Denton Genn of Quadring d. 1851

Denton was son of Richard Genn of Ely in my post of 9th March 2013.  Nobody seems to know a great deal about this couple.  More is likely to be forthcoming in due course.

Denton was variously a Plumber, Glazier and Farmer.  For reasons unknown he chose to move to Lincolnshire and married Elizabeth Maydens Baldock, of Gosberton there in 1794.  She appears to have been born Elizabeth Maydens in 1767, marrying a Daniel Baldock and having three children by him: two sons Maydens and Daniel, and Ann their daughter.  Daniel Snr died and in 1794 she remarried Denton.

                                                                  Quadring

It would seem likely that Denton and Elizabeth had children who are unknown to us, but Elizabeth died shortly after the birth of the second known child when she would have been about 38.

In 2020, I found reference to an original deed of 1802 (the deed having been sold online) which had Denton (of Gosberton) as one of several parties concerning a small amount of grazing land in Quadring.

Denton remarried in Bedford a few years later, Dr Herb Brown stating that he believes he remarried his step daughter Ann Baldock (b. 1790).  This may be why they married in Bedford (to avoid any scandal).  Denton proceeded to have a good number of children by his second wife and moved to Quadring where in 1840 he was the Parish Constable.

Denton Genn is known to have died in 1851.  Ann was alive then.  Further information may well come to light in due course.

Their children

Denton - See later post

Robert - Married twice and had four known children

Robert Genn was a Grocer and was living on his rental income in 1881 (when in Peterborough).  He died there in 1886.  The only son who has been traced is George, who was a married Grocer in Peterborough in 1881. His sister Ellen married Thomas Brown and it is from that line that the researcher Dr Herb Brown of the USA was descended.

George - I had thought that this guy died in childhood (though had not researched the parish records) until 2009.  Then I discovered the existence of the Families in British India Society (FIBIS) database, checked it, and discovered that the guy joined the East India Company Army as a private in 1840 sailing out to India on the “Essex”. He was William Mackinder Genn's uncle who likely named a son after him.  His is an interesting story - see post of 25th August 2015. 

Charles - Was alive (as Ginn) in Quadring in 1841 as a Blacksmith. He emigrated to the United States in about 1847 - see post of 16th September 2015

William - Is known to have married Jane and had eight chldren, four of whom survived infancy.

William Genn was a Licensed Victualler and Grocer and died in Quadring in 1875 aged 52.  Jane had died in Quadring in 1865 with a quoted age of 40 (National Burial Index)  William remarried Hannah but apparently had no further issue.  It is from this line that Spencer Genn (see post of  17th November 2012) and others are descended.


Elizabeth - married John Richardson

Ann  - married Thomas Hallas

William Ginn of Weston d. 1816

William Ginn, (son of Francis in my post of 9th February)  was the Weston Blacksmith.  He married Mary Watson in 1795.  I have not researched this family in any detail, and doubtless more could be discovered.  His starting in the blacksmithing trade started a chain of events which led to his Ginn descendants moving into engineering and, ultimately, into aeronautics by the early 20th century.   What I do know is that he started as a Blacksmith under the influence of his Uncle Samuel Swain who left him his blacksmith tools in his will (National Archives)

William died in 1816, aged 43.  Mary died in 1821, and left a will (HRO) in which only Mary jnr, Joshua and John are mentioned.  William jnr died in the same year as his father.

William and Mary had five children:       

Joshua - see later post

William - died in 1816 aged 20

Mary - is untraced - alive in 1821 aged 21.

John - the second of the name, died in 1836 aged 26.

Charles Ginn of Hertford d.1835

Charles Ginn son of Joe in my post of  17th March 2013 was a Maltmaker.  Brewing was a major trade in Hertford.

In 1818 he married Hannah Smart (I have not investigated Hannah's family).  Originally they lived in the Back Street (now Railway Street) area, together with Butchery Green (much the same thing - where Hertford Bus Station is now).

By 1827 they had moved to Chequers Yard, where they stayed.  Chequers Yard was behind the old "Chequers" Pub; behind the current Post Office and "Talbot Arms".  It was a small, run down square of cottages illustrated in various Hertford books - see "The Book of Hertford”.

