Marriage for William Taylor and Elizabeth?

[AdamsHodgetts]

Hi,

I have been using Ancestry, Family Search and Lancashire OPC, the latter has been fantastic up till now and the further I go back, it is now getting harder to find the marriage for my ancestors, William Taylor and Elizabeth… 

The smoother part was finding births and baptisms for these below named children of William and Elizabeth Taylor at their Abode, Bolton but I am unable to find a marriage for their parents: -

Alice Taylor: Baptised on 15 May 1670 at Bolton-le-Moors, St Peter, Lancashire, England and buried on 18 January 1673 at St Peter's, Bolton

John Taylor: Baptised on 3 Mar 1671 at Bolton-le-Moors, St Peter, Lancashire, England.

James Taylor: Baptised on 4 Oct 1674 at Bolton-le-Moors, St Peter, Lancashire, England.

Michael Taylor: Baptised on 3 Oct 1676 at Bolton-le-Moors, Lancashire, England.

William Taylor: Born on 1 Sept 1679 and baptised on 7 Sep 1679 at Bolton-le-Moors, St Peter, Lancashire, England.

The abode, for all the above children, was down as Bolton.

I also noticed baptisms of children whose parents were also William Taylor and Elizabeth whose Abode was down as Harwood: -

The first Elizabeth born 13 March 1663/4 at Harwood and baptised on 16 March 1663/4 at Bolton-le-Moors, St Peter.  Buried on 16 May 1666 at St Peter, Bolton.

The second Elizabeth was born on 9 January 1667 at Harwood and baptised on 13 March at St Peter's, Bolton.

There is also another William Taylor, whose abode was Tong, Bolton, who was born on 9 June 1661 and baptised on 17 June 1661 at St Peter's, Bolton. He was buried on 29 May 1667 at Bolton-le-Moors, St Peter, Lancashire, England and his abode was down as Harwood. His parents were William and Elizabeth Taylor.

As I couldn't find the marriage nearer to the first born of the children whose Abode was Bolton, I decided to go  further back to 1661 and found only two possible marriages via Lancashire OPC, which were: -

25 May 1662 at St Michael & All Angels, Croston, Lancashire.
William Taylor from Eccleston
Elizabeth Morress from Bysph (?)
Married by Baynes. Original Reg held at Lancaster Archives.

and

26 April 1663 at St Michael's on Were, Lancashire.
William Taylor from Pilling
Elizabeth Baggott from Preesall
Married by Licence. Source: LDS Film: 1470824.

Both marriages are after the birth of the first child, William who was born on 9 June 1661.

I think I'm getting confused, which wasn't helped by the deaths of those children who were born in one area and died in another area... as well as not having knowledge of the area so am wondering if there were two or three sets of parents with the same names or were they the same parents throughout despite living in Tong, Harwood and Bolton?

Since I live over 200 miles away from Bolton, would it be possible for someone who live locally to double check the above sources out at the local Archives or point me to an excellent online site, although I can't see anything that could be better than Lancashire OPC?

It will be very much appreciated

[Maiden Stone]

Taylor is an extremely common surname. William and Elizabeth/Betty were among the most common forenames in Lancashire. There could have been several couples named William & Elizabeth having children in & around Bolton at the same time. For instance, I doubt, at first glance, that Alice, baptised May 1670 and John, baptised March 1671 were born to the same parents, unless birth dates were stated.
Harwood is a small settlement on the outskirts of Bolton. Not to be confused with Great Harwood elsewhere in Lancashire. Tonge is part of a few place-names in Bolton - Tonge Fold, Tonge Moor.

I think those marriages at Croston and Wyresdale are unlikely. Croston is a few miles NW of Bolton and SE of Preston. Wyresdale is between Preston and Lancaster.

A few things to think about.
Marriage/s of William Taylor & Elizabeth may have happened during the Commonwealth or even the Civil War. Bolton had a siege and a battle.
Non-conformism was strong in Bolton & district.
This was a period when clergymen were put out of their churches if their views didn't meet with approval from those in power.