Hi Everyone,
Intending to spend 2 days in Bedford, I was extremely lucky in being the only researcher there for most of Monday and had the Archivist James' almost undivided attention. One of his areas of expertise is Non Conformists and he was able to guide me through lots of records/books very quickly.
As an aside Bedfordshire parishes (apart from non-conformist records)are totally indexed and on IGI. There are relatively few Carvers appearing in these, especially pre 1700.
A major problem is that the Carvers mainly appear in parishes close to the extremities of Bedfordshire, so they could easily have come into Beds drom the surrounding counties (Bucks, Northants, Cambs). James also said that a lot of incomers came down the River Ouse from Norfolk (Kings Lynn to Bedford) in the mid 1600s.
As to nonconformists, they appear in parish records for marriages and burials, but not Baptisms, so I had little luck with my Southill lot. There are very few non conformist baptisms available for Bedfordshire. However, Southill Independent Church was founded in 1696 from the Bedford Independent Church which in turn had migrated from Wellingborough, so Northants may be a place for further research.
The nonconformists were strong in a few parishes (Carlton, Stevington, Keysoe, Southill), so my Thomas Carvel/Carver of Turvey may have had links with the first 3 or Wellingborough before settling in Southill. Interestingly there is a Samuel Carver, labourer, marriage to Martha Bankes on 7 Jul 1701 in Keysoe. Given the naming pattern of Samuel/Thomas/Samuel/Thomas etc in the family, perhaps this could be a contender for Thomas of Turvey, although he would have been young when he married in 1720. Martha was buried 23 Dec 1702, possibly she died in childbirth? But proving a link would be virtually impossible.
Having exhausted most avenues on the Monday, I decided to come forward in time and pursue the Carvers of Hitchin who I was fairly certain were my ancestors. I spent Tuesday at Hertford and had a most profitable day, the results of which I will post on the Carver of Hitchin thread.
Hope this makes sense,
Chris