I know relatively little about Charles.  He got himself into some minor trouble in 1825 (Quarter Sessions: HRO) which culminated in him spending a month in the Bridewell and being bound over to keep the Peace for two years.

Chequers Yard was not a healthy place, being known for disease and epidemics.  Charles died there in 1835; he was 38 or so.

 Hannah remarried a John Barnes (a publican in Railway Street) in 1845.  He died, and in 1855 she remarried a Joseph Meek (a Hawker) - they were in Back Street in the 1861 Census.  She died in 1869, aged approximately 70.

Charles and Hannah had nine children:

Susan ? - There is an outside chance that Charles & Hannah had a daughter called Susan born in 1819 or so.  Susan Ginn from Hertford (claiming dad Charles)  married William Newman in Lambeth in 1851.  My feeling is that this is the illegitimate Susan born to Charles Ginn’s sister Elizabeth in 1819 who was never traced, but I cannot be entirely certain

John - see later post

Hannah -  Married George Mardell in 1847.  before she married she had two illegitimate children:  George and Georgiana both of whom died in infancy.  The name of course suggests they were likely George's       

Charles -  see later

 

Thomas - Fascinating story here – a genealogical mind-bender.

A labourer, Tom  married Rebecca Klusman who, like Thomas, was living in a pub in Railway Street in 1851.  Rebecca was born in Clifton, Beds, but  mentions  Brunswick in Germany at one point, this being where her father Frederick (a Publican) was born in 1786. Frederick was almost certainly in the Brunswick Regiment/Kings German Legion who served with the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars and I suspect him very likely to have been at Waterloo.  Descendants should consider this probability.

The couple originally moved to St Pauls Walden in Herts (where the Klusman family had moved) having a dtr Rebecca at Pauls Walden in 1860. The daughter likely died but I am investigating.  Rebecca snr died in Hertford in 1881 aged 60, but there were differing reports on her age.  . 

It was originally thought that Thomas Ginn died in 1886 (the parish register does not survive) but this is clearly wrong.   Research continues as in 1891, a Thomas Gin [sic} is lodging in Deptford claiming to be married and born Hertford.  It can only be this fellow

NB.  There is a mystery here.  The 1881 census identifies a son, William Ginn, born Fulham in circa 1870.  My  belief is that this is likely a William Klusman, born Fulham at this time who is son of William Klusman born Clifton/Hertford in 1845.  The William Klusman born in 1845 is considered to almost certainly be Rebecca’s illegitimate child, born William Simpson Klusman in Clifton (registered 1844).  The "Simpson" probably identifies the father.  In short, the William “Ginn” is actually William Klusman,  Rebecca’s grandson

Sarah - married Thomas Smart at Luton in 1847 and Geo Berry at Hertford in 1854

Elizabeth - underage (15) when she married Joseph Mansfield in 1850

Joseph - untraced

James and Benjamin - died in infancy

Thomas Ginn of Highgate d. 1870

It  took me some time to trace this man, as I was researching before the computerisation of records that exists now.  I only found him by a reference in the Estate Duty records pertaining to his father's death - for his father Tom snr see my post of 17th February 2013.

Thomas Ginn married Caroline Constable at Hornsey in 1816.  It took me until 2007 to find the reference (Pallots Marriage Index).

Thomas was certainly living in central Highgate by the close of the Napoleonic Wars.  He was (of course) a Carpenter, and at one time was also the agent for the Alliance Fire Insurance Company.

In 1838 disaster struck.  The London Gazette reports that “Thomas Ginn, late of High Street Highgate Middlesex, Carpenter, Builder and Under-taker, and Assessor of the Queens taxes” a prisoner (obviously in a debtor’s prison) was effectively declared insolvent.  Thomas appears to have got himself out shortly afterwards, but his family would probably have had to go in with him (like the parents of Charles Dickens) and whether it be the Fleet Prison or the Marshalsea I have no idea.

Caroline Snr died in 1846, she was 51 and is buried at Hornsey.   It was not until 2007 that a second marriage for Thomas was discovered.  He remarried a Matilda Higgins under the name of Gin. 

The family always lived in the Highgate area.  In the 1851 census, they were at 148, North Road, Hornsey. 

Thomas died in 1870, aged 77 and is buried at Hornsey.  The certificate quotes gangrene as the cause of death (so he was probably a diabetic).

