William Ginn of Great Hormead d.1568

William Ginn was one of the two younger sons of his father Henry of Anstey, I do not know who was the eldest of him and his brother Thomas.  

William would have been born soon after 1500 and was a Husbandman, what today we would call a smallholding farmer.  This would mean that he owned enough land to sustain his family but no more.

His father made some significant bequests to him in his will of 1539 and it seems certain (as it was in the case of his brother Thomas) that Henry bought land for him in Great Hormead when William married.

William is known to have married Ellen Brand, a daughter of Thomas Brand senior, a significant yeoman in  Great Hormead and the ancestor of the Lords Brand and Viscounts Dacre.  William's brother Thomas married Elizabeth Brand, Ellen's sister.

I know from Lay Subsidy records that William and Ellen were living in Anstey until 1543, when they moved to Great Hormead.

Manorial papers for Gt. Hormead do not survive for this period.  However William seems to have held the property or tenement that later came to be known as "The Ginns".  The name of this property survived for centuries.  It seems to have consisted of some 35 acres or so.   Some, at least, of this land was held freehold but it was mostly held "by copy".

The exact location of the land that William held is unknown, but by the 1800s it was absorbed into Hormead Hall Farm.  All we know for certain is that he held some freehold land in Hare Street. 

William Ginn died in 1568 and in his will (Essex Record Office) he left his land to his wife for life and then to his eldest son Thomas.

Ellen lived on and in April 1588 (three months before the attack of the Spanish Armada) she entered into a series of deeds under which a house and small piece of freehold land in Hare Street (which was to pass down the family) was transferred to her eldest son Thomas.  These deeds survive (Hertford Record Office ) and one is copied above with Ellen's signature or mark.

 Ellen died in 1592, she must have been in her 80s, a great age for the time.

William and Ellen had a good number of children:

Thomas (Husbandman) the eldest son - married Martha Wigg 

Henry (Tailor) married Rachel Wigg

Richard (Tailor of Stocking Pelham) established the Ginn family of Cheshunt

Michael (Labourer) the ancestor of the Ginn line from this family today

Jonas (Tradesman of Standon) a bachelor who left a very informative will

Mary married John Snell alias Wheeler

Margaret married ______ Beddall

Robert Ginn of Anstey d. 1587

Robert Ginn was the eldest surviving son of his father and the heir to "Passmers".  He was born in about 1500 and married (she seems to have been his only wife) Agnes in about 1525.  I do not know Agnes' maiden name, the marriage predating parish registers, but there is a chance, just a chance, that her maiden name was Moss, as the Moss family of Clavering are known to have played some part in Robert's early married life.

Robert was a prosperous Yeoman farmer, the gold and silver items mentioned in his will marking him out among the branches of the Ginn family.

Robert Ginn was a busy man.  He was heavily involved in parish and county affairs.  I am sure that he was often one of the Churchwardens for Anstey, though records have not survived.  He was certainly frequently chosen to sit on the juries at the Quarter Sessions, and often the Grand Jury at the Assizes.  This required him to travel about Eastern Hertfordshire, and he came into contact with many other Yeoman families.   This seems to have acted as a source of spouses for his children as did his probable frequent journeys to market, both in Herts and Essex.

King Henry the 8th died in 1547. His heir, Edward the 6th , was a dedicated Protestant, while Henry's eldest daughter Mary was a Catholic and wanted England to return to that faith.  

Many catholic priests of the time had had unofficial mistresses, and when King Edward allowed them to marry many did so, including the Vicar of Therfield, a few miles from Anstey.  Unfortunately Edward built a legacy of hate among catholics, having many of them burned at the stake and when he died in 1553 there was a backlash.  The new Queen Mary, "Bloody Mary" as she was known earned that name by having many protestants tortured and put to death .

Mary also had the marriages of the priests declared invalid and sought to the have the said priests discharged from their livings.  In 1555 there was a local revolt against the Vicar of Therfield and various local farmers were brought to the Court of Star Chamber where local yeomen and gentlemen, including Robert Ginn were put to jury service.  He lived through turbulent times.

Robert built on the lands owned by his father and in particular purchased freehold land, this leading him in Cussan's Survey of 1562 to be noted as one of the two "Principal Freeholders" of Anstey.

