Due to the discovery (during Coronavirus induced Lockdown) of conclusive evidence linking the Ely Genn family to the Ely Ginn family (who came from Hertfordshire) I have extended my research efforts on the Genn family and have created new posts out of the old.
John Thomas Genn snr you will find online as the father of John Thomas Genn jnr (1867-1939) but where he is mentioned there is no comment on where he came from, nor any marriage record for his supposed marriage to a Mary Bloodworth nor any burial record. There is a reason for that - the guy is fiction. Until a correspondent wrote to me in 2023 I believed this online story. John Thomas Genn jnr was the illegitimate son of William Mackinder Genn (see post of 2nd March 2014)) and his cousin by marriage Mary Bloodworth.
William Mackinder emigrated to America, going out to New York on the "Neptune in 1862 with the Bloodworths, his cousins by his sister. He is not indexed on the Ancestry passenger list but is there as William Gen aged 18. For some reason they give his origin as Ireland - a typographical error. He was indeed 18 went he went out. He and the Bloodworths went to Winfield in New York State, a small place ner Utica.
William enlisted from Winfield into the Union Army in 1862, very soon after his arrival. After William returned from the Civil War in 1865, he went back to New York State where Mary Bloodworth was still living with her family in Winfield (1865 census) near Utica. They obviously had some form of relationship and in 1866 she became pregnant, the child was clearly born in the area in April 1867 but there appears to be no record. John T jnr later (see below) gave his birth place as Utica and his father as William Genn.
William M Genn in later life
The relationship broke down, William Mackinder departed to Chicago (where he is reputed to be in 1867) and Mary, a domestic servant, named the child John Thomas Genn (which suggests some involvement by William - he had a late brother of that name) and was living with her sister Fanny and family in Winfield in 1870.
In 1872 Mary married a George Cox and moved to Illinois. George then died and she remarried Thomas Cox who was George's brother - both George and Tom were born in England also. Mary died in 1903.
John Thomas Genn junior married Clara Sophia Morse at Winnebago Illinois in 1890 and moved up to Oregon by 1900 or so. He was a Real Estate Salesman, what we in England would call an Estate Agent. He and Clara had two sons - Willis B. (known as Bill Genn) and Vernon.
John T. jnr died in 1939 in Eugene, Oregon and Clara in 1949. Their memorials are below
When John T died in 1939 his son Bill (Willis) was the informant on the death certificate which is below. John T's parentage is given.
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As for their two sons:
Willis Burr Genn (known as "Bill") originally joined the Merchant Navy. He had an ancestor and two Genn cousins who went into Law enforcement so it was no surprise to me to find that he joined the Oregon State Police and rose to Sergeant. He married more than once but I do not believe there were children. Bill died in 1954. See below
Bill is seecond from left (1925)
Vernon Chathburton Genn - worked as a manager for General Motors and spent some years as Japanese Sales Manager and in charge of a factory in Osaka. A successful businssman. He married, had three sons and there are known descendants. Vernon died in 1953.
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