh yes, he was still carrying a very prominent swelling on his forehead!

Bill stated that he was returning to Hertford, and did, being close by (and name mistranscibed) in 1861.  I was astonished to find that he came home with a wife, Hannah, born Newfoundland St Johns.  The St Johns Record Office kindly researched for me, but could find no record of any marriage or children. He died at Hailey Lane, Gt. Amwell which is still there(stated to be a groom) on 20th May 1865; he was 48.  There is no trace of Hannah.