Unpublished Parish Registers

[AdrianBruce]

...
Adrian Do you think this might lead to missing registers retained temporarily whilst operations were housed somewhere else, while building/ renovations were going on. Couldn't they then be returned to the new building ?

Anything can happen but my gut feeling is that once a set of registers gets into an archive, they'd be reluctant to let them out again - it's not just personal preferences, but there are rules about keeping records safe and, unless a church was really, really attached to its registers, they're probably happy to see the back of them. And the archives would do their utmost to persuade the church that the church didn't need them back...

[Norfolk Nan]

Thanks, Mo. Good memory! Yes, the earliest connection to place is Little Linford and its Chapel of Ease. I recall chasing up earlier records years ago and drawing a blank but not why. Worth a fresh look, of course. I’m retracing old steps yet again, hoping something I hadn’t noticed, found, thought of, crops up and gives me that missing detail.

Update: The BT of St Leonard's PR goes back to 1608 but the earlier records are incomplete and, unfortunately for me, don't cover the years I'm interested in. If this is his birthplace I probably won't be able to prove it through PRs. Ho hum...

[AdrianBruce]

The LDS appear to have filmed some stuff for Little Linford - but only the BTs, not the PRs. See https://www.familysearch.org/search/cat ... %20Library. Those BTs are fairly gappy according to the linked page, they have

Baptisms, marriages, burials, 1718, 1794-1795, 1821, 1828, 1830-1836.
Baptisms, marriages, burials, 1813-1816, 1818-1819, 1822-1824, 1826, 1829.
Baptisms, marriages, burials, 1608, 1610, 1612-1614.

The above appear to be copies of the originals at Bucks RO. I'm finding that difficult to reconcile with the Bucks catalogue that says that Little Linford's PRs started in 1757. I'm not questioning the accuracy of the catalogue - rather it gives the impression of something bad happening. Maybe the earlier registers were lost? Maybe they never made it past loose sheets of paper, sufficient for a very few BTs? (In other words, blame the incumbent - which does happen - it wouldn't be the first parish to have very defective record keeping).

Just some vague thoughts - have you checked the contents of adjacent parishes? GENUKI says that Little Linford "was originally only a Chapelry to Newport" - have you checked the Newport Pagnell registers (I suspect you have!) to see if the LL entries were written in that register?

[Norfolk Nan]

Thanks Adrian

I updated my previous post before seeing your post so we off down the same deadend. I have searched everywhere over the past decade or two. I lived in the area for a while so had access to the brilliant Local Studies Library in Milton Keynes (excellent librarian), have trawled any Daniel Green and name variant in the county and all neighbouring counties and have discounted them all. He's either arrived in the area from who knows where but it is also likely that he is connected to a specific family but I can't make the connection - a nice gap in the baptism pattern suggests its possible but that's not good enough. Either he wasn't baptised, was baptised somewhere obscure, the event went unrecorded, the record was lost or he was baptised with a different name. I don't want to give up but I'm going round in circles

[AdrianBruce]

... Either he wasn't baptised, was baptised somewhere obscure, the event went unrecorded, the record was lost or he was baptised with a different name. ...

Yeah, I know the feeling... I've just been dealing with a 3G-GM, Eliza Bebbington, who married after 1837 so I have her father's name, and her own birthplace from the census. That birthplace is in South Cheshire and the only baptismal combination of her name / approx year of birth / father's name is from mid-Cheshire. I finally found the contradiction yesterday - the mid-Cheshire Eliza turns up in the 1841 in Runcorn, with her parents and siblings at a time when my Eliza is already married - and is in her South Cheshire village in the 1841.

At least I know the mid-Cheshire Eliza isn't her now.

But the weirdness is that alleged descendents of the mid-Cheshire Eliza's brother (named Faithful Bebbington, so not a common name) have a DNA match to me. I suspect there may be other linkages from mid-Cheshire Bebbingtons to me that trigger that DNA match....

