searching family members from Stewkley

[gen minnow]

I am new to searching my family history but have found that I had a considerable number of ancestors by name of Bates and Bedfords who lived in Stewkley going back four generations as far as I have found. I am trying to locate my gt. gt. gt. gt. grandfather John Bedford, the only entry I have found was in the 1861 census. He was born in Stewkley in 1789 (not sure if this can go a year either way depending on month of birth) He lived at 6 high road stewkley and was a widower at this time, I have no idea of the wifes name or when she died, he lived with his son george (age 42) born in stewkley and his wife Jane bedford, age 37 born in fringford oxford ( this was a little hard to decipher). George and jane had 7 children at this time all born in Stewkley:
Hannah 13
Mary N 11
sarah 8
Elizabeth 6
George 4
Charles 2
James 4 months

If anyone could help i would be stunned but very grateful, I am sure in time i wil get much better at this so i apologise in advance as i imagine i will be posting quite a few like this in the upcoming weeks.

[suzard]

1841
High St
Stewkley

John Bedford 59 ag lab
George bedford 21 ag lab
both b in county
HO1075028/8/11

Suz

[suzard]

no wonder yu coldn't find John in 1851 -he is just an initial -squeezed n etween lines -his age is written at the side of his 10mth granddaughters age???

1851
Stewkley (no street name)
George bedford head M 32 Stewkley
Jane wife 27 fringford oxon
Maria daughter 10mth Stewkley
J Bedford father W 65(or69?) Farm lab Stewkley
HO107 1722 136 17

but we still don't know who his wife was?

Suz

[suzard]

this is possibly his death reg -the age is only what the informant would give -so can differ

Death reg FreeBMD
John Bedford
age 82
Dec qtr 1866
Winslow
3a 317

Suz

[gen minnow]

Thankyou Suz,

the info you found is great I greatly apprecisae it and will  add what you have found to my tree. John Bedfords wife is a total mystery to all my family, i guess my next step will be to go to Stewkley to see what i can find, i am quite excited about this but also a little worried i won't find anything. Thanks again,

Gen Minnow

[gen minnow]

....oh forgot to ask Suz, sorry for my ignorance but what are the reference numbers you gave me?

Gen Minnow

[suzard]

The ref no for the census relate to

Class no/piece no Folio no/Page no

the class no for 1841 and 1851 census is HO107
1861 RG9
1871 RG10
1881 RG11
1891 RG12
1901 RG13
if you go on familysearch and look at the 1881 census you will notice the ref no.
we should always include the ref no when quoting from a census 
We usually look at the image to quote the information given -as sometimes the images are mistranscribed or difficult to read so the ref can be quoted for a second opinion.
Also you may be given a ref but not the image -or look at a transcription and wonder if it is correct -you are then able to quote the ref and ask what someone else "makes" of it .
What we post should be our own transcription from the image -not just a copy of whatever site we have the informatin from- thats why sometimes you may get a post stating e.g.  George bedford 62? (or 65?) if the image is difficult to read .

The ref on BMDs is volume no/ page no and these nos are needed if ordering a certificate from the  GRO

We need the ref nos also to "prove" our research.

Suz