Was Sally Ginn the daughter of Capt. James Ginn, and where did he come from?
The question
Sally Ginn (b. 20 Feb 1784) married Rowland Tyler in 1804 and was the mother of Hannah Read Tyler, wife of Capt. Nathan Low and mother of Harriet (Low) Holbrook. Mollie’s typescript makes Sally a daughter of Capt. James Ginn of Orrington and Bucksport, Maine, and his wife Ann Riggs; the Tyler Genealogy of 1912 names her father as “William H. Ginn.” The whole Ginn side of Hannah’s ancestry (Ginn, Genn, Riggs, Millett, Greenaway, Wheeler, Yeoman, Allen, Goodale, Stanwood and Messer) hangs on which is right. Behind that is a second question: was Capt. James the James Genn born in 1745 to Thomas Genn of the Choptank River, Maryland? And what lies behind the family tradition that a Genn taught George Washington to survey?
Trail
- 1 Oct 2026The Tyler Genealogy names another father
Brigham’s Tyler Genealogy (1912, vol. 1 pp. 220-221, no. 701) says Rowland Tyler “married (1), March 28, 1804, Sally Ginn, born February 20, 1784; died March 12, 1834; daughter of William H. Ginn, a shipbuilder of Ellsworth, Maine” (Brigham, The Tyler Genealogy (1912), 2 vols.). The name looks like a garbling of William R. Ginn (b. 1 Jan 1786), Capt. James’s son and the Bucksport shipbuilder, who was too young to be the father of a child born in 1784 (inference).
- 1 Oct 2026Mollie’s chart and WikiTree
Mollie (Holbrook) Pfeiffer’s Ginn chart (typescript pp. 165a-187, Mollie Frances (Holbrook) Pfeiffer, Holbrook-Low family typescript, Books 1-9) lists Sally, b. 20 Feb 1784, among the twelve children of Capt. James Ginn and Ann Riggs. WikiTree (Ginn-138) has “ix. Sally Genn; b. 20 Feb 1784 at Orrington,” with no record cited (WikiTree profiles for the Capron, Callender, Read, Ide and Ginn families). Both agree with Brigham on her birth date. So far the case for Capt. James rests on compiled lists.
- 1 Oct 2026Capt. James’s marriage and first children
The Gloucester, Massachusetts, records have “GENN, James [Geen. int.], and Anne Riggs, June 3, 1768” (Vital Records of Gloucester 2:226), and children recorded as “s./d. James and Anne”: James (3 Apr 1769), Anne (30 Apr 1771) and Abraham (7 Jan 1773), with Samuel baptised 12 Mar 1775 (1:277, 283; Vital Records of Gloucester, Massachusetts (printed, 3 vols.)). By 1776 the family was on the Penobscot. No birth record has been found for any of the children born in Maine, Sally included.
- 1 Oct 2026Six sons and six daughters
Rufus Buck’s history of Bucksport (written by 1857): “He married Anne Riggs, of Gloucester, Mass., by whom he had six sons and six daughters. The only surviving child is William R. Ginn, who is extensively known as the best ship-builder on the river” (Bangor Historical Magazine 1:105, Bangor Historical Magazine, and Maine Historical Magazine vol. IX). Porter’s list of the children (BHM 4:237-238, 1888-89) omits Sally. Mollie and Upton (Upton, The Ginns and Their Kin (1963)) both count her; their 1788 child is “Peleg” in Mollie, “Polly Ginn, 1788-1842” in Upton and “Pelia?” in Porter. Buck’s count adds up only if the 1788 child was a daughter and Sally is counted (inference).
- 1 Oct 2026The Ginns and the Tylers already linked
Anne (Anna) Ginn, born at Gloucester in 1771 to James and Anne, married Josiah Brewer in 1793, and Josiah’s sister Lavinia married Ebenezer Tyler, Rowland’s brother, in 1799 (BHM vol. 1). So Capt. James’s family and Rowland’s were connected before Rowland married Sally. That fits her being Capt. James’s daughter (inference), but does not prove it.
- 1 Oct 2026“From Maryland”
Buck: “Capt. James Ginn came to Orrington, from Maryland, in 1775” (BHM 1:105). He heads the Orrington section of “Penobscot River, Heads of Families, 1776” (BHM 4:126), was commissioned second lieutenant in Col. Josiah Brewer’s Penobscot regiment on 20 July 1776 (Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War 6:472), and died at Bucksport in 1818: “April, in Bucksport, Capt. James Ginn, aged 71” (BHM 6:157). The age points to a birth about 1746-47. Nothing here names his parents.
