Our ancestors were Baptists in Keysoe and Riseley. Pastor William Wakefield of Cranfield Baptist Church married Elizabeth Dickins, age 20 at Keysoe Parish Church in 1773. With no baptisms recorded in Parish Records for reasons of faith how on earth can you, with any certainty be sure whether William Wakefield was the son of Robert Wakefield, Dissenter, also a member of Keysoe Brook End Church or that Elizabeth was the daughter of Stephen Dickins, member of Keysoe Brook End Church, whose son William Dickins, as recorded in the Church Book, was the Pastor there for thirty two years until his death in 1798, age 57. On the one hand it was a very small Church with small membership, all these names are recorded in the Church Book and marriages in the Parish Register. If Parish Marriage Records are to be believed there are no other child bearing families with those names around in Keysoe at the time. Elizabeth Dickins is recorded as being accepted into the Church in 1767. When does enough become enough? When researching Baptists does the lack of Parish recording of Baptisms mean that no circumstantial evidence is ever good enough and does my family research stop here. I would appreciate the thoughts of other researchers.
