James Ginn of Maker Cornwall d.1906

James here, son of William in my last post was born in Bishop's Stortford Workhouse in 1839/4.  No baptism record survives.

In December 1858 he joined the 10th Regiment of Foot at Bishop's Stortford, his first cousin (also James) having joined that regiment exactly a month earlier. He was 19, 5ft 6ins and a bit, with brown hair and brown eyes. 

The army was not really James' cup of tea.  He was in the opinion of his superiors too fond of a drink (like many of his contemporaries)  and never earned any Good Conduct badges.

The two never got off to a good start anyway, as James had barely been in the army 18 months when he obviously met his future wife in Plymouth and, either refused permission to marry and/or facing embarkation for abroad (the regiment were in South Africa in 1861) deserted in 1860.  He wanted to stay in Plymouth and joined the Plymouth Division of the Royal Marine Light Infantry.

                                               RMLI 1860s


 James married Mary Ann Couch at East Stonehouse (Plymouth) in 1861 and hid from the army until 1864 when he was then tracked down, being shown in the records as being reclaimed from the Marines as a deserter from the 10th .  He was court martialled and imprisoned.

James was sent to India in the later-1860s.  It is plain that Mary went with him.  Only wives were allowed to travel with a regiment.

                                       Line Infantryman 1860s

He and Mary spent some time in Bangalore, the main barracks being at the fort below, their son James being born there.  Unfortunately James also caught dysentery there (endemic in the regiment) in 1868 and became extremely ill and no longer able to serve properly thereafter.

They kept him in the army for some time however (the family were at Rangoon in 1871) but in 1872 he was discharged, his conduct being given as "indifferent" He stated that he was settling in Plymouth, though he actually subsequently settled nearby at Maker in Cornwall described there as a labourer/army pensioner.

James died at Maker in 1906, he was 66.  Mary Ann's death registration has not been traced.

James and Mary had five children.  None known were born before 1867.  The name was in transition from Ginn to Gynn and ultimately all these children took the name Gynn

James George - he joined the Royal Navy.  He was born in Bangalore in approximately 1867.  He was ship's boy on the Royal Adelaide in 1881 (a training ship) but was in the Egypt campaign in 1882 on the Superb (below) and received the Eqypt Medal with clasp for the action at Alexandria

He was later an Able Seaman and Ship's Corporal (a Petty Officer) and left the Navy in 1899.  He married twice and had two sons and a daughter.  From one son he had a good number of Ginn descendants

Thomas Henry - also joined the Royal Navy and as a stoker.  He married in 1893 and three children are known.  He died in 1954

Frederick William - Joined the Royal Navy and was a stoker.  Actually William Frederick.  He married in 1899 and had ten children and a huge number of descendants are known.  Not sure when he died 

Alfred Edward - died a child

Maud Ellen - married 1915

William Ginn of Farnham d. 1847

William Ginn, son of William in my post of  19th January 2014, has given me considerable pause for thought because he was quite a lad, was this guy.  A rumbustious fellow, drinking where he could get it, fond of a row and a skuffle, fathering illegitmate children while married and alleged to have deserted his wife and kids and left them to the parish - this was the William that the records paint.

He married Ann Prior at Farnham in 1823, Ann's family (which I have not researched) coming from nearby Albury in Herts.

He was technically "of Farnham", presumably because he had settlement there, but he moved around quite a lot.

The couple had their first child (Elizabeth) in Farnham, but by 1827 they were in Albury, where they had their second and William got involved in a row which ended with him damaging a hedge (Quarter Sessions).

They were technically in Farnham between 1829 and 1832, but William presumably did most of his drinking in Bishop's Stortford, because in 1831 he and two others were fined for assault (Quarter Sessions).

In 1837 the new workhouse opened in Bishop's Stortford.  This Poor Law Union covered Farnham, and all those able bodied men and women on Poor Relief were moved in.  This included William and Ann and their children.  Sarah, and apparently James (of whom more later) were born there.  Thereafter the Farnham clerk knew William as "William Ginn of Bishop's Stortford".