Robert Ginn died in 1587 leaving a will ( Essex Record Office with his original signature above), the year before the abortive attack of the Spanish Armada - he must have been well into his 80s.  Agnes lived on, helping to equip the local militia at the time of the Spanish Armada with the very halberd that Henry Ginn had supplied in 1539, such family weapons often being treasured among yeomen.

Agnes died in 1589, aged nearly 90 on my calculation.  She has my undying gratitude as the provider of a huge amount of information on the Ginn family.  Her will (Essex Record Office) suggests that she was a formidable woman!

Robert and Agnes had a huge family of which:

Henry  - was the heir and will be dealt with in a later post

Robert - moved to Huntingdonshire and founded the Ginn/Genn family of Ely.  See post of 7th July 2012

Katherine - married her cousin John Ginn of Aston.  See post of  29th July 2012

Ellen  - married James King in 1554.  They have a significant role in the Ginn story and my early research.

I traced this couple to Great Chishall in Essex, the Kings were major yeomen farmers of the Essex/Hertfordshire borders and I know a lot about them.  James King snr died in the summer of 1576 (he was abiout 50) and left a will.  His son James jnr was to go to Cambridge University and the father left money for his keep.

James was also worried about his wife for Ellen was pregnant.  He left the unborn child money and appointed his brother in laws Henry and Robert Ginn Overseers of the will.

The situation got worse, because in December 1576 Ellen was to have the child, and she obviously knew it was likely she would die and made a will.  She wanted a daughter (she had many sons) and left gowns and petticoats to the unborn child which sadly turned out to be another son, Simeon-  the child survived, the mother died.  Ellen would have been in her early 40s.  Of her younger children she made Arthur Ginn her brother the guardian of her son Arthur, her father Robert guardian of her daughter Alice and her brother Robert of the unborn child, namely Simeon.  The whole thing was tragic.

The Ginns did indeed honour the wish and put James King jnr into Cambridge (he is recorded in Cambridge University records as James Ginn!) but it  got more tragic in the later years of Queen Elizabeth' s reign because James King jnr sued the Anstey Ginns and Robert Ginn who was by this time in Huntingdonshire.  In fact this court case from 1588 (C3/226/67) which went on over several years (we do not know the result) alleged that the Ginns had misappropriated some of the King money and provided me with fascinating research clues.

For the record and King researchers (the Great Chishall records do not survive for before 1583) James King jnr was later a yeoman of Great Chishall in Essex and left a will, Ginn wills show that Arthur King was in Barkway in Herts in 1630 and that his brother Thomas was in Langey in Essex that same year.  Simeon supposedly went to Huntingdonshire and Alice is untraced.

Dorothy - first married a John Cannon at Ware in 1566.  He barely lived a couple of months, dying that same year.  She then wore "widow's weeds" for a great many years having returned home.  In 1585, she married the cleric Francis Lindsell at Anstey.  Lindsell had entered Cambridge University in 1568 and obtained his degree in 1572 and his Masters in 1575.  He was made Deacon of Peterborough Cathedral and then almost immediately made the Rector of  Strethall in Essex, some 7 miles from Anstey in late 1575.  He was clearly a widower when he married Dorothy.  Tiny Strethall has a lovely Saxon Church.

In 1585 it was Lindsell who drew up his father in law Robert Ginn's will (he signs as "Francis Lindsell the writer" (below)

Lindsell certainly had a son Thomas (also a cleric) but it seems doubtful that it could have been by Dorothy.  Francis was a bit of a rebel as he appears in church disciplinary records and he would not have had an easy time of it in Protestant Elizabethan England, as the Lord of the Manor of Strethall was from a well known Catholic family.  Francis did not take immorality lightly, as there is a record that in early 1607 he sacked his servant  Robert Parker who had begat a child with another servant of his (likely the maid) Agnes Ewens.  To avoid the child being chargeable to the parish under the Poor laws, he took Robert's father John to the Quarter Sessions to get him to pay for the child.

Lindsell was the Rector of Strethall for an amazing 63 years, dying as the incumbant in 1638 which on my guess would have put him in his late 80s.  The Strethall Registers have not suvived for this period, so I do not know what happened to Dorothy

Margaret - died a maid in 1580,  In his will of 1587 her father left one of his grand daughters  "the greatest hutch [clothes chest] that her aunt Margaret had whilst she lived".

Elizabeth -  married Jeremy Harding of Hartford, Huntingdonshire in 1563.  She had a number of children by him.  Jeremy  died in 1568 and by 1570 or so she was the wife of Richard Cannon by whom she had a gigantic family, many of whom lived to marry.

