Robert Ginn of Nuthampstead, Barkway and Anstey died after 1680

 I realised in 2020 that I have never written this guy up, which was an omission, and also that to do so properly I would need to create a new post.  So here it is.

Robert Ginn was born in 1602, the son of Robert and Lettice, nee Benn - see my post of  23rd July 2012.  He was a popular guy - his uncle Arthur Ginn was clearly fond of him and Bob junior here had high hopes of a successful and prosperous life if he applied himself.

 

Two events happened to him in 1630 , when he was 28.  Firstly his uncle Arthur Ginn died and left fifty acres of land or more  in Anstey, Nuthampstead and Barkway which was to go to this guy.  Secondly, Robert married Sarah Ferris at Layston (above), daughter of William Ferris and Ellen of Layston (Buntingford) William being a blacksmith from several generations of the  same in Buntingford.  Ellen's maiden name was Peede, and as the wife of Bob's brother Francis also came from Layston and was called Peede,  I think we can assume Bob married his cousin.

At this point  Robert was in a very good place.  He and Sarah had settled down and were having children.  His father had a fair bit of land and Robert here had inherited a bit.  By 1642 this guy was the only Ginn in Anstey to be prosperous enough to be taxed in the Lay Subsidy of that year.

But I knew something had gone wrong, and I found out what it was in 2020.  Robert, like so many of this blog in the 1600s, had got himself into debt.  Owing money never works out well.

The truth is it was very easily done in the 1600s, as now.  There were no banks, and people with spare cash, having no safe place  to deposit it - put it in small loans to small traders and farmers secured by bonds.  It stimulated the economy, but it was also risky, because the loans could be called in and anybody with low liquidity could be asked at very short notice to sell assets to meet their loan. Potentially they could be ruined.

Now the strange thing is that I knew years ago that Robert here did not prosper after he was about 40, and I also knew that his father was selling quite a bit of his land in Therfield in the 1640s, and the answer is here.

A Richard Preist [sic] an Attorney at Law launched a court action in the Court of Common Pleas in 1642 (CP40 2495/6 National Archives).  He sued Robert Ginn, his brother Thomas Ginn of  Therfield, a William Smith  of Barley and a James Elliot of Lidlington in Cambridgeshire, all expressed to be Yeomen, for £30 a piece.  Not a lot you might think, but that amount could buy a house at the time, and to find it quickly would have put a strain on all of these men.

We do not know the result of the case, but given that so much land was sold I think we can assume that the defendants lost.

Although Bob and Sarah obviously survived, their fortunes took a marked turn for the worst, and in the 1663 Hearth Tax, Robert only had the one hearth, implying her inhabited a cottage, rather than the three or four hearthed farmhouse I would have expected.

Although Robert and Sarah used Anstey and Barkway churches, I am virtually certain that they lived at Nuthampstead, a tiny hamlet and not a parish on its own, being affiliated with Barkway.  I assume that after the court case this chap was best described as a Husbandman rather than a Yeoman.

Robert and Sarah had a good number of children, but they were not lucky with the survival of sons.  Sarah died "wife of Robert Ginn" at Barkway (below) in 1680 aged 71.  Robert was alive then aged 78.  Assuming that he did not died elsewhere, his burial entry is missed from the registers

Robert and Sarah had six children

Robert - died in 1663 aged 16 "son of Robert" and buried at Reed

Arthur - may have died at Barkway in 1668 aged 33 or he may (he is the favourite known candidate) be the Arthur who emigrated to Maryland, British America in the 1660s. His father's money from the land sales may have helped him by giving him a start when he came of age. The guy who died in 1668 could be another Arthur, known to be alive in 1652 but untraced.

Martha - is untraced

Hannah - "of Anstey" married Daniel Brand "of Great Hormead" at the gorgeous Little Hormead Church (below) in 1663.  I have been there and it is lovely.   Daniel had two hearths in the Hearth Tax.  They had a few children then Daniel sadly died in 1677 aged 36 .There is no obvious remarriage.  I know that the couple lived in Hare Street at Great Hormead which still has a few thatched cottages, one of which was possibly theirs.

Sarah - two Sarahs married at Great Hormead in 1661.  One of them was this girl.  My guess is she married William Aldridge.

John - married Martha Rayner.  More on this in due course