Hello - does anyone have access to any Leighton Buzzard non-conformist registers? I'm looking at a family called Linney, who appear from the censuses to have had more children than show up in the Anglican registers. Thomas Linney and Mary Tring married in the parish church in 1810 and in 1812 had a daughter Hannah baptised there. There's then no further Anglican baptisms at Leighton Buzzard to Thomas and Mary, but there are three baptisms (John in 1815, and Samuel and Eliza in 1818) to "Thomas and Elizabeth". The 1841 census finds Thomas and Mary living with children including a Samuel who could be the 1818 baptism, plus a Caroline, James and William all apparently born in the 1820s. I know the 1841 census doesn't show relationships, but when James and William each later married they said their father was Thomas Linney, whilst in the 1851 census Caroline had a niece Mary Williams living with her who appears to have been Hannah's daughter. The 1841 census also has John c.1815 and Hannah Williams nee Linney living in the same house.
I'm therefore coming to the conclusion that Thomas and Mary were misrecorded as Thomas and Elizabeth on the 1815 and 1818 Anglican baptisms (It's possible Thomas might have been married three times - first to Mary Tring, second to an Elizabeth and third to another Mary - but I can't see enough burials of wives or remarriages to make that work). I also think they had children called Hannah 1812, John 1815, Samuel and Eliza 1818, Caroline c.1821, James c.1824, and William c.1829. They might also have been the parents of the five year old George who died in 1832, for whom there is no obvious baptism.
I know at least one of Thomas and Mary's grandchildren later had her children baptised in one of the Methodist Churches in Luton. Might it be that Thomas and Mary also became Methodists in the 1820s, which is where Caroline, James and William (and possibly George) were baptised? Alternatively I understand there was also a Baptist church in Leighton Buzzard at that time. If anyone has access to either the Methodist or Baptist Registers I'd be grateful if you could see if my Linneys turn up in either.
Many thanks
Richard.