The above was pretty much the summary of what I had until 2024.  then, by chance Barry Ginn a regular correspondent discovered a court case and I began to dig further.

Jeremy Harding came from an old (back to the 1400s) yeoman family in Hartford in Huntingdonshire (near Huntingdon) and how Elizabeth met him is an eternal mystery.  He appears to have died suddenly in 1568 and there is no will that I know of.  I knew from Ginn wills that Elizabeth remarried a Richard Cannon by 1570 and they lived at Hartford, believing logically until 2024 that he was a local man.  He wasn't.  Richard Cannon came from Hoddesdon in the far south of Hertfordshire.  Again, how it worked out that she married him I have absolutely no idea !

But Richard and Liz settled back in Hartford.  Richard styled himself a Gentleman (but he could not write) in part because he had quite a lot of rental income from lands and houses he had retained and rented out in Hoddesdon and Great Amwell in Hertfordshire.  He also had quite a lot of land, much by lease, in Hartford and roundabout and had quite a lot of sheep, cows and a fair number of horses, both working and animals for riding.  I am particularly fond of the mention of the  "old sorrel Nag" that he left Liz when he died.

Richard Cannon died in 1603. His will (as Cannan in Hunts Archives) seems to be the original rather than a Probate copy and runs to 11 pages, more a War and Peace" than a will.

It is apparent from that will that Richard was on very good terms with his wife's Ginn relations in Hertfordshire and in Huntingdon, a relationship obviously kept over decades, as while Liz was his executor "my wyfe's brother Arthur Gynne Yeoman of Hertfordshire" was one Overseer, as was "my cozen William Whittlesey Gentleman" (of Huntingdon - husband of Sarah Ginn his wife's niece).  But although Richard had obviously been stepfather to the Harding children since they were toddlers, they were very much not his, as the third Overseer was "my wyfe's son Thomas Harding".

Liz died in 1613, also leaving a will (under Cannam - Hunts Archives) but sadly not mentioning any Ginns.  But providing invaluable information on her children.  Research on these continues.

The Hardings

Thomas - was the eldest.  He was described as a Yeoman in the Court case of 1596 (see post of    ).  He had borrowed money off of his uncle Robert Ginn of Wyton in Hunts.  He married Eleanor/Ellen Lovell in 1592.  He was alive 1613 and living in Hartford

Henry - died in infancy

Elizabeth - was alive in 1613 (about 45) as the wife of a chap with the surname Fielding.  I cannot trace her.

The Cannons

Susan - was born in 1571.  She married a George Sandifer.  This is a rare name but not so much around Huntingdon.  She had a daughter Elizabeth who like Susan was alive in 1613.  George had died.  Not traced

Richard the elder - born in 1572.  The heir.  He married Margaret Mott in 1601.  A Gentleman.  Both he and his wife were alive and of Hartford in 1613.  Liz Cannon left Marge some household items.  Being researched

Thomas - born 1573.  He was alive in 1603 but dead by 1613.  I cannot trace him at present.

Frances - she was born in 1574 and married Matthew Rooke in 1598.  She was dead by 1613.

Ann - 1576.  Dead by 1613

John - 1577 - he married Alice Robbins in 1606.  Alive 1613.  Being researched

Arthur - we have no date for him but likely about 1580.  He is untraced.  He was alive in 1613.  Obviously named after Liz's bro.

Bridget - 1581 - she married Thomas Whiles in 1601.  She was alive 1613.

Richard the younger.  There were two.  The family followed the custom of having two children of the same name to ensure the Christian name lived on.  The first "the younger" was born in 1585 and died infancy.  The second was born in 1586 and was alive and mentioned in his father's will of 1603.  But he was dead by 1613.  Being researched.

Frances -  married ______ Fordham.  I have not traced her

Arthur - married Mary Pakeman and founded "Arthur Ginn's Charity" which still exists !  See post of 21st May 2014

Sarah  - married Robert Collin of Beauchamp Roding in Essex at Anstey in 1576.  His was a major yeomen family and he had some gentry cousins with a coat of arms.  They had a number of children, Arthur, Thomas, Robert, Sarah and Joan.  None of the baptism records survive, so this is important for Collin researchers.

Robert Collin's ancestry in the Rodings in Essex was very old, his father was Stephen, his grandfather John.  They were cousins of the Ayletts of Leaden Roding and it was clearly Sarah who introduced her nephew Henry Ginn to Judith Aylett of Leaden Roding - see post of 20th July 2012.

