John Whitaker and Mary Ashworth -Newchurch, Rossendale. Help please.

[Footo]

This appears to be your James Whitaker
Mother   Mary Whitaker
Father   John Whitaker of Edgside
Baptism   23 Oct 1774 Lancashire, Newchurch In Rossendale

There are also two baptisms for Ann Whitaker 29 Apr 1768 & 1 Aug 1769.

Too many John's to be certain.


Colin

Just to confuse things there a burial for James Whitaker 1776

Burial: 18 Apr 1776 St Nicholas, Newchurch in Rossendale, Lancashire, England
James Whitaker - [Child] of John Whitaker & Mary
    Abode: Edgeside
    Buried by: J Shorrock
    Register: Burials 1775 - 1781
    Source: LDS Film 950393

[Maiden Stone]

John Whitaker married Mary Ashworth on 27 December 1759 at St Nicholas Church in New Church Rossendale.

Also, I believe James Whitaker (my direct ancestor) is their son and I have no baptism for him either. He marries Ann Lord of Huttock End on 9 Sept 1794 at St Nicholas Church. I believe they have Edmund, my direct ancestor and a daughter Prudence both born in Four Lanes End. There are other children born to the parents with the same name in Lench but I don't think they are these Whitakers.

Henry Whitaker was the name of a marriage witness for John and for James.

2 other men named John Whitaker married a Mary at Newchurch within a few years of the Whitaker-Ashworth wedding. There were also some John & Mary weddings at Haslingden. There seem to have been at least 2 John & Mary couples, possibly more, having children baptised at St. Nicholas, Newchurch 1750s-1770s, + Non-conformist baptisms in Bacup. Abodes included Rawtenstall, Heald, Boothfold, Newchurch, Waterbarn, Edgeside and Tunstead. The family with abode Boothfold may have been the Non-con John & Mary. 

Was Prudence the same who was buried at Newchurch in 1805, aged 5? Abode was Manchester. I could find baptisms only for Edmund and Prudence. When did Ann and James die?

Any chance the Whitaker family was Non-conformist?

[Maiden Stone]

The James 1774 is also in a family tree noted as spouse to Ann Lord but I have just found this   
James Whittaker
Mother   Mary Whittaker
Father   John Whittaker
Baptism   6 Apr 1760 Lancashire, Haslingden

John & Mary also had the following children baptised Lancashire, Haslingden, there may be others/

Elizabeth Whittaker 19 Jul 1761
Alice Whittaker 2 Dec 1764
Henry Whitaker 19 Aug 1765
John Whittaker 22 Feb 1767

Abode of parents of James was Priestintax in Haslingden Grane. Abode for Elizabeth, Alice and John was Rakefoot, Musbury, not far away across the moors, so they may have been same family. There was a Henry baptised 1770, abode Holden, again not far from Haslingden Grane, so possibly same family.
Site of Priestintax Farm, Haslingden Grane
https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/479679
Those children may have belonged to a couple who married at Haslingden or a Haslingden man who married in Bury, both weddings 1759.

Abode for Henry 1765 was Heald. There were more children baptised at St. Nic, Newchurch with abode Heald, including John 1760 and Betty 1767. Heald may have been in Bacup. There's a Heald Lane, Weir and a Heald Top Farm.

[Footo]

Heald may have been in Bacup. There's a Heald Lane, Weir and a Heald Top Farm.

Yes - Heald is Weir (Bacup). Other names to note for the surrounding area for Bacup/Weir are
Scar End, Broad Clough, Doals, Dog Pits, Dean Head and Whams.

There’s a good walk over the tops from the Weir side to Lumb just above Whitewell Bottom to get some perspective.

[Maiden Stone]

Heald may have been in Bacup. There's a Heald Lane, Weir and a Heald Top Farm.

Yes - Heald is Weir (Bacup). Other names to note for the surrounding area for Bacup/Weir are
Scar End, Broad Clough, Doals, Dog Pits, Dean Head and Whams.

There’s a good walk over the tops from the Weir side to Lumb just above Whitewell Bottom to get some perspective.