- 1 Oct 2026Thomas Genn of the Choptank River
NEHGR (1872) says Samuel Ghen of Truro “was a brother of Thomas and James Genn, or Ginn, whose descendants now live at or near Bucksport, Me. The three brothers came from Virginia” (Ralph Smyth of Hingham, genealogy, NEHGR 26 (April 1872)). NEHGR (1880): “Thomas Genn … the father of Samuel, Thomas, James and Josiah Genn, was located in Caroline Co., Md., on East bank of Choptank River, on a plantation called ‘Cape Ann.’ … He died about 1769” (Thomas Smyth, note on the Genn family, NEHGR 34 (April 1880)). The Genn family study, drawing on Rev. Nathan Genn’s history of 1883, gives Thomas b. 14 Mar 1718, a shipbuilder, married about 1743 to “Sicely Stewart,” died 1767 or 1768 with Sicely as administratrix; a son James b. 4 Oct 1745 (1 Oct in another chapter); and 1771 deeds by “James Genn (3), eldest son of Thomas Genn (2),” with no liber or folio (David Genn et al., The Genn Family of Canada (online)). The study says itself that it does “not provide direct documentary proof” that this James is the Maine captain. Rev. Nathan thought the children might be by an earlier wife, possibly a Sarah, and the maiden name “Stewart” has no source. Mollie’s “William Genn (b. 1718)” is a slip for Thomas: the birth date is his, and her own notes on p. 166 say “son of Thomas.”
- 1 Oct 2026The surveyor and George Washington
Upton (1963, p. 103) records a family tradition that Thomas Ginn “was sent by the English Government to survey Virginia and that he taught George Washington to survey.” Washington’s diary for 12 March 1748 has “This Morning Mr. James Genn the surveyor came to us,” and the Washington Papers editors say Genn led the party and think it “probable that he received some instruction in surveying, possibly from James Genn.” The association is real; “taught” is possible but undocumented. Which James Genn the surveyor was is unresolved, and either way he was not a direct ancestor.
- 2 Oct 2026Left open as a research task
The research’s addendum of this date records that no “William H. Ginn of Ellsworth” had been found in any record, and names what would settle it: the Bucksport intention of 25 Feb 1804, or a Ginn probate naming her. On review of the open conflicts the same day, the ruling was that Sally Ginn’s father is unknown: the link “stays as recorded” and is a research task, not a decision (
research/decisions.md). The archive records Capt. James and Ann Riggs as her parents at “possible,” and keeps Brigham’s William H. Ginn as a possible alternative. - 6 Oct 2026Her daughter’s death record
Hannah R. Low’s Massachusetts death record (Beverly, 9 Apr 1886; Deaths vol. 373 p. 178, FamilySearch 1:1:NWCP-3J7, seen as an index), found with the Low master research, names her parents “Roland Tyler” and “Hannah Ginn” (Massachusetts death record of Hannah R. (Tyler) Low, Beverly, 1886). It is the first record, rather than a compiled genealogy, to name Hannah’s mother a Ginn; “Hannah” for Sally is probably the informant’s slip (inference). It proves Hannah’s father, but says nothing about Sally’s. The same day the check of Mollie’s typescript marked her claim that Sally was Capt. James’s daughter as possible, unresolved.
Where it stands
Open, and recorded as a research task. The archive gives Sally’s parents as Capt. James Ginn and Ann Riggs at possible (compiled: Mollie’s chart and WikiTree), with Brigham’s “William H. Ginn, a shipbuilder of Ellsworth” kept as a possible alternative, though no such man has been found. For Capt. James are Buck’s count of twelve children and the Brewer and Tyler marriages (both inference); against him, Porter’s list, which leaves her out. No record names her father. Hannah’s descent from Sally is probable (Brigham, with the death record’s “Hannah Ginn”). Capt. James’s father is Thomas Genn of the Choptank at probable and his mother Sicely at probable (an earlier wife, possibly a Sarah, is possible), on compiled sources only: no primary record ties the Gloucester and Maine James to the Maryland family. The surveyor James Genn is not a direct ancestor, and his kinship is unproven.
Next
- The Genn family study’s list of Capt. James’s children (chapter 6, online, free). The review of Mollie’s typescript names it as a check: does it include Sally, and on what evidence?
- The Bucksport intention of 25 Feb 1804 and the record of Rowland Tyler and Sally Ginn’s marriage (Bucksport town records). The research counts the intention among the records that could settle her parentage. Its date is in the notes, but it has not been read, and the notes do not say where the date was seen.
- Capt. James Ginn’s probate (1818) and the Hancock County deeds of 1800-1818 (Registry of Probate and Registry of Deeds, Ellsworth, Maine). A probate or deed naming Sally Tyler, or her children, as his heirs would settle it. The same files are where to test Mollie’s story of enslaved people at Bucksport.
- The Orrington town records of the Ginn children’s births, 1776-1790, above all Sally’s of 20 Feb 1784. A birth entry would name her parents.
- Thomas Genn’s administration, about 1767-69, and the deeds of 26 Jan and 7 Mar 1771 (Maryland State Archives: the Prerogative Court and Testamentary Proceedings; Dorchester and Caroline County land records). The administration should name his heirs, and a deed calling the seller James “of Gloucester” would tie the Maryland James to Capt. James. The Maryland Naval Office shipping lists, 1771-73, and Rev. Nathan Genn’s 1883 manuscript could help too.
- The St. Stephen’s Parish register, Northumberland County, Virginia, which the Genn study cites for Thomas’s birth (14 Mar 1718) and which may show his parents. Not yet seen.