Robert Collin died in 1590, likely in his early 40s and Sarah remarried someone with the surname Mead or Wright

Henry Ginn of Anstey d. 1539

Henry Ginn was logically born in about 1470, give or take a few years either side.  In about 1500 he married a lady called Katherine, I have never been able to deduce her maiden name, but as he moved to Anstey from Aston it is likely she came of a yeoman family from that village and brought land with her as a dowry when they married.  In 2020 I speculated that she was a daughter of William Mores or Morris of Biggin in Anstey (see below).  William died in 1526 and I have yet to trace the will he is supposed to have left, but Henry and two further generations of Ginns dealt with William's bequests and trust lands for the next eighty years, and it seems doubtful that they would have done that had he not been a close relation.

Henry was quite a prosperous Yeoman farmer and it is known from Feet of Fines records of 1524 that he acquired land in neighbouring Barkway in that year. In the Lay Subsidy records of that same year he was right at the top of the list of the farmers of Anstey paying the tax.

It is known (because he mentions it in his will) that Henry Ginn was a member of the Guild of St Stephen.  This was not a craft guild but a religious one.  Henry was still a Catholic (despite  the newly created Church of England) and tradesmen and farmers of his day joined religious guilds and societies (to which they paid a subscription) so that when they died the guild members and priests of the guild would say prayers for them and their soul to see them safely through Purgatory and into Heaven.  There was a Chantry Chapel at Anstey Church and a small altar (parts are still there, though mostly destroyed at the Reformation) where there would have been a small image of St Stephen and the guild members would have had a special ceremony on St Stephen's Day (26th December) each year.  In the image of Anstey Church above the chapel is that directly facing us in the middle.

It is also known that Henry was sufficiently prosperous to own weapons and "armour" and to be able to bring these to the muster of the local militia (the force used for the army at this time) because in 1535 a Muster Roll at the National Archives has Henry described as having "the harness complete of a Billman" ie the armour and weapons of a Halberdier, one of only two men at the muster capable of doing so.

                                      Tudor Militiamen

Henry would have had a metal pot helmet, a leather jack (a thick leather jerkin studded with metal for upper body protection) and a Bill or Halberd, the Billman and the Halberdier being the two men to the left on the illustration above.

As late as 2017 it was found that in early 1530/1 he and a Robert Royston of Barkway were  Executors for a certain William Morice or Morris of Biggin in Anstey, a Husbandman.  To recover a debt owed to the said William from  a Robert Cressy of Cheshunt, they sued the latter in the Court Of Common Pleas in Westminster Hall and this rather splendid document is shown below.

In 2020 it was found that the same William Morris had died in 1526 and by his will (Victoria County History) had left lands to the church of Anstey for obits in perpetuity (his being a good Catholic) and that Henry upon William's death had taken land in Barkway upon trust in regard to almshouses as a bequest in William's will.  These almshouses as mentioned above passed down to Henry Ginn, this Henry's grandson (see post of 6th July 2012).

 Henry and Katherine's home was a farm or tenement known as "Passmers" the exact location or extent of which in Anstey (manorial records not surviving for this period) I have not been able to identify.  It is known that he also bought land in Barkway and acquired  lands in Great and Little Hormead to give to his two younger sons upon their marriage.

Henry Ginn died in 1539 (will at National Archives).  He left many bequests, to the guild and family of course, but I am particularly fond of his demand of his eldest son Robert that he provide firing for his mother and lay the same "at her dore" to keep Katherine warm.  Henry was about 65 when he died.  Katherine continued to pay the Lay Subsidy in her own right and having lived a long, long life, died in 1562, undoubtedly in her 80s - a marvellous age for the time.

Henry and Katherine had four children that were alive in 1539, Robert the heir, Thomas, William and Margery.  Sadly I know nothing of what happened to Margery, but all three sons have Ginn or Gynn descendants alive today and all will be the subject of later posts.

John Ginn of Aston (d. 1557)

Thomas Ginn of Aston (d 1526/7) (see earlier post) and his wife Joan had the following children living at his death:- William, John, Walter, Joan, Margery, Thomas and Elizabeth.  Joan remarried Lawrence Benn.

Thomas died at the turn of January/February 1526/7 (Henry the 8th had been on the throne some 17 years) and there was an immediate dispute as to the ownership of "Garetts".

