Benjamin Ginn of Ware died 1813

 If you refer back to Richard Ginn of Ware died 1697 (post of 2nd August 2020) you will note that he had a son Benjamin (1687-1760).  This Benjamin married a Mary Richardson at Ware in 1716.  Benjamin and Mary had three children including a Judith, a Benjamin jnr who was born in 1717 and a John.  We will explore all this in a later post or two.

Benjamin jnr (1717-1798) was a Labourer/Maltmaker (both brewing and barging the produce down the River Lee into London were major trades in Ware) - and he married  Mary Barnes in 1740.  This Benjamin also had a good number of children and, again,we will deal with this in other posts.  Because this post is solely taken up with Benjamin and Mary's son, also Benjamin, who was born in 1755.

Ben Ginn took up the plastering trade, though records suggest he was also not afraid of doing a bit of painting and decorating.  So, obviously, most of his work would have been for the middle classes and the gentry.  Plasterers did not of course simply plaster walls, but put in decorative ceilings, alcoves and the like, not to mention rendering exterior walls.  The very sort of thing the 18th century gentry loved.  I would not be surprised if some of his work survived.

Ben married Rachel Hobbs at Ware in 1779.  They were obliged to marry in an Anglican church.  But it is clear that from early on they were non-conformists - ie Independents.  A meeting house for  Independents was opened in Ware in 1778, and Benjamin and Rachel attended it from their marriage.  It has within the last decade been converted into apartments, but the original building  survives and is shown here before the conversion

Ben and Rachel had eight children, all baptized at the Old Meeting House.  There was a burial ground and the records survive, but no Ginn was buried there.

At some point (Land Tax) Benjamin bought  a house in Kibes Lane in Ware, the family seem to have lived there.  This property qualification gave him the vote - he is in the 1805 Poll Book.

And so we move forward,  Now I was born in the Lee Valley and spent the first fifty five years of my life there.  Some of my ancestors have been there for centuries.  The River Lee has been vital to the economy of South Eastern Hertfordshire since Saxon times, and Ware being a major malting and brewing town since the middle ages, needed the Lee to transport its produce to London.

Over the centuries, new waterways and canals were created, deepened, widened and cut  at the London end to make access to London easier.  Ben Ginn's great Uncle Richard had been a Bargeman in the 1720s, and the barges and boats that went down the River Lee and canals were charged a toll to pass at the various Locks on the way, these being managed by Lock Keepers and Toll Collectors.  It became  a habit to appoint  these posts from men living in various towns on the River Lee - Hertford, Ware, Cheshunt, Waltham Abbey etc.

I have had correspondents over the years who have queried the fact that there is no burial entry for Benjamin Ginn in Ware.  Some had even linked his burial to the wrong guy.  Well I cannot tell you why it happened, though I can guess, but on 22nd June 1809 "Benjamin Ginn of Ware, plasterer" was appointed "Collector of Tolls" at Limehouse Lock, which is now in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, a long way from Ware (NA Rail 845/8).

There were two lock -keepers and two toll collectors, each with their family lived in a cottage by the canal and they worked turn and turn about in twelve hour shifts as it was of course a 24 hour job.

My suspicion as to the "why" is Benjamin's health,  The guy was 54 in 1809, he had likely been a plasterer, often in confined spaces, for forty years.  The trade (like coalmining) gives you Silicosis.  In addition, 18th century plaster contained a lot of animal hair (horse, cow even dog) scraped off the floor of the slaughter house in unsanitary conditions which contained disease, even anthrax apparently.  My feeling is that Ben had lung disease, he needed fresh air.

                                       Limehouse Cut in 1809

So Ben and Rachel moved into one of the cottages.  The men were given lanterns to collect the tolls at night and often the families helped out.  It was obviously a responsible job, Ben had to keep  accounts.

The family as I say had to live in one of the cottages,  These, together with the whole Lock grew to be in disrepair by the 1850s (the Limehouse Cut had been channelled out in the 1760s) and the old cottages were demolished and rebuilt.  The later cottages are shown below.  They give us some idea as to what it was like during the Napoleonic Wars.

Benjamin Ginn died in 1813, he was 58.  He is buried at St Anne, Limehouse.  His death is also recorded in NA Rail 845/8.  He was buried in May 1813 and a month later Rachel and any kids that were left had to leave as a new Collector was appointed.   She went back to Ware and died there in 1823 aged about 60.

Benjamin and Rachel had eight children

Benjamin - later a Surveyor.  He will be dealt with in a later post

Thomas - a Plumber - see next post

Joseph - was born in 1786.  There is no record of him dying in infancy but I have never come across anybody that could potentially be him.  There appears to be no Napoleonic War record for him in any service.

Ann - died in 1807 aged 19

Edward - died infancy

Daniel Hobbs - there were two.  The first died in infancy.  The second was born in 1795 but I have never found any trace of him

Mary - is untraced