William Ginn of Braughing d. 1709

Michael Ginn, mentioned in my post (Ginn Band of Brothers) of 9th August had a number of children.  His son, also Michael, married Lettice Southenwood in 1612 and Michael jnr and Lettice themselves had a number of children, including William (b.1613) who married Elizabeth Malyon at Brent Pelham in 1647.

It is likely that Elizabeth Malyon was herself in her thirties when she married, as she and William only had three children.  William was a Husbandman and died at Great Hormead in 1672 aged 59 (will at ERO).

Original will of William Ginn 1672

It is William and Elizabeth's son William (born in 1648) who is the subject of this post, he is one of the  crucial figures in the Ginn family history of the county, the father of one of the families that around 1700 defied the rates of disease of the time and whose offspring multiplied to give rise to the Ginn families known today.

I had been researching this family for some twenty plus years and never found a marriage entry when, in 2011, I came across the Essex Wills Beneficiary Index and found out through that that Mary Ginn was born Mary Norkin to John Norkin of Braughing, a carpenter, in 1658. William and Mary married in about 1675, when Mary was thus barely seventeen.

William Ginn was a man of ability, determination and con­siderable energy, this is self evident from the records.  He started with little, but worked hard to build a prosperous business.

It is clear that as a young man, William was a Labourer.  However, in 1672 his father died.  William Senior left the Hare Street home (Bradbury House - which had been in the family since the 1500s) to his widow for life, with it then to be split equally between the three children: William Jnr, Henry and Elizabeth.  William Jnr’s mother died in about 1684, which was when he inherited his share of Bradbury House.

It seems pretty clear that William was ambitious.  He looked beyond being a Labourer or Husbandman.  The late seventeenth century seems to have been a time when many Ginns took stock, moved, and/or changed their occupation from agriculture to a trade or service.  The increasing population put pressure on the land, there were too many people, not enough work.  There was certainly a drift towards the towns.

William was an intelligent man.  He saw that he could exploit Hertfordshire's position as the major corn producing county of England; a factor that had made her the third richest county in the country by the late 1600s.  A tiny county at that.  William decided to move into corn dealing and milling.

It was probably in the 1670s when William set up as a Badger.  A Badger was a corn dealer, a man who moved from market to market, buying grain cheap and selling it dear.  By 1676 William had had cause to move to Braughing, two miles down the road from Hare Street.  At the same time he married Mary.

William prospered, and by the 1680s was utilising what resources he had to realise his ultimate aim - a Mill of his own.

In 1684 or so his mother died, as we have seen.  William mortgaged his one third interest in Bradbury House to a rather shady character called Adam Corbett.  Corbett was a publican from Great Chishill.  This was a bad move, as soon there was a dispute as to whether William had repaid the mortgage.  This dispute ended up in the courts of law, and a number of papers from that case survive and are at the Herts Record Office.  The dispute seems to have taken place in the Courts of Common Law (the proceedings thus being in Latin) although the HRO documents (forming part of Bradbury House's Abstract of Title) have been translated in part.  The dispute ended with William having to pay Corbett the substantial sum of £40, in return for which Corbett transferred back the interest in Bradbury House.  This seems a bad deal, as I doubt that even the whole of Bradbury House was worth that, and wonder whether William's debt outstripped the security.  Corbett returned this one third interest in 1686.

By 1689 William had bought out the interests of his brother and sister, because he mortgaged Bradbury House again, but this time to a safer person: James Perkins, the Vicar of Braughing and a man whom William seems to have made a friend.  The deed survives (HRO).

It must have been at some point in the 1680s when William realised his ambition and bought Gatesbury Watermill.  He did not acquire the freehold, because that was owned by the Manor, but he either acquired the copyhold (probably) or leased it.

Gatesbury Watermill sat astride the River Rib, south of Braughing.  It was an ancient mill (being mentioned in the 1086 Domesday Book) and in William's day was a white weather-boarded structure, with a nearby mill house.  All was rebuilt in the 1700s, the mill being demolished in 1906.  The 18th century mill house survives, presumably on the same site as William's day.

