Thomas Carver
Minister of a non-conformist church.
Minister of a non-conformist church.
Surnames were introduced by the 'Normans" who arrived in 1066BCE. By the mid 13th. Century landholder families had adopted surnames and by 1450 most English families had surnames, with the Southerners adopting them, 100 years ealier than the Northerners.
So we may assume that ''Carver" was an adopted surname of a trade person in the 14th.. Century, as this was the period in England when most people used surnames.
Bedfordshire Archives / Southill Independent church in 1693. Began service as an Independent church in 1693, known as a "church in and around "Bedford", which included an Independent church led by John Bunyan until his death in 1688. Samuel Whitbread conveyed the trustees a piece of land of 24 perches on the northern boundary of the chapel site "to allow the Trustees to enlarge the Meeting House and to make the approach more convenient". In this deed the meeting house is that of "the Society of Protestant Dissenters there called Independent Baptists".
Thomas Carver's parentage and date of birth is not known and we do not know about his formative years nor how he arrived in Southill. On 3rd December 1719, Thomas Carver, became Deacon of the Southill Independent denominations Church and a trustee in 1737. "Southill is a rural village and civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of the county of Bedfordshire, England. The village is about 8 miles (13 km) south-east of the county town of Bedford, and 40 miles north of London.
Southill Independent denominations Church Refer source: Bedfordshire Archives / Southill. Samuel Whitbread conveyed the trustees a piece of land of 24 perches on the northern boundary of the chapel site "to allow the Trustees to enlarge the Meeting House and to make the approach more convenient". In this deed the meeting house is that of "the Society of Protestant Dissenters there called Independent Baptists".