In the 1871 census, the widow Matilda has her mother, Priscilla living with her.  Her mother had the name of Treversh.  

In 1870, Matilda was the informant on Tom’s death cert.  In 1881 she was a Nurse (domestic) in Hornsey.  It is not known when and where she died.

Thomas and the two wives had ten children:

Thomas - married Ann Gascoigne in 1842.  The following children are known

            Ann Elizabeth 1844

            Caroline         1845

Both children died in infancy. Ann died in 1845 aged 28, giving birth to Caroline who followed a few weeks later.  Thomas (a Carpenter) died in 1848.  

Mary Ann - in the 1851 Census she was unmarried.  I seem to remember coming across her in a later Index in which she was also unmarried.

Caroline - alive but unmarried in 1851.  She later married James Bedford in 1855.

 

Charles -  see later

John and Emily - died infancy

Elizabeth - married Charles Bowmaker in 1849

Keziah - died in 1852, aged 23.  Buried Hornsey

Amelia Sarah - died in 1853, aged 17.  Buried Hornsy

Matilda - Matilda was a Dressmaker in Hornsey in the 1881 census.  It seems that she died a spinster in Elham district in Kent in 1939

Jacob Ginn of Edmonton d.1783

Son of Jacob in my post of 13th January 2013 , he got around a bit, did this lad.  He married Hannah Phillips of Edmonton at the Fleet in 1736 (RG7 686).  He was described as a Husbandman of “Edmington”. They were married by Walter Wyatt, one of the most notorious of the Fleet’s somewhat sordid clergymen at rooms called “Wheeler’s” in Fleet Street.  I think we can assume that the Enfield family were there because his first cousin Richard was to marry at the same rooms before the same clergyman little more than three months later.  He married Hannah in 1736, and they had three children (see below) before she died in 1758.  The same year he married Sarah Tatum.  She was stated to be an Edmonton girl, but the banns were read in the Parish of St Peter le Poor, in the City.  So Jacob (like one or two other Ginns) was clearly in and out of the City of London as the fancy took him.

                               All Saints, Edmonton in the snow

Sarah gave Jacob four more children, then she died in 1765.  He remarried Sarah Plater, but she was a widow and clearly past childbearing.

I was astonished to discover in 2005 that this guy appeared in front of the Old Bailey in 1753.  He was charged (but acquitted) of theft and highway robbery.  The full text is given on the Old Bailey Proceedings website, but the gist is as follows

                             Hornsey, where Jacob jnr is buried

Jacob was working as a labourer on fields between Edmonton and Hornsey in the summer of 1752, lodging  in the house of a John Rumbold.  The fact that his son Jacob was buried at Hornsey in 1751 suggests that they lodged there for seasonal work for a year or two. The facts were disputed, but it appears that a dozen or so Irish workers (in England for the summer harvest)  came to Rumbold’s house at about 11 at night on July 12^th 1752 and started a fight with Rumbold and the two men who lodged with him.  It seems likely that Rumbold had refused to employ the Irish workers and they were annoyed.  The Irish set about Jacob and all and eventually Jacob (who had armed himself with a scythe blade) overpowered his assailant and cut him a little. Jacob apparently said (his friend’s evidence) that the Irishman was minded to murder him and “he (Jacob) had a good mind to cut his head off”.  The Irishman said that Jacob had started it and had also robbed him.

                                   The Old Bailey of the1700s

Jacob and all his friends were acquitted.  Independent witnesses supported their story and three men (one, George Hind, had known him for thirty years) gave evidence for Jacob’s character “a very honest pains-taking man”.  Whatever the outcome, it must have been a worrying experience for Jacob and his family.  For the full story see  http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?id=t17530111-12-defend130&div=t17530111-12#highlight

For a long time I could not find Jacob’s burial (the Edmonton register is very full) but he seems to have been the Jacob “Jain” who died in 1783 - he was 66.  Sarah died in 1774.