It seems clear that Thomas' eldest son was called William and it is equally clear that Thomas did not get along with him as he  left the farm to his son John in his will (Huntingdon Archives).  William protested to the manorial court in Aston and there was an argument as to whether William was, in fact, the eldest son - the argument ending in a compromise whereby John got the family farm but had to make some financial recompense to William.  What follows is a rough translation of the Latin entry in the manorial register kindly translated for me (my Latin being OK but not that good) by Sue Flood, the senior archivist at the Hertfordshire Record Office

 

"That Thomas Gynne at around the time of the Feast of the conversion of St Paul (25th January) 1526/7 surrendered into the hands of George White one tenement with messuage with certain other lands and tenements in Aston called Gerrards to the use of John Gynne son of the said Thomas to be held to him according to the customs of the manor at the said customary rent.  And further that William Gynne eldest son of the said Thomas on Tuesday next after the Feast P.B.V.M (2nd February) 1526/7 (note that Thomas's Will was dated 31st January) surrendered into the hands of Edward Ibgrave the same property to the use of the said John Gynne for which surrender John owes to the said William 40s out of which John still owes 4d.  And further it is not known how old William is.  And further that the said John Gynne on the bargain made between John and William is to hold a calf or 10 sheep or 20s for the said William until he seeks them from the said John and further that John will give William food as often as he comes to the house of the said John and further that the said John promises Joan Benn his mother now the wife of Lawrence Benn that he William will not lack for food as long as John is able to administer the same"

So John Ginn here inherited the farm. In 1525 or so (this is still before parish registers) he married a lady called Margaret, later research establishing her as Margaret Cherry from the Mundens.

Her maternal grandfather was a certain John Cheef or Cheyfe of Great Munden.  He was born in around 1430.  He married and had issue but only two children survived him - a son William and a daughter Margaret. This Margaret married someone with the surname Cherry and was the mother of the Margaret who married John Ginn. The court case tells us that  William Cheef inherited two tenements (farms) on the death of his father called "Osbornes" and "Wakeleys".  William himself married a lady called Cecily whose maiden name was almost certainly Sell.  William Cheef died in 1507 (will at National Archives)and he made John Sell of Much Hadham  his executor.  William gave "Osbournes" to this John Sell (whose son Simon moved to Munden to claim it) but directed that "Wakeleys" should go to a third party, and if this third party died then the farm should be sold for alms to the poor.  Cecily Cheef died in 1522 (will at National Archives) and directed that John  Sell should carry out her husband's wishes.  This he did not, nor did Simon Sell after John died in 1529 as the Sells kept "Wakeleys" for themselves.  Margaret Cherry had had four daughters who survived her - Katherine, wife of Francis Bele in 1533, Joan wife to Bennet Powyer, Elizabeth wife of John Shepherd and Margaret Cherry, now wife to John Ginn here.  In 1533 the four husbands, on behalf of their wives, launched an action (C1/805/50-51at National Archives) against Simon Sell and must have succeeded as it is known (Feet of Fines records for 1541) that John and Margaret subsequently acquired freehold land in Great Munden.

As is well known, King Henry the 8th turned England from the Catholic faith and created the Church of England in order to divorce Katherine of Aragon and marry his second wife Ann Boleyn.

Now, Aston Manor was held by Reading Abbey, and John Ginn held his lands directly from them, under the form of medieval manorial ownership known as "copyhold".  Reading Abbey had always been very fair to John and his ancestors, keeping the dues he owed them low and allowing the Ginn family of Aston to prosper, this was to change.

When Henry the 8th broke from the Roman Catholic Church he also decided to break the power and wealth of the Abbeys and Monasteries of England and take their lands and give and sell the same to his cronies to enrich himself and his friends.

In 1539, the Abbot of Reading Abbey who protested both at the move away from the Catholic faith and the "Dissolution of the Monasteries" as it was called was executed on the orders of the King and the lands of Reading Abbey seized, including Aston.  Aston Manor was now given by the King to the Boteler family of Watton, but the Botelers themselves leased it to a certain Roger Amis, a Norfolk so called "gentleman" for 21 years from 1540.