The entrance building to the Workhouse is shown above,  It was redeveloped for desirable apartments in 2006 and where once the lobby had paupers waiting with some trepidation, is is now replete with doorphone access and potted palms!

The Overseer’s Book of 1839 (for Farnham) notes that William had an illegitimacy order made against him that year.  William and Ann would have been separated in the workhouse (the sexes always were) so quite how William managed to father an illegit­imate child I have no idea, but manage it he clearly did.  Research in the magistrates’ records might well reveal more details.  

It is also clear from the Overseer's Book that William got into a certain amount of petty trouble in Essex, so interested readers might find one or two amusing episodes recorded in the Essex Petty (and possibly, Quarter) Sessions records.

The family were out of the workhouse by the Spring of 1841 (because they were at Farnham) but William was not to live for long.  He died in November 1847, he was 47. "William Ginn of Bishop's Stortford" is buried at Farnham.

Ann, and the two children (James and Rebecca) were at Bishop's Stortford in 1851.  Ann took in laundry to survive.  She remarried John Boyton (a widower) in 1856.

William and Ann had eight children:

Susan - she had two illegitimate children before she married William Shed at Bishops Stortford in 1852, these were Henry 1849 and Betsy 1851.  Henry married and had a family and we will discuss him in more detail later

           

Mary -  also had an illegitimate child John in 1847 by a John Gillett .  In 1851 John was at Little Hadham, Herts (with his Gillett granddad) which has made me wonder whether John Gillett and Mary were living together.
 

William - followed in his Dad's footsteps character wise, but ultimately sadly died in the "Northfleet" disaster - see post of 19th July 2012

James  - see next post

Elizabeth - married George Prior at Bishops Stortford in 1847.  George came from Bishops Stortford, but the couple soon moved to Bromley by Bow in the East End with a couple of George's brothers where they were in 1851 with a child or two. They had more children there, but sadly George died in 1863 and is buried at Tower Hamlets Cemetery in Mile End.  It is unclear how many children were alive, but in 1865 Elizabeth married Richard Golding at Stepney.  She has quite a number of descendants from the children from that marriage.

Rebecca married Robert Birch at Bishops Stortford in 1864

John and Sarah - died in infancy

Charles Genn of Sparta, Wisconsin USA d. 1862

Charles Genn here, youngest son of Denton in my post of 27th August 2013 and brother of George in my last post, has led me a merry dance and I had to invest a few pounds sterling in trying to find out the full story of what happened to him.

Charlie was born in Quadring in 1821.  He appears in the 1841 census there as Charles Ginn, a Blacksmith and then he totally disappeared from British records.

I supposed for some years that he had joined the armed forces, but there was no evidence of this and a lot of army records have been checked over the years.  I thought that he might have joined the East India Company army with brother George, but this was discounted in August 2015 when George was fully researched.  Indeed, it was rather spookily after researching George that I consulted the records once again and realised what had happened to Charles.

Charles Genn emigrated to the United States.    There seems to have been a group emigration, that is a number of people and likely an eclectic mix of local families decided to emigrate in the 1840s, but more particularly we are concerned with the Hutson family (see below). Large new areas of the States were being settled at the time and the forties, "the Hungry Forties" as they were known in rural England, was a time of rural depression in advance of the repeal of the Corn Laws and both farmers and labourers found times hard..

Charlie's emigration was obviously as I say tied in some way to that of the emigration of the Hudson/Hutson family, one of whom formed his future wife.

The Hutson family were grouped in the villages about Quadring and elsewhere in Lincolnshire - they were farmers.   From what I can gather three brothers and various hangers on emigrated at various times from about 1840.  The first emigrant was a Solomon Hutson who was born in circa 1801 has apparent links to Pennsylvania and was one of the very first settlers in Wisconsin (Rock County) USA, being granted US Citizenship in 1845.  His brother John also went out and settled in Wisconsin.  The "Hutson Boys" were and are acknowledged to have been some of the first settlers there.  It is fascinating cross referencing the English and American records and noting what happened.

