James Ginn of Stocking Pelham died c. 1828

James Ginn was son of John Ginn of Farnham (see post of 23rd March 2013 ) and was a Labourer.  DNA links discovered in October 2022 proved the relationship beyond doubt.  James moved to Stocking Pelham (where his cousin Cornelius lived) very early on after his marriage.  Both he and his half brother William seem to have been quite close to the elderly Cornelius (for Cornelius see post of 20th September 2012)

The reason for moving to Stocking Pelham was presumably work.  His father had died when James was very young, and his mother remarried.  I suspect that the childless Cornelius was asked to help out a bit.  Perhaps Uncle Cornelius helped in finding James work and there is some suggestion that he may have given James a basic training in carpentry (see below).  

James married Esther/Hester Rogers (dtr of John) at Stocking Pelham in 1805, the year of the Battle of Trafalgar.  The witnesses to the wedding included his half-brother William, who had also moved to that village temporarily.

James stayed in the Pelhams, unlike his half-brother, but he certainly did not initially gain settlement.  As seen Farnham was no more than a hamlet, and a lot of people who were officially settled there lived elsewhere.  See the Overseer’s Book.  This shows that the Overseer paid the rent for James's cottage to a Daniel Parker (apparently a friend of the Ginns of Farnham) who was not James' landlord who presumably passed this on.  Thi was in 1808, and James seems to have gained settlement in Stocking Pelham  for the purpose of the poor laws soon after.

I know very little about James, not even exactly where he lived and when exactly he died.  The Stocking Pelham register has no trace of him, but he seems likely to be the James Ginn (who in one record was described as a carpenter - perhaps doing carpentry work on some building or other) who died at Sawbridgeworth near Bishops Stortford in 1828.  We know that he died in about that year.

In 1837 his widow Esther married at Stocking Pelham.  The entry tells us that Esther Ginn "of full age, widow" nee Rogers, married John Wooten, a widower and local labourer.

James and Hester had at least eight children, likely nine (a gap in the register) viz

James jnr - something of a mystery man.  He was living at the home of John Wooten in 1851, who described him as his son-in-law, which initially confused me, but of course that term meant stepson in that period.  James never married . James had a passable education, as he was a Schoolteacher, and for a great many years was Stocking Pelham’s parish clerk.  He died in 1889.  He was stated to be 83; he was 82.

John - Married Mary King at Little Hormead in 1832 and stayed in the Hormeads.  He lived in the area called Darsell's  (Hobbs Farm) in 1851.  Ironically, he lived next door to a William Ginn (from the Hormeads) who was his very distant cousin (the branches had separated some 300 years before).  I have wondered if they ever discussed their joint surname over the garden fence - "you don't think we're related do you Bill?". John and Mary only ever had one child - Jane  - who was born in 1833 at Little Hormead.  In 1852 this Jane married a George Aldridge at Braughing.  So this Ginn family had come full circle.  Not only back in Herts, but back in Braughing where they started from.  John died in 1888 and Mary died in 1893.

Edward  -see next post 

Elizabeth - married James Whybird at Stocking Pelham in 1846

Hester - married Richard Marlow at Manuden, Essex in 1836

Sarah - married William Brett at Manuden,  Essex in 1841 - "a minor",  she was 16

Ann and Mary - died infancy