Thomas Ginn of Croxton, Cambridgeshire d. 1779

Thomas Ginn, the third son of John of Anstey (see my post of 12th September) married Lydia Mace there in 1709.

                                            Wimpole

Tom, like both of his brothers was obviously given a little money by his Dad and both had a freehold cottage in Anstey and had the vote there as a consequence.

Lydia came from Cambridgeshire, from Papworth, and was born there in 1684 to Tom and Lydia (nee Barrett).  How Lydia met Tom Ginn I have no idea, but shortly after they married they moved to Wimpole in Cambridgeshire, Lydia may have had family connections there.

Tom was a labourer and the couple only had two known children, Tom jnr (1720) and Mary (1715).  

Tom snr died at Wimpole in 1746 aged 64, Lydia having died there in 1720, almost certainly in childbirth.

Mary is untraced, but Tom jnr, the subject of this post, went north to his mother's "neck of the woods" and settled in Croxton.

                                               Croxton

Tom jnr married Elizabeth Mitchell at Croxton in 1746, the year of his father's death.  He was also a labourer, settled at Croxton permanently and, his being mentioned in the Overseers Book a couple of times apart,  I know absolutely nothing about him.

Tom jnr died in 1779, aged 59.  Elizabeth died in 1786 aged 60.

Tom and Elizabeth had a good number of children:

  Lydia  -  married Abraham Barber at Eltisley in 1772.  They had a number of children and moved into Hunts and were at Little Paxton by the 1780s.  Lydia seemed to dictate the names of children as many were named after her brothers and sisters.  She would appear to have died at Little Paxton in 1803 aged 57.
 

  Alice - married William Cooper at Little Paxton, Hunts, in 1772. No children known.  She likely lived alongside Lydia above who named a daughter after her but I cannot trace them further.
 

 Joseph - see later post  
 

 Lucy - married William Smeeton at Gt Staughton, Hunts in 1782.  They had a good number of children over a wide area from Keysoe over into Bedfordshire and many of them were not baptised until they were grown up which is helpful.  I know that there are descendants through their son John (at Pertenhall) at least.  William died at Keysoe in 1809.  Lucy died there in 1826 with a quoted age of 80, she was actually 69.
 

 Charlotte - married William Howe of Sawtry at Wyton, Hunts in   1791. Lydia Barber was witness.  No children known and I cannot trace them further.

 
Thomas - is untraced
 
 Robert - one died in infancy, the other is untraced
 
 Benjamin- one died in infancy, the other is untraced
 
 Elizabeth - is also untraced 

NB  It is notable that the daughters have largely been traced but the fate of most of the sons is unknown.  There are many Ginn families in the Croxton area but none link to this family.

            

Charles Ginn of Anstey d. 1734

Charles Ginn was a Labourer/Husbandman and is one of the significant Ginn family men in this blog, having a good many Ginn family descendants alive today.   He owned freehold land and had the vote, so in his later years he would definitely have argued had you said he was a Labourer. 

In 1698 (when he was 31) he purchased a property in Cheapside in Anstey.  The property was described as being "near a little lane called Eastwood Lane" and passed down through the family to 1789 (as we shall see).  Its owners can subsequently be traced (without doubt) and I have established what this consisted of and exactly where it was.  As a solicitor/property lawyer I am well qualified to undertake this and I have a note showing the chain of ownership, with maps.

Charles bought this property from a chap called Robert Bennett and his wife, and paid them £23.  (See Deed HRO).  In 2008, I discovered that the property was originally owned by a Robert Rowley, the Anstey smith, who died in 1666 and appears to have been a friend and neighbour of John Ginn, Charles’ dad (see post of 12th September ).  Rowley’s widow Joan died in 1674, having made her will in John Ginn’s presence in 1671, and Joan the widow left it to her brother Edmund Allen who died in Anstey in 1677 and who in turn left it to Robert Bennett and his wife as above.  It consisted of a cottage and an adjacent smithy (which had also been converted for residential use).  There was also a barn, a stables, a large garden and an orchard.  The property was adjacent Eastwood Lane, and at the back Charles had a large long oblong shaped field.  This stretched virtually right back to East Wood, in a long strip.  In all, Charles had an acre of land.

Unfortunately, the cottage is no longer there.  There are a row of houses  there now.  But, the good news is that the field at the back is the same as it always was.  So, descendants can go and have a look if they want.