Roger Amis was not best pleased when he found that John Ginn was a major peasant farmer in the village, and very shortly afterwards he took both John Ginn and his good friend William Benn (who was to later marry John's widow) to court (see C1/935/11-12 at the National Archives).  Roger's case was, effectively, that John was too prosperous for a peasant and basically must have been doing something a bit dodgy (which was OK for a gentleman of course).  The allegation was that the Ginn family were holding the farm of the Lord of the Manor (and Amis wanted it back).  Both John and William Benn had a difficult time for a while, mostly because they were too busy farming to go up to London to fight the court case, but eventually John Ginn got three of his firiends to go up to London to give evidence in his favour - Luke Akaster, George White (friend of John's father Thomas) and Robert Mitchell, all farmers of Aston and nearby.  These men were to give evidence that John had not done anything wrong, that the manor had granted the farm to the Ginn family since "time out of mind of any man" ie that no man living could remember when the Ginn family had not held it - the stuff genealogists can only dream of !  There follows a transcript of the evidence of Luke Akaster:

Luke Akaster of Aston aforesaid Husbandman aged 66 yeres sworn and executed the day and yere above written saith that he hath dwelt in Aston aforesaid the space of 20 yeres and also have dwelte nere unto Aston 30 yeres by reson whereof he knows the said tenement called Garetts lying in Aston aforesaid now being in the tenure of the said John Gynne which said tenement with the appurtenances hath bin used by the space of 50 yeres to this deponents perfect knowledge to be granted by the Lord of the said Manor for the time being by copy or court rolle and by comon reporte so hath bin used to be granted time oute of mind; And this deponent hath knowen the grandfather of the said John Gynne, and also the father of the said John Gynne and also the said John Gynne himselfe to holde the said tenement with the lands thereto belonging by the space of 50 yeres amongst them one after an other; And non know the sed tenement nether the land thereto belonging to be occupied by the Lorde of the said Manor nor by their farms nor farmers as parcell of the demesnes of the said Manor and now or otherwise cannot depose.

So John Ginn won the court case and he and William went home.  John continued to prosper and added some land to the farm.

    Copy of Aston Manor Rental 1540 (Hertfordshire Archives)

John and Margaret had a good number of surviving children, and in 1553 it was decided that their son and heir John the elder should marry his second cousin, Katherine Ginn of Anstey -tying the two families together again.

Unfortunately the England of the time was subject to periodic outbreaks of plague, virulent influenza epidemics and sundry fevers and in 1557 there was a major epidemic of what was called the "sweating sickness" likely a fatal influenza and sadly John Ginn died of it, he was about 58.

John left a will (Huntingdonshire Archives).  Margaret Ginn was granted the farm for her life, but in 1559 she remarried William Benn and the Aston manorial records show the farm passing on to her son John, widow's rights under manorial custom disappearing on remarriage.  William Benn died in 1564 (will Huntingdonshire Archives) but I do not believe Margaret outlived him.

John and Margaret, as I said, had a number of surviving children.  Isobel seems to have died a maid in 1561.  George is a mystery, but he likely died young as did Henry.  Alice was the wife of a John Adams in 1557 and  Joan the wife of Edmund Woods - neither marriage has been traced - this being so early.

But there were two Johns, the elder and the younger, it being a Tudor custom (so many died young) to have two sons of the same name if it is was important, and these two Johns will be the subject of later posts.

William Ginn of Aston (d.1520)

William Ginn of Aston (circa 1450-1520) was a Yeoman farmer who owned a farm/tenement called "Garretts" or "Jarretts" in Aston of about 200 acres.  He was a peasant, but a prosperous one and is known by me to have had two sons - Thomas (the elder) who died in 1526/7 and Henry who died in 1539.  Court cases, manorial records and wills establish Thomas as the elder son of William and the fact that Henry's granddaughter Katherine married Thomas' grandson John established the sibling connection, the grandchildren married by way of tying in to the two branches the blood ownership of "Garretts".


It is believed (but cannot be proved) that William's wife was called Margery, largely because both Thomas and Henry had daughters of that name.  I have no idea when  Margery died, this being before the creation of parish registers of course.

                                        Aston Church

There is only one set of documents that survive (from 1507 - when Henry the 7th - father of Henry the 8th was King) that reference William.  This is a Rental (ie a list of the Manorial Copyholders) which show William as having the same land and paying the same rent as his son and grandson were later to do.  The Rental (DE AS 85  Herts Archives) is below.

What is clear is that in about 1450 William Ginn was born in Aston, and what is equally clear is that he was born in Aston End, which is a hamlet on the borders of Stevenage, in fact parts of the lands that William held have now been absorbed into the parish of Stevenage.

