James Ginn of Bishops Stortford d. 1742

The third brother, James remained in Bishop's Stortford.  He is one of the Ginn family that I would have liked to have met, seemingly a very nice bloke from the records, but unfortunately he departed the planet over two hundred years before I arrived. He married Susanna Patmore at Bishops Stortford in 1701, he was 30.  Susanna’s father was Moses Patmore of Stortford, the family originally coming from the nearby Hadhams, Moses remembered James in his will.

James Ginn was a Grocer, and he had a small shop in (where else) North Street.  I believe he leased it.

James was a passably educated man for those times, and he liked to involve himself in events around the town.  He was Overseer of the Poor for at least one year, and was almost perpetually one of the two collectors of the Land Tax.  As such, numerous papers signed by him survive, including various documents he witnessed (including his brother Philip's will).

James Ginn as I say seems to have been a nice chap.  He was a very good Uncle to the children of his brother Philip, and was also close to Aquila.  His prized possessions seem to have been a silver tipped cane and a large Bible.  I have visions of a little old man wandering around Stortford in an old wig, tapping his walking stick and calling on the traders to collect the Land Tax.

He and Susanna did not have any children.  James died in 1742 aged 71 and is buried in Bishops Stortford churchyard, a beautiful church and scarcely changed since his day.  He left a will (ERO) in which he left his property between various nephews and nieces. He was very careful in his bequest of the dearly loved cane and Bible.  I think that I would have liked James. Susanna died in 1755; she was 82.

                                

NB.  In James Ginn’s will there is mention of a James Ginn Searle, a “kinsman”.  There was no obvious clue who this was and it was of little interest to me until 2008 or so when it was discovered that James Ginn Searle was quite well known in the area.  So far as I can deduce this man was the son of a John Searle of Bishops Stortford  (a tailor) and his wife Susanna (nee Patmore)  who was niece or some such to James Ginn’s wife.  He was not blood kin to the Ginn family.  James Ginn Searle also became a tailor, later a draper and moved to Saffron Walden where ultimately his family started a bank as well as running a draper’s business.  His name comes up quite frequently in references on the internet.