        Cottage stood where the white house can be seen -Eastwood Lane is the little lane to

                                                                 the direct right

In any event, Charles married Mary in about 1700, I cannot trace a marriage entry.  He found marriage was expensive, and in 1702 he mortgaged the property to a John Browne (Deed HRO) for £10.  This deed had many of his signatures on it (Charles took at least one further advance).

Mary Ginn died in 1709, probably in childbirth.  Charles did not remarry.

                                  
                                    The surviving paddock at the rear of the cottage

In 1723 all local householders were required to swear an oath that they accepted German George (George the First) as their King, notwithstanding the fact that he never learnt to speak English.  Charles walked over to the “George Inn” at Barkway to swear his oath (See Quarter Sessions Books HRO).

In December 1733, Charles became fatally ill and he died in early 1734; aged 67.

He made a will (ERO with original at HRO) and left his land to his son James, his second son.  Yet another example of the eldest being disinherited.  For a summary of the inheritance of the cottages by his children - see below.

Charles and Mary had a number of children, not all of whom are shown on the IGI:

James - has been dealt with first, because he inherited the property.  He paid 3s Land Tax on this, and did not marry. .He appears in various Poll Books.  He died in 1776, aged 73, and the property was inherited by his brother Charles (see 1786 Mortgage below), and Anstey Manor Court Book (HRO)

Charles - did not marry.  Upon his brother James's death, he presented himself to the Anstey Manor Court and stated that he was “the only brother and heir of James Ginn".  The other brother (Benjamin) had died in 1759.  He inherited the property, paying a fine of £3 3s to the court.  He died in 1781 (intestate) aged 80.  All this is recited in 1786 Mortgage (below).  He was the last man called Ginn to live in Anstey, after nearly 300 years of continuous occupation by the family.

Mary- clearly married George Johnson of Anstey (I can't find the marriage entry).  George died in 1772.  They had not had any children.  She inherited the cottages on her brother Charles’s death (see Mortgage) but died herself (again Intestate) in 1784, aged 80.  Letters of Administration were granted to her nephew William Ginn, of Great Hormead (eldest son and heir of her brother Benjamin) - see Letters of Admin and Bond all of which survive at the HRO.  The Bond was for £100, clearly roughly the value of the estate.  William mortgaged the property in 1786 (as we shall see) and the complicated inheritance outlined above is detailed again in that deed (HRO)

Benjamin - married Grace Graves.  See later post

Ruth - yet another one of this family to not marry.  She died a maid in 1770; aged 62 

William -two of this name died in infancy

John Ginn of Thundridge d. 1743

John, brother of Thomas in my last post  married Susanna (sometimes Susan) Walford at Standon in 1710.  He inherited his mother's cottage (which was freehold and thus gave him the vote) and held on to this even after he left Braughing.  This has enabled me to trace him through the Poll Books.

I have assumed that he was a Labourer.  The family moved around a little, having children baptised at Standon, Ware and Thundridge; finally settling at Thundridge.  The old church was demolished in 1853 and only the tower (below) remains.

I know very little about them and have been researching them and their children for twenty three years as I write this. Some of the sons took part in the massive Ginn exodus from Herts of the early 18th century.

John Ginn Senior died in 1743.  He was 59, and is buried at Thundridge.  Susan died in 1745.

John and Susan had eight children:

John - married twice an Elizabeth in circa 1740 and Ann Tinsley in 1773.  Assumed to have been a labourer.

The following children are known to he and wife Elizabeth

John                             1743 died infancy

Elizabeth                     1745

  

In 1747, there is also a Jeremiah Ginn baptised at Thundridge with no parental details given.  It seems likely that the clerk made up the register entries from notes and the notes mistakenly failed to indicate the parents. I have assumed that this Jeremiah (who did not die in infancy) is a child of John and his first wife but obviously cannot state this as a fact.

John lost his first wife and remarried Ann Tinsley (he a widower and she a widow) at Thundridge in 1773.  John died in 1774 aged 61.  Ann was buried in 1789.

Of the children, Elizabeth is untraced but see the note re Jeremiah below*

Mary - had an illegitimate child (Sarah) in 1737 by a John Harris.  She married Thomas Cutmore in 1738 and is believed to have stayed in Thundridge.  Sarah Ginn would appear to have never married and likely died in Thundridge in 1789 as the age given is correct.

