What he is though, is the ancestor of the Ginn family of Ware that had Ginn descendants alive in the 1800s and 1900s, and is to my knowledge the only Stevenage Ginn to do so.
Richard Ginn was a Shoemaker. He arrived in Ware in the late 1650s and either arrived married to a Mary or married her when he arrived. The Ware registers are lost for the last few years of the 1650s. My suspicion is that he arrived with a little money from the start (he may have come into his inheritance in 1659 when he was 21) as in the 1663 Hearth Tax he had a house in Ware with three hearths.
Many of the Stevenage Ginns were involved in Inns and Innkeeping, from the early 1500s onwards. In fact I have in the past divided them up into groups using property and pub names by way of identification e.g "The Ginns of the Falcon". Not surprisingly then, in 1669 Richard bought himself an Inn.
If you walk own to Ware from the Hertford Road (as I have done many times) you pass through what is called Amwell End. If you had done so before the railway arrived in Ware, you would have encountered two pubs, "The Spread Eagle" (which is still there but post railway on a different site) and "The Cock". Richard Ginn bought a 999 year lease of "The sign of the Cock" from John Hilliard, Maltster of Ware for £50 in 1669 (70515-70535 HRO). But Hilliard had an option to buy it back for £150, so in 1671 Richard Ginn enfranchised it, ie he bought the freehold for a further £71. It was now his in its entirety. The family were to hold it for nearly forty years, though for some of that time it was tenanted, ie they did not run it themselves. The pub was there until about 1900, but at the moment I am struggling to find a photo - there is likely one at Hertfordshire Local Studies Library.
The family seem to have led a steady uneventful life, then in May 1686 Mary died, she was likely about 53. Richard remarried another Mary shortly afterwards, though whether formally (ie in church rather than just by declaration) seems unclear, as I cannot find the marriage entry. He had a further two children by her.
Richard Ginn died in 1697, he was about 60 I would say. He left a will (ERO and below) which is the original ie bears his signature.
Richard - was born in 1663. His father set him up with a house in Great Amwell and left him one shilling in his will of 1697 as a consequence.
Richard here married twice, Isobel Swan in 1684 when he was just 21 and an Ann (marriage not traced) thereafter.. I do not know what the guy did for a living but I do know that he was seen as a Quaker (only the third English Ginn man so identified) and I am sure attended the Quaker Meeting House at Hertford which is the oldest one (built 1670) still standing and is below.
He died at Great Amwell in 1707 aged 43, likely of smallpox or consumption. Interestingly he was buried in Great Amwell churchyard below and not a Quaker burial ground.
Ann Ginn died at Great Amwell in 1714. She was in her 50s I would guess and obviously had been a widow when she married Richard as she had grandchildren of the name of Curlewis not yet of age (people of this name at Thundridge and Cheshunt and Waltham Abbey) and Cook. Her son in law was Thomas Curlewis. The interesting thing is that there was a family called Curlewis at the relevant time who attended the Quaker Meeting at Hertford albeit not those named in her will.. She left a will (ERO) which is the original and below
Benjamin - born 1687. He is the ancestor of the later Ware Ginn family
Edward - was born in 1671. Received one shilling in his father's will of 1697 so had been set up. He married a Mary (marriage not traced) in circa 1700 and is believed (no record) to have had a Richard circa 1702, Sarah in 1705, Elizabeth 1708 and Isobel in 1710 (married Thomas Brace in 1733) Ned died in 1738 aged 67. I have no idea what he did for a living. Assumed son Richard was a Bargeman on the River Lee and married an Elizabeth Archer in London in 1722 but there is scant record after that.
Mary - there were three. Two died in infancy and the third was born in 1672. She was alive unmarried in 1697 aged 25. Was left a share of the proceeds of the pub sale in 1707 but I have no idea if she was still alive then or what happened to her.
John - there were four. The surviving John was born in 1675 and was a shoemaker. He was left his father's house and shoemaker's stock in trade in 1697. His father clearly valued him. With his stepmother Mary he sold "The Cock" in 1707 as per the terms of his father's will (70515-70535 HRO). He was then described as a shoemaker of South Mimms. I knew all this 25 years ago. I was never able to trace the guy. South Mimms is on the Herts/Middlesex border and the registers were not available at the HRO nor on the International Genealogical Index and he was completely untraced until I was preparing this post. Although the South Mimms records are still not available, the Greater London Burial Index has him as dying in South Mimms in 1763 when he would have been 87. It gets better, because the Land Tax has a John Ginn at Cobb's Yard in South Mimms in 1770 - so this guy is a "live one" and on my "to do" research list.
Elizabeth - came from the second marriage in 1690. She was alive in 1697 and received a share of the sale of the pub per the will.. No idea if she was alive in 1707 to receive it though as she is untraced.
Dorothy - also from the second marriage in 1692. Received a share of the pub sale in 1707. She stayed a maid and died in Ware in 1764 aged 72.
No comments:
Post a Comment