The person of note here is however their brother Robert Hutson, also a farmer, who was supposedly born in Spilsby, Lincolnshire in 1802.  He married Ann May Luff in 1825 and they had a fair sized family, of whom William Henry Speed Hutson (lived Pennsylvania but died Wisconsin), Ann May, Thomas Speed, John Speed (later a Pastor) and Solomon survived.  All of these were born in England and most at Donington, next to Quadring.

Robert and Ann and their family emigrated to join other Hutson family members in November 1847.  They came into New York on two ships - Robert and Ann, their daughter and Solomon on the sailing ship "Jane Glassin" on 20th of that month.  The passenger list of the other ship which contained their sons William, Thomas and John has not survived and I have speculated as to whether Charles Genn accompanied them, as not one of those children was older than 16 in 1847.

The family settled immediately in  Glade Township, Warren County Pennsylvania.  This was not great farming country and was just being settled and the reason for going there seems to be linked to Solomon -  as in the Glade Township genealogy page online (see History of Warren County 1878) there is mention that a Solomon Hutson " entertained guests in a slab shanty at Glade Run"  between approximately 1844-1850 - this being some sort of guest house.  I have assumed that Solomon had links to both Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and left his holdings in Glade at this time and his brother took over.  Robert and Ann both died at Glade and their grave is below.

So where in all this was Charles Genn ?  The answer is I do not rightly know.  Logically he had some connection/friendship/kinship and was also encouraged to emigrate or emigrated with the Hutsons.  He is not in the 1850 US Census nor that of 1851 in England.  My suspicion is that he left for the US in the later 1840s.

All that we know for certain is that Charles Genn married Ann May Hutson (Robert and Ann's only daughter) on 12th April 1852.  We know this because of what is said in Ann May's obituary and it seems certain that the couple married at the Methodist Church at Glade Township which was built in 1833 (above - the building shown no longer stands).  Ann May is known to have been a good methodist and, indeed, this was the main church in the township at that time.  Charles was 30 and Ann May just 22.

We are also told that Charles and Ann May spent two years or so in Glade or thereabouts, but in 1855 they moved to Wisconsin. 

They chose to move to Sparta, Monroe County.  Monroe County was itself just being settled by emigrants from the Eastern States and from various countries in northern Europe.  Charles, Ann and various Hutsons who arrived with them were some of the very first settlers in what was then described as a village.

                                 
                      Sparta in 1860  - copyright Monroe County Museum 
                   
Charles set up a blacksmith's shop on Main Street and on Christmas Eve 1855, Monroe County have a record of his noting his intention to become an American Citizen and renouncing allegiance to Queen Victoria viz..

The shop did rather well and we find the following in the local newpaper, the  "Sparta Herald" of 31st August1859

Everything seems to have gone fine until 1861.  In that year something very bad happened, either Charles developed a brain tumour or, quite likely, a horse kicked him in the head and caused both physical and mental trauma.  All that we know is that he was ill and not capable of managing his own affairs.  In May 1861, during the presidency of Abraham Lincoln which is reflected on the Grant (see below) Ann May purchased 40 acres of land in Monroe County in her own name

Things were bad however and in July of that year Ann May put the following in the local newspaper

 We know from Ann's obituary that Charles sadly died in 1862.  I finally found a burial note in 2019, he died in December 1862 and was buried in Mount Hope Cemetery, Sparta.   He was 41.  There is no record of Charles and Ann ever having any children.

Ann was an eligible widow and in 1864 she remarried another English settler, the farmer John Hobson.  But John also died in 1868 and Ann was a widow again.

In 1872 she remarried another Englishman now a Naturalized American, Solomon Hutson, another farmer,  who was born in 1827 in England, was obviously her cousin and said that he had come to Wisconsin in 1850 (gained citizenship in 1857), so Solomon and Ann likely came over to the US in the same mass emigration, though the precise connection (he was likely a son of John Hutson above) is unclear to me. Sol had children having lost his first wife in 1870. Sol died in 1878 and Ann May after a painful illness in 1885 aged 56.  They lie in Big Creek cemetery in Sparta - see below.

 

Acknowledgements - I am indebted to Jarrod Roll, County Historian of Monroe County, Wisconsin; the Warren County Pennsylvania Historical Society and Laurie Swimmer, Genealogist of the Wisconsin Historical Society for their help and assistance