Susanna - was discovered in 2009 to have married John Scott , a gardener of Hertford in 1745.(RG7. 219)  It seems clear it was her and not her first cousin.  She and John had a number of children

Ann - also seems to have drifted into Hertford.  She married John Robinson a Mariner of distant Stepney at the Fleet in 1752 (RG7. 13).  It is obviously her.  How she met her husband I have no idea.  The National Archives have records of several John Robinsons of Stepney – all mariners and shiprights.  There are no obvious children on the IGI

Thomas - untraced for years.  A shock arrived in 2010 with the uploading onto the web of the Londonlives.org website.    London/Middlesex magistrate records show that in 1785 a Thomas Ginn and wife with settlement in Thundridge became a burden on the Overseers of the Poor and were moved from Staines in Middlesex (borders of Surrey) to Cheshunt in Hertfordshire.   It could only be this fellow and Tom was then 57. The story became even more intriguing in 2012 when Ancestry loaded up Dorset records.  It appears that at some point Thomas married a Sarah (when and where unknown).  In 1785 they are begging (maybe playing the fiddle/busking) in a pub in Shaftesbury in Dorset no less and were arrested as vagabonds and swiftly moved back through Dorset to Donhead St Mary in Wilts with a view to being moved on to Hertfordshire. The full story I do not yet know but am working on it.  Where they married (if they officially did)  where they were pre 1785 and where they died is a mystery.  I assume there were no children but cannot rule it out completely, not least as those same Ancestry Dorset records show a Thomas Ginn, Labourer (ht 5ft 8ins) in the Militia records at nearby Sherborne in 1798 and the Ginn name in Dorset is otherwise unknown.  Watch this space.

Henry - untraced for sure. Born in 1730, he  is the only real contender for  the Henry Ginn who married Martha Williams of Christchurch, Spitalfields at the Fleet in 1751 (RG7. 98).  He a labourer bachelor of Sandridge in Herts and she a spinster.  Spitalfields is near Bishopsgate  and he may have been required to come into London by his employer to visit Spitalfields Market. I cannot find any Sandridge reference to any Ginn (registers, militia, overseers records) and have assumed that Henry was either passing through or the reference is a clerical error (ie Sandridge for Thundridge and written up from notes) which, given errors on other Ginn entries is not unlikely.  There is no trace of them in Herts and Martha being a “townie” may have induced a move to London.

William - untraced

Robert - died in infancy 

 *  Jeremiah Ginn.   It is considered by myself and other Ginn researchers that it is this Jeremiah (no other of any county being known) that married Elizabeth Dartnell at Chelmsford in 1776.  Jeremiah Ginn was a Victualler (Innkeeper) in Chelmsford and in 2014 I discovered that he held the "Half Moon" which was demolished soon after 1900 but is shown below. 

I do know that he died there in 1787 and has the earliest Ginn "In Memoriam" in any newspaper (Ipswich Journal 14th July 1787) which cites for news from Chelmsford

Elizabeth Ginn remarried William Mudicks at Sandon, Essex in 1788 (Marriage Licence at ERO).  Mudicks was a Yeoman farmer of Sandon who had originally married an Elizabeth Bearman.  Elizabeth Mudicks formerly Ginn/Dartnell died at Great Waltham in 1794 – she has a gravestone in Great Waltham which cites her as formerly the wife of Jeremiah Ginn.  Mudicks is not buried with her so likely married yet again. My research suggests that Jeremiah and Elizabeth never had any children.

Thomas Ginn Citizen & Carpenter of London d. 1734

William Ginn, Miller of Braughing (see post of 4th September) had five sons known to.be living when his widow Mary died in 1723 - William jnr, Thomas, John, Edward and Henry.  Henry (19th September) and William jnr (25th October) we have dealt with,  Today I wish to post what I have on two others:  Thomas here and John.

William Ginn's sons scattered fairly widely and there were lots of grandchildren.  These also scattered very widely (sometimes frighteningly so) and research is only just beginning to find some of them.  Many are still untraced though and there is much scope for further research here - " could do better" as my old schoolteacher used to say !

On 5^th December 1704 “Thomas Ginn sonne of William Ginn of Braughin in the Countie of Hertfordshire Miller” was bound   as a carpenter’s apprentice to a William Everard for seven years and assigned to Thomas Lindzy Citizen and Merchant Taylor of London (Carpenters Company Records – see above).  

Those same records show that Tom was made a Freeman of the Company of Carpenters in January 1713 (above) and set himself up in business as a Master Carpenter apparently, taking a number of apprentices himself over the next twenty or so years, including William Ginn (his nephew from Braughing ) in 1723.

