John Ginn of Aston d. 1592

John was the heir (being eldest son of John and Margaret in my post of  24th June) to "Garetts" or "Jaretts" and its (by his time) 240 acres.  The Aston and Anstey Ginns had obviously kept in touch, because in 1553 John married Katherine Ginn of Anstey, Robert Ginn's eldest daughter.  So we have a union between the heir to the main Aston property, and the eldest daughter of the wealthiest of the Anstey/Great Hormead clan.  It was a good match, and was doubtless arranged so that the Anstey Ginns would continue to have an interest in "Garetts".  The Stevenage Ginns did something similar.

In 1561 something of a financial disaster occurred to this family.  Briefly, large landowners (ie the gentry) could and did take action in this period to overturn the traditional copyhold/manorial  landholdings of families in order to consolidate (ie bring together in one holding) the lands owned by the gentry and, at the same time, obviously make the gentry a lot richer at the expense of the middle classes and the peasants.  The non-gentry could of course take the matter to court, but legal action was expensive and in the vast majority of cases the gentry were successful, whether they had acted illegally or not.

In short, the Boteler family of Watton, Knights of the Shire and with considerable wealth, used their position as Lords of the Manor of Aston and confiscated all the deeds of the copyholders of Aston by calling for an audit of landholdings and asking the farmers to deposit their deeds (proof of ownership) at the Manor House under the pretext that the deeds needed to be checked.  As you can guess, the deeds were never returned.  We know what happened because in 1662 (far, far too late) John Ginn's great grandson George took the Boteler family and the then owners of "Garrets" to court.

In substitute, the Boteler family offered the copyhold owners of Aston long leases of, in most cases, smaller holdings and less fertile land than the farmers had held by copyhold.  Most Aston families conceded their manorial holdings to the Botelers, but the Ginns held out and refused to take a long lease.  This was obviously because as by far the largest copyhold owners in  Aston (having about four times the land of any other) they had the most to lose.

But, obviously, John was scared that should he die having given up the deeds his sons would have nothing at all to inherit so at some point he knew he would have to do something about it. More problems ensued in 1571.

It was discovered in 2020 that in 1571 John was sued in the Court of Common Pleas in London (CP40 1298)  He was sued for debt.   A George Matthew (a "loder" or carter) had died and an Alexander Smytheman, a Maltman of Hoddesdon in Herts (near Ware where the main maltings were) was sole executor.  I think it likely that John had employed George to carry his barley to the maltings and George died before John paid up.  

                                      The court case

Taking out an action for debt in the Court of Common Pleas which sat  in Westminster Hall in London was a costly and time consuming business, so lawyers had evolved a "legal fiction" to enable proceedings to quicken.  A litigant could bring an action for trespass in the Court of Kings  Bench which court could have people arrested, but as this only had jurisdiction in Middlesex( ie London) litigants had to pretend that the trespass was committed there and issue what was called a "Bill of Middlesex"..  So John Ginn "of London or of Aston in Hertfordshire, yeoman" (as the writ says) was pursued for the debt, likely arrested and dragged before the Court of Common Pleas in Westminster Hall (below) the action for trespass quietly dropped and the writ for the debt (above) issued.

                           The Court of Common Pleas and
                       Westminster Hall were intimidating
        

Obviously, none of this helped John's precarious financial situation and so, in 1573  some nine years after the other tenants gave up, he reluctantly agreed to take a 500 year lease of "Garrets" and some forty inferior acres.  Amazingly, the counterpart of the lease (ie the Boteler's part) survives.  It is huge and a part of my photocopy of same is shown below.

Katherine Ginn (who had had a gigantic family) died in 1585.  If she was 43 when she had her last child (the average) then she was about 58 when she died.  John lived on for a few more years, and then in 1592 “John Gynne - a householder" is entered in the register.  At least the Botelers had let him keep his house !!   He must have been about 60.  I cannot trace a will.

John and Katherine had a gigantic family and many lived to adulthood, but I have only traced a few:

Robert - was alive in 1587 and 1589 but clearly dead by 1592 as he was not the heir

Henry - the heir and ancestor of all known Ginns from this line today- see later post

Dorothy - married William Kent

Margaret, Mary, Arthur and Frances - all alive in 1589 and unmarried - untraced

John - alive in 1587 and either dead or married by 1589. Likely married in Aston to Mary

Katherine and another John died in infancy