Robert Ginn of Ely d.1605

The son of Robert Ginn snr of Wyton in my post of 7th July, and brother of Thomas in my last post, very little is known about Robert Ginn here. From the 1960s onwards the descendants of the Ely family have being researching and had traced their family back to Robert and Ann as early as 1969, a summary of their work being deposited at the Society of Genealogists.  Whilst they had managed to research back to the 1587 marriage, they had not known of any link to Hertfordshire, and did not research and, in some cases, ignored the existence of collateral branches and other entries.  My research thus adds considerably to what is known of the family pre Civil War.  It is also likely that a great deal more will be known in due time when I get access to the Ely archive in the Cambridge University Library.

We do not know what Robert did for a living, although he was certainly a Yeoman before he moved to Ely and may thereafter have gone into trade. We do know that he inherited the bulk of his father's money in 1596 and thus was reasonably prosperous.

He married Ann Smythe (an Ely girl) at Ely in 1587, but there is absolutely no record linking him to Ely thereafter until 1593 when he is listed in the Lay Subsidy, being taxed on lands.  None of his children appear in the Ely Trinity register until 1605 and it seems clear that the family lived in Trinty parish after they moved there. The registers for St Mary Ely do not survive for this period, but research in Ely Library in 2019 (the accounts for St Mary are published and at times have lists of the congregation) made it clear that Robert Ginn never lived in St Marys.

It was thought (until 2020) that I would never find the answer to this, ie what was happening between 1587 and the 1590s, although I had assumed that the couple's children were born in Wyton and Houghton. Then to my amazement in 2020 I discovered that some manorial records for Wyton and Houghton survived for the period, and they show Robert and  Ann living there (KHMR/14/1 Hunts Archives).  The first record dates to 1592 (extract below) and Robert Gynne "jnr" is acquiring14 acres of land and a house (in the occupation of Margaret Steere, widow) which in 1593 Robert transferred back to his father.  The suggestion is that Robert and Ann had a few children in Houghton and Wyton, probably all there ever were, from 1588 to say 1594 and in about the early to mid 1590s, Robert and family moved to Ely.

In 1596 his father died and he came into his inheritance.  The same property that he gave to his father in 1593 is transferred back to him, via his mother (below).

At the time of his father's death there is also an Obitus in the Hedleys manorial roll at Barkway in Herts (HRO) as Robert inherited a small amount of land from his dad.  I reproduce the entry here because it is important to this study.  He did not hold the land for long, however, selling it in 1597.

But, interestingly, there is no evidence that Robert sold the land in Houghton and Wyton, the manorial records survive to 1608, perfectly to 1602, and Robert is neither mentioned in the list of jurors (so he was in Ely) nor as selling the land after his father's death.  So Robert kept at least some foothold in Hunts, though the property (as in 1592, 93 and 96) was clearly let out.

Robert Ginn died in Ely, Trinity in December 1605, just after the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot.  He was 41.  Letters of Administration were to be granted to Ann (Cambridge University Library) but she declined them in favour of a local gentleman, Thomas Jarvice or Jarvis.  Jarvis does not seem (from the limited information I have) to have been a relation of Robert or Ann.  He swore that Robert now held no lands or goods worth more than £5 outside Ely, so the Hunts lands had gone by then.  As the administrator he effectively became guardian/trustee (at least in regard to the freehold lands Robert may have held - copyhold may have been held by Ann temporarily) for the under age heir (likely Arthur - below) until Arthur came of age (likely around 1610).  There is some question as to when Thomas Jarvis died - an entry for Thomas Jarvice Gent. occurs at Ely St Mary in 1613.  But a Thomas Jarvis married an Agnes Root at Ely St Trinity in 1590 and an Agnes died (leaving a will) in 1611 as a widow.  At the moment (2020) Thomas Jarvis is being researched because he could be important to this post. He was party to a court action regarding West Fenn [sic] Farm in 1598/9.  There is a West Fen Road in Ely to this day.

Previous researchers seem unaware, but Ann (an eligible widow) remarried.  In 1606, she married a William Payne of Wilburton (just south of Ely) who was a middle-aged widower with children himself and a man of some substance, appearing many times in the Lay Subsidy.  Ann died at Wilburton in 1633, aged about 70.

Robert and Ann clearly had a number of children, but only Arthur, Richard and Robert jnr are known:

Arthur - one of only two sons documented as Robert and Ann's -see next post

Richard - I am something of a "post scriptum" to work on this man and his descendants.  Previous researchers concluded as early as 1969 that Richard was Robert and Ann's son.  All the descendants claimed this without documentary or even solid circumstantial evidence and without any apparent knowledge of the existence of Arthur.  Although I researched this man and his descendants there was a nagging doubt in my mind as to his parentage until 2021.  Then it became obvious (when Cambridgeshire Assize records became available) that Arthur and Richard Ginn were brothers and likely went into business together.   The prior researchers on this family are all now sadly dead themselves. A Dr Herb Brown of the USA did a huge amount of work on his ancestors in the late 1960s and early 1970s with the assistance of a non related Ely archivist/researcher Reg Holmes.  These two together did some quite remarkable work on the Ely Ginn/Genn family, though were ignorant of Arthur as I say.  In 2000, their work (repeated virtually verbatim) was produced in the booklet of another descendant, Robert Seymour Genn, which has been deposited at the Society of Genealogists.  The only original research in that booklet appears to relate to the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries.

Other descendants/researchers, namely an Alma Louise Genn and Wylodene Morgan produced a study of some American descendants of this man in 1995, this being deposited at the Family History Library held by the Mormons in Salt Lake City.  Wydolene “Dene” Morgan and I have had an interesting correspondence. 

 See post of 23rd September 2012

Robert - died likely a teen in November 1605 at Ely Trinity