Arthur Ginn of Bocking d. 1748

Arthur here, the brother of Thomas in my last post, has the title of being the last Arthur Ginn.  Not the last in this blog, nor the last to be mentioned here in the Fyfield family, but the last surviving Arthur Ginn to be a direct descendant of Robert Ginn in my post of  25th June,  a series of Arthurs that covered nearly 250 years.

Arthur was left £100 in his father’s will of 1687.  Both  Clarks and Gibbs were charged with the payment

In 1702, the Deeds report that Arthur agreed to take £80 in full settlement of his inheritance, £40 from Fenwick and a £40 bond from his brother Tom.  It seems questionable whether the second £40 was ever paid given Tom's financial troubles and his death in 1707.

Arthur was supposed by me to have led an uneventful life, (and in truth I knew little about him though had traced his burial) and then as little as a fortnight ago I found out something quite surprising about him, so it is wise in genealogy to keep an open mind.

Arthur was in Waltham Abbey in Essex in 1722, he was a servant (ie an employee - likely a clerk or in  the shop) of a William Marriot who had a tallow chandler's business in the High Street, not far from the Abbey Church.  Arthur was then 42 .  He had managed to get a certain Ann Waller of the town pregnant and in that year the child was born.   Arthur initially stood up to his responsibilities, admitted fathering the child and obviously at first instance had thoughts of marrying Ann as the child was baptised "Arthur Gin".  

Unfortunately things deteriorated rather badly after that, the relationship fell apart, Ann seems to have decamped to London and next we hear is the burial of  little Arthur "Arthur Gin a foundling of St Leonards Shoreditch London" who had obviously been abandoned and left to the parish to bury late that same year.  Little Arthur Ginn is buried at Waltham Abbey.

Because of the financial dealings of his sister in law Rebecca (see last post) Arthur, as he had had some financial interest in the property Clarks until 1702, was required to declare any such interest relinquished in 1725 and the deed is shown below with his signature.  He was accounted "Mr" on the deeds, being technically son of a gentleman, even if financially he could not be considered such.  It is possible that Rebecca paid Arthur any monies still outstanding from the second £40 as part of that deal.

 In 2007, I discovered that Arthur died at Bocking in Essex in 1748 with a quoted age of 70 – he was  68. There is no will.  With him went the last Arthur Ginn.