Diane – sorry a long response to try and tie some things together.
Here’s some very speculative thoughts ………
The best link I can see that may be possible is William Bowley, baptised May 4th 1800, buried 20th May 1870 – son of William Bowley (1771-1839) and Elizabeth Glenn. You mentioned William and Elizabeth Glenn living in Snarstone Road at the time of the 1841 census, I think that William died in 1839. I think the William and Elizabeth in the 1841 census were William and Elizabeth, nee Blockley (explained later).
Here’s my (more than likely incorrect) interpretation of the Parish Registers and various other searches.
I can only find evidence of the baptism of one William, and the burial of one William, of the right ages, that is searching the Parish Registers (Appleby), Ancestry.co.uk (Derbyshire, Leicestershire and surrounding counties) and the IGI (England) - so it is possible that there is only one William “active” in the village at that time, so that is sort of my starting point. Could all the events be fitted together if there really was only one William Bowley.
William was baptised in Appleby in 1800, and married Jane Gamble of Stretton-en-le-Field on 4th Nov 1819. Their first son Thomas being baptised in Appleby on Sept. 12th 1823.
Now here’s the leap of logic (or imagination) to explain the sequence of “life events” recorded in the Parish Registers.
Jane becomes pregnant for a second time, and whilst she is pregnant she and William separate.
William marries Elizabeth Blockley of Swepstone on 16th October 1826.
Jane gives birth to John, baptised 12th Nov. 1826 and Elizabeth gives birth to Samuel, baptised Feb. 25th 1827. (Significant overlap of dates there, and a possible reason for William and Jane separating ?)
In the 1841 census Jane is living with only her son Charles, whilst in that census and the 1851 and 1861 census’s William is living with Elizabeth (from Swepstone) and their daughters. I haven’t found any burial record for a William Bowley that might help explain why Jane is living alone. According to the census records the William that is living with Elizabeth was born around 1800 which places him at the right age to be the son of William (1771-1839).
If any of the above is correct it leaves a question mark about the birth of Charles in 1830 with Jane listed as the mother. Elizabeth being pregnant with young Elizabeth around that time. I don't know if it is in anyway significant, but the baptism of Charles (1830) was not conducted by any of the local ministers. From a very quick check of the original 1934 Parish Register transcription it was the one and only baptism ever conducted at St Michael's by J.R. Holden - just listed as officiating minister.
Not particularly saying “like father, like son”, but according to the Parish Registers William (1771-1839) seems to have had two children by different mothers (Mary Nichols and Frances Woolley) before his first marriage to Elizabeth Glenn of Carlton (near Market Bosworth), married 12/10/1797. This Elizabeth appears to have died in 1807, and William then married Elizabeth Villiers of Snarestone on 5th April 1808. The Bowley’s certainly seem to like their Elizabeth’s.
The main challenge in finding a different family lineage is that there seems to be a significant shortage of alternative William Bowleys around in Appleby in that time period.
If I have identified the correct William above, the line can be fairly easily traced back to John and Elizabeth Bowley (William’s grandparents), whose first entry in the registers is the baptism of a daughter Ann in 1750.
Possible, but unlikely
My imagination working overtime ?? But even if the above interpretation is incorrect, hopefully there is some new information for you to follow up.
Chris