Thomas Ginn of Brooklyn, New York d. 1901

Tom here, brother of Joe in the last post also emigrated to the USA.  Comparatively few people in this Study emigrated to the USA after America ceased to be a British colony and I discuss this further below *

He was an adventurous sort as in 1865 aged 12 he ran away from home with his brother Frederick and was many miles away in London and put in the Workhouse in Westminster before being returned home to Hertford (see workhouse records on Ancestry). 

In 1871 Tom was in Bexleyheath in London as a Baker.  Joe and his family emigrated to Canada and then found their way into New York in about 1873. and Tom clearly went with them.  It was a bold move for a twenty year old but his mother was dead and he may well have welcomed the adventure.

Tom continued to work as a Baker in New York and settled in Brooklyn, where he married Ann Brown, an Englishwoman who had also emigrated, in 1877.

Tom and Ann had two children but sadly Ann died in 1886, she was 41.  A descendant, Sylvia Howes Mastroyannakis has kindly sent me a photo of Tom and his first grandchild Clifford Graham (b1898) which is below and which I think is a wonderful photo

  

Sadly Thomas Ginn developed tuberculosis and died not long after this photograph was taken, he was 48 and he and Ann are buried in Green-wood Cemetery, Brooklyn.

Thomas and Ann had two daughters, so the Ginn line ended with them:

Florence - she married William Louis Penfield in 1906 in Brooklyn.  William had a  prior family and no children are known  - she died in 1933, William in 1922.

Bertha - she married Herbert Graham in Brooklyn in 1898.  They had three children and there are quite a number of descendants.  Bertha died in Berkeley, Alameda, California in 1935.  Herbert died in 1947

*****

* It is surprising perhaps, but relatively few people from this Study emigrated to the USA once it had ceased to be a British colony.  By far the vast majority emigrated to the continuing colonies and dominions of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and in a couple of cases, South Africa.  At various times in the 19th century, there were Ginns from this Study in every continent and sub-continent.

The position before 1776 is unclear, but I have researched all Ginn records for 25 years now and I think that I can express a view.  

The name Ginn is comparatively rare in Scotland, though more common in the northern counties of Ireland, essentially Ulster.  Most people with the name come from England however (they form the great majority of Ginn men in the army of the Napoleonic Wars for example, where a third of that army were Irish and not a few Scots).  My view then is that the vast majority of early Ginn men in America were of English origin, most likely from London (in Stepney there were a great number of Ginn mariners) and from the West Country (there was a large number of Gynn and Ginn in Cornwall) which had a maritime connection with America from the 1600s.  I further think that, before 1850, the great majority of Ginns in America were descendants of very early settlers, in short that there was little emigration in the 1700s.  It is obviously just my view.

Joseph Ginn of Watertown, New York d. 1911

Joe Ginn here, son of John in my last post led an eventful life.

He originally (aged 19) enlisted with the Royal Artillery ("H" Battery of the 9th Brigade Field Artillery) in September 1859.  He spent two and a half years with them but things did not work out - he was imprisoned for a disciplinary offence and discharged at Shorncliffe, Kent in 1862 with the caustic comment "unworthy"

He returned smartly to Hertford and in 1863 married Ann Lowen, an Edmonton girl (like my wife) at Edmonton, North London.  They went to live in Hertford at the notorious Chequers Yard.

The couple had four children, one of whom died in infancy but things were still not working out for Joe who at this point was a Butcher.  I know this because in 1871  Joseph Ginn appears in the "Police Gazette"  (8th February 1871) no less as a wanted man, albeit not exactly as a hardened criminal, for Joe (obviously unemployed) had absconded from Hertford Workhouse (below) with a couple of blankets.  We have a description, he was aged 30, 5foot 6ins tall, with light brown hair, a round face with a tuft of hair on his chin and, yes, a "rather gruff voice" !

I have no idea whether Joseph and Annie took the decision voluntarily, or whether they thought that things were forced upon them, but at this point they decided there was nothing for them in England and that they would emigrate.  The "Hertfordshire Mercury" newpaper of Saturday, December 16th 1871 reports that Joe applied to the Board of Guardians of the workhouse at Hertford for money for him, his wife and three children to emigrate.  He needed £30 all told, had promises of under £20 from family and wellwishers and needed £12 from the Board.  They offered him £10.  The amusing thing is that at this stage the family were looking to emigrate to Queensland, Australia.  They emigrated with their remaining three children and Joe's younger brother Tom.  As yet neither I nor any descendant has traced the ship they went out on - likely in 1872/3, but they went across the Atlantic, not to Australia.

They first went to Ontario, Canada, but by 1875 were in New York where the East River Bridge had just been constructed, connecting New York and Brooklyn, the latter where Tom Ginn was to settle.

Joe Ginn jnr was born in New York in 1875, and by the time of the 1880 census the family were in Massena, Joe now being a Painter, an occupation he kept for the rest of his life.


The family eventually settled in Watertown, New York State.  Joseph Ginn died there in 1911 aged 71.  Annie died there in 1917  aged 73.  They are buried in Brookside Cemetery (Findagrave).  There is no doubt that their decision to emigrate was a good one.

Joe and Annie had seven known children:

Lowen - became a New York attorney.  He married Alberta Sloan in 1887.  They had four sons and one daughter. Three sons married but have no descendants.  Lowen died in 1942 and Alberta in 1951. 

 

Joe jnr - married Cleora Johnston in 1912.  Joe bought a clothing store and lived in Chateaugay, New York State.  No children known.  He died in 1940 and is buried with Cleora (d.1976) in East Side Cemetery (Findagrave)

Henry Walpole- married Emogene Cardinal in 1900.  Had a gas station.  They had one surviving son who has Ginn descendants alive today.  Henry died in 1968, Emogene in 1955.  They are in Watertown (Findagrave)

Ellen Lowen - took me a while to track her down.  She married George W Foster, a Merchant. They lived in Chateaugay.  She died in Florida in 1958.  One child known

Lilian (Annie/Lillie) married William T. Manson, a Farmer, of Stormont, Ontario, Canada in 1897.   They lived in Stormont.  No children known.

Josephine - apparently died young

Sarah - died in infancy

John Ginn of Hertford d. 1875

John Ginn here was son of Charles in my post of  1st April 2013.  John was a Maltmaker.  This was a major trade locally and it is possible that he worked at McMullens Brewery, Hertford which is shown below as of 1891 and is still going as the smell of malt in Hertford at times will amply testify.

In 1839 he married Eliza Ellen Coulson at Hertford.  They mostly lived in Chequers Yard where John's parents had lived and, as I have said before, conditions in these yards, even into the early 20th century were pretty terrible - a number of houses sharing an outside privy and a well.  They were disease ridden cottages and well illustrated by the picture of Maidenhead Yard nearby below.  The slum housing was not finally cleared away until the 1930s.

John and Eliza had a huge family and she, exhausted, died sometime between 1867 and 1871.  John died in 1875.

The couple had fifteen children:

Joseph - see next post

William - see later post

Ebenezer - see later post

Thomas  - see later post

Selina - married James Norris in 1884

George - see later post

Frederick - he shows in the 1861 census and in 1865 turns up aged 14 in the Westminster Workhouse in London having run away from home with his brother Tom who was 12  !  The entry (on Ancestry) says that he and Tom were sent back home to dad John at Chequers Yard.  He likely died but may have joined the army and not show in any census.  

Amelia - untraced

Lilian - untraced

Harriet - married William Goldsmith in 1877

Charles, John, Henry, Edwin and Sarah - all died young