William Tailyer vs William Taylor

[Mancunian194]

Hi,

I'm having trouble reconciling the following!

If I believe family trees then William Taylor married Margaret Trotter at Athelstoneford, East Lothian, and they had several children, including twins Peter and Thomas Taylor, born 17th March 1758.

The trouble I'm having is confirming this. I think family trees are just copied without any real research and thus errors get propagated. The only marriage I can find is William Tailyer marrying Margaret Trotter on 4th Nov 1747. And they had a daughter, Bessie, who died 1748 (at Athelstoneford).

I can find siblings for Taylor/Trotter but NO marriage of Taylor/Trotter, and also the siblings don't cross ie Bessie Tailyer is NOT listed under any Taylor/Trotter parentage. And the twins are not listed under Tailyer/Trotter.

So I think Tailyer is NOT Taylor.

I can't find much info on Trotter; is she the Margaret Trotter born/baptised 29th March 1730 at Oldhamstock?

So can anyone help?

Is Tailyer = Taylor? If not, who are the parents of the twins? Are they really Taylor/Trotter and they didn't marry?

Is Taylor spelling a proper rendition of Tailyer and transcribers were being lazy (although other Tailyers do exist at the same time and place but the name seems to die out after late 1780's, according to FreeReg).

Any help gratefully received 

[lizdb]

Spelling was not a big issue in th 1700s, when few people could read and write.    The name would be written gow the person writing it at the time thoughtit should be spelt, and then next time it was written, by someone else, it coule be given a different spelling.
So I would consider all spelings to be "possibles". - Taylor, Tailor, Tailyer, and anything else you see!

[iolaus]

It may be worth contacting someone on ancestry (play a little dumb) with a 'we seem to have lots of ancestors in common but you've managed to go so much further back than I have and I was wondering if you could help me at all'

I found one family tree which went further back than I'd found sent a message - turned out she had descended from the eldest son (whereas I was from a younger son) and had the family bible and sent me photographs - I'm quite happy to accept that if the bible says someone was born on 25th March 1801 and died on 1st September 1829 and is the son of John and Mary that it is right.
Of course you may just find they say 'oh it was on Fred's family tree'

[bevj]

I think they are one and the same.

There is a son Alexander born in 1750 to William TAYLOR and Margaret née Trotter.  One of the witnesses at the baptism is a George Trotter who is also shown as a witness at the wedding of William TAILYER and Margaret Trotter.
Another son George (1752) is a TAYLOR.

Taylor and its variants is a very common name but the chance of there being two Margaret Trotters is very slim indeed.

Bev

[Mancunian194]

Thanks for the help and advice, everyone.

Regards

[trish1120]

FreeREG has all of the Baptisms you have BESSIE/ALEXR/GEORGE including;
THOMAS/PETER Baptised 19 March 1758, Aberlady Parish Church, Aberlady, East Lothian
Birth 17 March (Twins)
Abode Spittle
Also a JOHN same Church, 26 July 1755, Wits George Trotter and Thomas Crookshanks

William TAILYER Baptised 23 Feb 1718, Athelstaneford Parish Church
Parents Alexr TAILYER and Margaret HENDERSON



Trish

[Mancunian194]

Thanks, Trish.

I'm convinced now!

I have an ancillary question about FreeReg data and Alexr Taylor from my earlier question.

Alexr (Alexander) Taylor b1750 married Helen Wat/Watt. I can't find any details of the wedding but FreeReg says they had siblings Agnes, George, Peter, Margaret and Alexander (jnr). It also says Helen Watt had twins Richard and Thomas (b 28 Jul 1787) but the father is now a James Taylor! But there is no James baptised between 1700 & 1820 on FreeReg.

So, does anyone know if Alexr (Alexander) Taylor b1750 was actually called Alexander James (or James Alexander!)? I'm assuming its the same Helen Watt.