                                 A watermill of the period

The period from the 1670s to 1707 must have been a good one for this family.  They were quite prosperous, not only having the Mill (the best in their area) but also Bradbury House and a cottage in Braughing Street (both of which they let out).  The cottage was freehold and William had the vote from the earliest record of 1697 (see QPE/1-3 HRO)  They not only had an income from the Mill, but also from William's corn dealing.  The couple also seems to have acted as pawnbrokers, in an age without rural banks.  William was a respected member of the community, being Churchwarden for at least 1702-4, and probably other years of which no records survive.  The Vicar certainly saw them as good solid citizens, describing them as "Goodman and Goodwife Ginn" in at least one of his mentions of them in addenda to the mortgage.  The terms "Goodman” or "Goodwife" (sometimes rendered as "Goody") were common titles given to the dependable non-gentry citizens of any village in the 17th century.

They lived in modest rural comfort, and we get a picture from their wills of a large family, brewing their own beer and entertaining themselves of an evening to the tunes of Mary's violin or fiddle.

 The influence of the Norkin family lived on, a number of the sons becoming involved with woodworking - Thomas Ginn being apprenticed by his father in 1704 into the Worshipful Company of Carpenters in London, with Henry training as a Wheelwright.

Things went badly wrong however in 1707.  William either had a serious illness, or (more likely) a bad accident.  We know it was bad, because he made his will that year and he also did not apply for a corn dealing licence for that year or the next.  It is probably safe to assume that he was virtually bedridden for the last two years of his life.

                                      Braughing church

The couple had another piece of bad luck in 1708, because we know (from the deeds) that Bradbury House burned down.  In 1707 that cottage had been tenanted by William's cousin by marriage (the widow Grace Harradine).  William and Mary decided that the best thing to do was sell it (perhaps they needed the money) because in the same year they sold it to a Thomas Keen for £10 (a knockdown price).  This conveyance survives (HRO) and is the only surviving document with William and Mary's signatures or marks.

From 1707, I think that we can be sure that the business was in decline.  William's eldest son was certainly in trouble, he borrowed heavily from his mother and a new vicar (see later) collecting the Tithes, remarked upon it.

William Ginn died in 1709, he was 61.  His Will (ERO) does not mention the Mill (see Land Tax/Parish Rate/Tithe records at HRO for that) but it would have been automatically inherited by his eldest son (as it was).  The will does mention the cottage at Hormead (in fact sold in 1708, as we have seen) and the tenanted Braughing Cottage.

It is clear that Mary continued to live at the Mill house, with her son William Jnr, as she continued to hold the tenanted Braughing Street cottage.  However, her son's borrowing from her was a burden as she had to leave something to the other children, they had a large family.  So, although she "wrote off" some £30 of William Jnr's borrowings in her will, it is clear that he had to repay the rest before her death.  She must have made this clear to him, because by 1722 (Land Tax) he had disposed of the Mill, paid his debts, and bought a cottage with the balance.  Ultimately then, William Ginn Snr's dreams had come to nought.

Mary died in 1723, leaving us a will (ERO) which paints quite a picture of family life.

William and Mary had a good number of children, including five sons, all of whom married and had issue:

Elizabeth - married William Smith, a tailor of Braughing in 1699

Sarah - married Samuel Mason of Braughing in 1704 in London

William - married Sarah Russell in 1708 - see later post

John - married Susan Walford in 1710 - see later post

Henry - married Carolina Rickett (nee Wolfe) in 1718 - see later

Thomas - married Sarah Ton in London in 1712 - see later

Edward - married Mary ______ in circa 1723. I have yet to find a marriage entry.  In that same year he was left £10 and his mother's fiddle in her will. They had sons Edward 1724 and John 1727 and then disappear from the Braughing records.  Edward senior could have moved to Great Dunmow in Essex and his son Edward continue his line there (see my blog Ginn Genealogical Gleanings) or he might not and his son John be the John who married at Farnham (see post of  23rd March 2013).  What I have always been certain of though is that his line survived

Ann - married Edward Wilson at Little Hadham in 1717

Joan - died in infancy