Thomas married Sarah Ton at All Hallows London Wall in 1712, just before he finished his apprenticeship.   The Company of Carpenters was based (as were the businesses of most of its members) on London Wall.  Their Hall is still there.  Unsurprisingly Thomas first used All Hallows, London Wall church for the baptisms of his children and, in fact, ran his business from that area for the rest of his life.

                                    All Hallows, London Wall

Thomas and Sarah had a good number of children, the first couple being baptised at All Hallows, from which point Tom started to use St Giles without Cripplegate which was just down the road.  They are in the Land Tax for that area.  Ironically this was the same church that his very distant cousin Arthur Ginn attended and was churchwarden of at the same time (see post of 29th October ) and I have wondered if they ever spoke

Hogarth - Lord Mayors Show 1747

Thomas seems to have established himself well within the Carpenter’s Company, being one of the two standard bearers for them in the Lord Mayor’s Show of 1733.   This sadly is the last entry in the Carpenters Company records and unfortunately there was a good reason for that as Tom was unwell, he had tuberculosis and was buried at St Giles ("a Carpenter") in 1734, he was 47. 

As we have seen, St Lukes, Old Street was founded in the 1720s out of St Giles parish and Sarah died of a fever and was buried there in December 1739. The church is shown below and remains unchanged but is now a concert venue. Sadly I as yet know nothing of her family. 

Tom and Sarah had seven children and I am working on trying to trace them:

Thomas - there were two, the first died in infancy- untraced       

William - believed to have died as a young adult but uncertain

John  - born at St Giles in 1716 he is believed to have become a builder/bricklayer and gone into adjacent Shoreditch - married Elizabeth Bellas at Westminster in 1737.  There were issue.  Research awaits.

Henry - born in St Giles in 1720 he is believed to have married Rebecca Wiffin at Bethnal Green in 1753.  Untraced further yet.

Ann and Elizabeth - untraced

Edward  - I only know he is the son of Tom Ginn the Carpenter in London because of his apprenticeship indenture. This did not come to light until 2018.   He was born in about 1723.  He was apprenticed to the splendidly named Benjamin Littlewort.  Ben was a haberdasher, also from Essex.  Ben was granted his Freedom in 1687 so was about 70 when he took Edward on as an apprentice  in 1737 ( Ben died in 1748) and it must have been a miserable existence for Edward.  But Ben's shop was in Still Alley, Houndsditch (where Liverpool Street Station is now - I know this area well) and this was no more than a 10 minute walk to the Barbican, where Ned's Mum lived.   But Edward who came from a family of carpenters and builders, obviously thought working in a shop unmanly, because he clearly left.  He seems to have joined the Navy.  You will not find a whisper of  this guy on Ancestry or Findmypast - but I remembered - you need a good mind in the Law -  that I had seen the guy - so I looked up the BMD registers - London's shady clandestine marriages at the Fleet before 1754 and the non conformist and secondary sources - and sure enough there he was.  He married Sarah Kennell  at the Mayfair Chapel in the West End in 1752.  It was a clandestine affair, because his bride Sarah Kennell who came from St Georges, Queen Square (Bloomsbury) was 18.  Her parents were Stephen and Sarah Kennell (married 1727) who lived in Theobalds Road, Holborn -  Stephen, surprise surprise, was a Carpenter/Joiner.  There is a deed from 1745 in the National Archives of a Stephen and Sarah Kennell of Theobalds Road Holborn selling an inherited property from a Thomas Kennell in Hastings, Sussex - so Stephen had come into London from there.

In 1749 they established the British Lying in Hospital for Married Women at Brownlow Street , Holborn.  See engraving . 

 It was felt that women should get a more professional maternity service and it was staffed by professional midwives and matrons with a couple of Doctors and Surgeons (no other men allowed- quite right too).  There were 20 beds for women from all over the country..  You had to have a sponsor to get in. Quite a number of the inmates were the wives of navy and soldiers. The only child I can yet find for this couple (Edward was obviously away a lot) was in 1758.  Sarah Ginn was admitted - they have the most amazing records - which tell you age of woman, name address and occupation  of husband, admission, leaving, date of birth and christening of child and name of sponsor.   Sarah was sponsored by Lady "Betty" Germain - see below - who was a very wealthy 18th century philanthropic widow.

The child was John Thomas Ginn who for some reason I am sure lived.  So now I am looking for him and more on what happened to Edward and Sarah