I noticed Scarrend was abode for a Whitaker family. There were other abodes I couldn't place. An abode for another Whitaker groom and his bride was precise - "Meadows above Bacop near Broadclough in this Chapelry"; there's a placename Meadows and a Meadows Mill just south of Broadclough on the map link in reply 8 .
Yes, people would walk over the tops. There were ancient causeways and packhorse routes across moorland. Some modern roads didn't exist. Turnpike roads were made 18th-19th centuries.
Bacup is not far from Yorkshire. Non-conformists would travel or their pastors would.
NB to non-locals. Don't confuse Lumb near Whitewell Bottom (Lumb-in-Rossendale) with Lumb near Edenfield (which is also in Rossendale). 

[tillyann]

Firstly, Colin I think you are more likely to be right about the family from Haslingden even though this would make James 13 years older than Ann. I have the baptism of Ann Lord as 16 May 1773 to Edmund Lord and Prudence of Boothfold. I believe this is her. James and Ann have 2 children Edmund and Prudence both of whom are born when they lived at Four Lanes End.
The age of the James Whitaker you first found would be a better fit (23 Oct 1774) to the John and Mary of Edgeside, but the 6 April 1760 James from Haslingden does have merit as John and Mary married at the end of 1759 and the children start arriving. There are definitely family names there and the fact there is a Henry Whitaker also fits with one being a witness at James and Ann's wedding in 1794.

[tillyann]

Hi Maidenstone,
Edmund son of James and Ann Whitaker is my line. He is baptised om 4 Oct 1795 at St Nicholas Church, Newchurch. There are a couple of other possibility baptised very close to that date but I think this is him. He has a sister Prudence baptised 17 Mar 1799 again at St Nicholas. She dies aged 5 with a burial on 4 Jan 1805 at St Nicholas. The parish record also says Manchester but I've never understood that.
The Lench James and Ann Whitaker I do not believe to be this couple. When our 1795 Edmund marries he calls his children James, Margaret Ann, Edmund (again my line), John, Elizabeth, John Munn and James.
The eldest James dies and is buried at St Nicholas, John Munn (1844) and James (1848) are baptised at Holy Trinity in Tunstead. Other than those Baptisms everything happens at St Nicholas through the generations. The  mother of these children Margaret is an Irish Catholic.
It seems to me that Ann Lord dies on 12 Nov 1842 and James on 19 Sept 1844. They were living at Huttock End and both were buried at St Nicholas.

[tillyann]

Thank you Footo (Barbara)
That is very helpful and much appreciated. I'm in Australia so I'm not that familiar with the area. I have been to Newchurch, Bacup and Stacksteads but this was almost a decade ago and I have done so much more research since.
I have found a Mary Whitaker in baptised 28 Nov 1772 in Constable. This is more than 5 years after John is born in Rakefoot. Would they have been far from one another? Also, it seems strange that Henry is born in Heald yet everyone else is born in Rakefoot? I'm not sure he is one of theirs.

[Footo]

Thank you Footo (Barbara)
That is very helpful and much appreciated. I'm in Australia so I'm not that familiar with the area. I have been to Newchurch, Bacup and Stacksteads but this was almost a decade ago and I have done so much more research since.
I have found a Mary Whitaker in baptised 28 Nov 1772 in Constable. This is more than 5 years after John is born in Rakefoot. Would they have been far from one another? Also, it seems strange that Henry is born in Heald yet everyone else is born in Rakefoot? I'm not sure he is one of theirs.

Constable (Lee) is below Rake Foot on the road that leads from Rawtenstall to Burnley.
https://maps.nls.uk/view/102343979#zoom=5&lat=6258&lon=2441&layers=BT

Of no use but maybe good to know that we have a Rakehead in Stacksteads and there is also a Rakefoot Rd in Haslingden (for this I cannot see any reference to it on and old map as an old hamlet).


As Maiden Stone has referred to Meadows above Bacup is Old Meadows today on the left of Burnley Rd in Bacup - there is a water treatment plant there.

I’ve lived in the area for 22 years but don’t see myself as a local - which is often pointed out when I speak