[Guy]

Don't forget the very useful, but old, booklet titled "Report on the Transcription and Publication of Parish Registers, &c.
This includes
1. Parish Registers printed as seperate works.
2. Parish Registers printed in other works.
3. Original Registers and Bishops' Transcripts in the British Museum Library.
4. Registers of other Churches in all classes.
5. Parish Registers transcribed in MS.
Cheers
Guy

[Norfolk Nan]

Worth knowing, thanks Guy

[jonwarrn]

Yes, the earliest connection to place is Little Linford and its Chapel of Ease.

As Adrian said, Little Linford was originally a chapelry of Newport Pagnell. According to the Clergy Database, it was separated from it in 1735. However, the list of LL curates probably tells its own story
https://theclergydatabase.org.uk/jsp/lo ... ocKey=7194

If there was a Green family in Little Linford, there ought to be burials recorded somewhere. Only the Knapp family seem to be buried at LL in their family vault in the chancel?
Little Linford Burials at Haversham, no Greens, so look Newport, etc.?
http://www.mkheritage.co.uk/hav/docs/ch ... llbur.html

It's a bit later, but to put things in perspective, Genuki says that
"In 1798 the Posse Comitatus listed 8 men between the ages of 16 and 60 in Little Linford.
In the earliest government census of 1801, there were 44 inhabitants in 8 families living in 8 houses recorded in Little Linford."
https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/BKM/LittleLinford

Remember as well that Daniel Green being of the parish of Little Linford when he married does not mean that he was born there. Of course he could have been, though it seems unlikely, but, literally speaking, it just means it was his residence at the time of the marriage.

[Norfolk Nan]

Thanks, jonwarrn. I agree, it’s unlikely that Daniel was born in Little Linford but not impossible so I keep LL as the core place. There are some BTs available that go back into the early 1600s but they are patchy/incomplete and didn’t help. However, I’m assuming two things: 1) Daniel came from somewhere and on average young men place-hop on an annual contract so I’m working outwards and looking at all Daniels (there aren’t that many) as they crop up. 2) a James Green of Little Linford married in Great Linford c1773. I don’t think that’s a coincidence so I’ve tried to identify James’origins. James and his wife baptised a couple of children in Newport Pagnell before James died. I’ve checked witnesses for both marriages - no links or additional clues.

I think James is the son of William Green born in Hanslope. Think, not sure. I think William is the eldest son of Edward Green, and born in Newton Longville. And William has a younger brother called Thomas Green who, I believe, moved to Milton Keynes after his second marriage in the early 1760s and stayed until his death within a couple of weeks of Daniels in the 1780s (sorry, exact dates not to hand as I type). The Newton Longville family have a gap in their baptism record that might be Daniel but I can’t find any actual links. I’m sure some will say I’m making connections out of nothing but this is all theory and not fact which is why I go round and round in circles. All the Greens in the MKV Posse Commitatus are Thomas’s sons (Daniel’s are elsewhere) and his descendants are still in the village.

Sometimes I’m sure Daniel belongs to the Newton Longville family, other times I think he may be a cousin but I can’t prove that either. Sometimes I think it’s all just coincidence and there is no connection between Daniel, James and Thomas. Vote here …

[jonwarrn]

Hi
Whilst I think it's a safe bet that there weren't any burials at Little Linford, I can't be sure about baptisms (and possibly marriages as well after 1737).
One thing you could do, if you have the spare time, is use those LL burials at Haversham to attempt a bit of family reconstruction. Maybe there was a Green connection through one of the women.
Looking for a few (there aren't many) possible marriages in the Buckinghamshire marriage index, I have failed spectacularly so far. Perhaps the marriages were in another county, or perhaps not.
Similarly, were any of those children who died baptized in a neighbouring parish, if there was time? Or perhaps they didn't bother!
If nothing at all can be found, can we conclude that is indeed likely there are some missing records?

That "curate" who was appointed in 1736 was Edmund Green(!) He was Vicar of Wolverton, nearby, and was buried there in 1754 (Anyone remember I'm the Girl from Wolverton Mountain? We had that record by Jo Ann Campbell!)

Yes, do keep investigating the Drayton Parslow family. You have an open mind about a possible connection, unlike some people who become convinced about something, and then don't continue looking elsewhere.