This is obviously nearly a century before the earliest parish registers.  And I never thought that I would know any more, but then in 2023 something of a miracle occurred.

When I did the earliest research in the early 1990s, there was a manorial document that the Herts Archives could not date.  Following the intervention of the National Archives in the last few years (circa 2013), it has been dated to circa 1450 (DE AS 93).

This document shows a Thomas Ginn with a house called Hallond and the same manorial fields (Banleys and Hamleys) that the later Ginns of this family had in the 1500s.  The relevant page of the document is below.  At the same time, I was contacted by a correspondent (Barry Ginn of Canada) who had found that in 1440 and 1441 a Thomas Ginn (clearly the same man as in the Rental of c1450) was prosperous enough to be employing permanent (the average peasant would never had employed help save perhaps at harvest) labour to assist him on his lands.

Conclusion - Thomas Ginn was perhaps father - more likely grandfather to William Ginn - he lived at Aston End.

It is my opinion and that of Professor Mark Bailey (a specialist in Medieval Manors) that Thomas Ginn took part of the Aston Manor Demesne in the early 1400s, this is discussed more fully in the Introduction.  He may well have  taken advantage of the availability of land after the huge decrease in population in the wake of the Black Death - but we will discuss that elsewhere as I say.

So William here was far from the first Ginn in Aston, and his family likely originated in Stevenage.  

He died in circa 1520, there is no manorial record surviving for the year that he died and as for Margery she is obviously absent from the records.

William and Margery had two sons that I know of

Thomas Ginn (d. 1526/7) inherited the family farm, stayed in Aston and a Ginn family descended from him established itself in (amongst other places) Welwyn and Datchworth, Walthamstow, Hatfield and Essendon, Weston and Clothall and Broxbourne  as well as both leaving and returning to Aston at a later date.  Individuals will be discussed in more detail later.


Henry Ginn (d. 1539) married Katherine and moved to Anstey in Hertfordshire where, by means of the survival of three sons - Robert, Thomas and William he established a vast Ginn family, members of whom will be discussed at length in later posts.

Introduction

Hi

My name is Michael Taylor and since 1989 I have been undertaking a One Name Study into the Ginn family of Hertfordshire in England.

This blog has been created to share my research and hopefully that of others, to correct some of the errors that researchers (having seen my research) have made in posts on sites such as Ancestry and, perhaps most importantly of all - to act as some sort of memorial for the Ginn family of Hertfordshire.

Various descendants of certain families have added and are adding information along the way and, in particular, my fellow  Ginn researcher Michael Ginn of Billericay has added a lot of information on the family from 1837 to the present.

The first Ginn reference in Hertfordshire I have found dates from 1307 when a certain Richard Gynne or Ginn is referred to in the Poll Tax/Lay Subsidy record of that year - I have seen the original entry at the National Archives.

By the late medieval period (1400s) there were broadly three distinct (but likely related from earlier times) Ginn families in Hertfordshire which I have broken down loosely into:-

The Aston Family
The Stevenage Family
The Ware Family

1.  The Aston Family

This is the family that has the most (virtually all) of the Ginn  family descendants arising from Hertfordshire alive today.  The main ancestor of this family is William Ginn, a yeoman farmer c1450-c1520 who will be dealt with in more detail in my next post.  Chiefly, it is this man's descendants that I have been and still am researching.

William's father, perhaps grandfather, seems to be a Thomas Ginn, also a prosperous Yeoman farmer and born as early as the late 1300s, almost certainly in Stevenage, so these two families are related, how being unknown, this is so early for records to survive.

2.  The Stevenage Family

Also largely yeoman farmers, and Stevenage being adjacent to Aston, this family can be said to have died out (but see below) by the 1700s, partly due to disease, partly due to a paucity of male children.  There were some interesting members of this family however and they will be dealt with at some point.

3.  The Ware family

The first known of this family, a Richard Ginn who had a son, also Richard, in 1617 in Ware has long been a mystery.  There is no information to convincingly connect him directly or indirectly to either the Aston or Stevenage families.  Richard jnr fought in the English Civil War.  But this family died out.

The later Ware family have descendants (in part taking the name Gynne or even Ghinn), some quite interesting  and even notable, so the point is of some importance.

This later Ginn family in Ware are almost certainly a far flung outpost of the Stevenage Ginn family (as indeed are the Aston Ginn family to be fair if you go back far enough) so, ultimately, all roads lead to Stevenage.............