Mary Bowyer born circa 1798, possibly baptist in Stevington

[bedfordshire boy]

If Mary Bowyer's family were Baptist then she wouldn't have been baptised as an infant, which might explain why there's no baptism on the IGI.

[flateric999]

That John Wright issue.... as discussed before..

... see http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=659536.0

to me it's an IGI transcription error and unreliable... it doesn't occur when Bucks FHS transcribed the register

Indeed John, but the fact remains that errors exist, old records are damaged and unreadable and sometimes what is written on the original document differs from what is found online.

"bedfordshireboy" is also correct, the Baptism may well not be recorded (but a dedication service would be) so maybe the records from the church are worth a look.

All I am saying is clearly the person is not an easy one to find, so you have to dig a bit and find other evidence to support a hypothesis.

I never found a reliable birth record in MK library for John Wright. The pages for 1798 are gone and Bishops Transcripts for that year don't include it either.

It may well be the case that she used her middle name in life and we are trying to find a differnt person!!

Mike

[Galium]

Do you know whether the marriage record shows the marital condition of Mary Bowyer?  If not there is always the possibility that she was previously married. 
The birth certificate of the younger daughter, Maria, who is aged 1 in 1841, will confirm Mary's maiden name.  There is only one Maria Hart registered in Newport Pagnell district (includes Astwood) for the years 1839-40.

[bedfordshire boy]

Extract from http://www.bedfordshire.gov.uk/CommunityAndLiving/ArchivesAndRecordOffice/CommunityArchives/Stevington/WestEndBaptistMeeting.aspx regarding Stevington Church book: "On 2nd October 1798 the 1720 meeting house was registered by the minister John Millard along with William Bowyer, Robert Bowyer, John Tyso. Millard was a Congregational minister trained at the academy at Newport Pagnell [Buckinghamshire]. William and Robert Bowyer were Baptists, as shown by the fact that they helped to register a house occupied by Sarah Bowyer in October 1807 along with the minister, Joseph Such, William Prall, Lawrence Cumberland, John Wheaton, Thomas Cox, Richard Barcock and Sarah Bowyer herself [ABN1/1 and 2/133].

So the Bowyers were pretty staunch Baptists. I have a couple of transcripts of Baptist Church books from Bedfordshire (Southill and Blunham) and there is no reference to any dedication services. Baptisms yes, as adults.

[johnP-bedford]

The Stevington parish register transcipt has in the baptisms a number of children to Bowyer parents with the word 'born', which to me suggests they were not baptised. Also in the burials are a number of entries for unbaptised son/daughter of Bowyer parents.