Jacob and his first two wives had seven children:

Judith - was the only survivor.  Born in 1760, she  got together with William Field of Edmonton (born   1755, son of Lawrence  & Sarah) in the late 1780s and they had Sarah, 1788, Samuel 1790, Thomas Lawrence 1793 and Lawrence in 1798.  William Field seems to have been a commitment phobe and in 1796 Judith had obviously got fed up with it and banns were read at Edmonton for her to marry a William Peel (lest this be an error and for Peel read Field)  but nothing came of it and she and William got back together and finally wed in 1798 at Enfield. For respectability's sake William claimed to be a widower (which was likely why they married at Enfield  as all the kids were stated to have Judith as the mother) but had clearly been living with Judith and the kids all along.  There are sufficient issue and descendants known to make me sure that the couple and thus Jacob Ginn have descendants alive today.  Judith died in 1831.

Jacob-two of the name died in infancy - one at Hornsey

John, Sarah, Elizabeth and Hannah - also died in infancy

Richard Ginn of Tottenham d.1810

At some point Richard  (see last post) moved from Enfield to Tottenham, he was certainly there by 1781.  Whether he actually married Sarah in church seems a moot point, it could have been one of the informal marriages quite common at the time.  I certainly have not found any likely marriage entry yet.  It does seem likely that Sarah’s maiden name was Roberts however, the surname used as the Christian name (so common at the end of the 18th cent.) being a good clue.

                        All Hallows, Tottenham in the 19th century

Richard Ginn was a labourer.  He lived in Tottenham “proper” but I have no idea where and his birth and death are pretty much all the facts known about him..  He died in 1810, being buried on December 9th.  The Parish Clerk has my undying thanks as he took his duties very seriously, noting that Richard was “aged 63”, exactly correct and confirming my long held theory of the Enfield / Tottenham link. Sarah was buried in January 1823, she was quoted as being 64 years of age.

Richard and Sarah had eight children:

Richard - Richard Jnr married Mary Cockett at Tottenham in 1802; Mary being a spinster and able to sign her name.  Richard was a Labourer and the couple always seem to have lived in Tottenham proper, in 1841 being at North Row (nr Scotland Green).  They seem to have been missed from the index of the 1851 Census, though as both were alive it seems certain that their surname was misread by the indexer

Richard has the distinction of being the last in a continuous long line of Richard's in his branch of the family that stretched back 300 years to 1572.

As far as I am aware they only had one daughter, Mary, who died in 1806. 

 However, in 1841 a certain Mary Ginn Maynard was living with them; she was 12.  She was not part of the household and was clearly visiting. This was a mystery to me for twenty years - all I knew was that Mary Ginn Maynard continued to live in Tottenham and married a Henry Marriage at Hackney in 1857 - Richard Ginn was a witness.  She and her husband had a large family.  What link(blood, affection or both) there was between Richard, Mary and her was completely unknown.  Then in 2016 something turned up on Ancestry.  I mention it in full here because descendants may well not make the link otherwise.  A Matilda Maynard was born in Hackney in 1804 to a Thomas and Mary.  How and why is unknown, presumably the parents died, but Mary Ginn stated in 1829 that she and Richard brought Matilda Maynard up, certainly from her teens, as in 1818 or so Mary accompanied her when she went to work for a Richard Taylor gent of Finsbury Square as a servant.  She subsequently left there, and went to work in the lace mills in Tottenham where in 1829 she became pregnant by a William Welch who worked there and lodged in Lordship Lane near the Red Lion.  His family were said to come from Edmonton.  Matilda, having worked in Shoreditch was removed to Shoreditch workhouse where she gave birth.  Although she stayed there for some time it is said that almost from birth the child, baptised Mary (Mary Ginn Maynard - QED) Richard and Mary Ginn brought the baby up as well.  These people were a good couple.  Unfortunately Matilda's saga continued, she was out of the workhouse by 1833 and working at Bruce Castle Tottenham (Moss Hill) as a kitchen maid, but sadly by 1836 she was pregnant again.  She was an inmate in Tottenham workhouse in 1881

Mary died in February 1854: she was quoted as being 77.  Richard (whose surname was always spelled Ginn)  died in 1863 aged 82.

Thomas - I believe I have found him - details of the research will form the subject of a later post

William- see later 

Martha  - the Edmonton Banns book says that she married a Richard Hutchinson there in 1815.  The marriage register says that this was a James Hutchinson.  Yet two correspondents (descendants of the couple) say that the husband was a James Hutchin who came from Albury in Herts, the couple soon moving there.

Lucy - two of these died in infancy

John Roberts - died in infancy

Elizabeth - is untraced