I have only tenuous connections to this family. My great aunt
Ellen STUKINS married William Whittaker in 1950. She was possibly his third or even fourth wife and was aged about 63 when they married — it was her first marriage.
William Whittaker 1813–1899 was born in Bolton-by-Bowland. A blacksmith he married a girl called Mary from Whitewell not far away. They had 8 children:
- John 1840 Grindleton
- Ralph 1842 Grindleton m Eliza Baker
- Ellen 1844 Grindleton
- Letitia Ann (Lettice) 1847 Haslingden m Thomas Hutchinson
- William 1848 Edenfield m (?) Elizabeth Alice Schofield
- Mary Jane 1850–1879
- Joseph 1853–1900 m Margaret Ellen KNIGHT. issue:
- William Whittaker 1877–1958
- Ellen 1878 Manchester. m John Lambert 1907 in Edenfield
- Jane Ellen 1879 Manchester. m Frank Haworth 1906 in Edenfield
- Elizabeth 1857 m.1882 Edwin PICKLES
Joseph moved to Manchester sometime between 1871 and 1881. In the 1881 census he is proprietor of a temperance hotel and is still there in 1891. However his son William who was born in Manchester around 1877 was sent back to Edenfield where he lived with his grandparents age 4 in 1881 and 14 (a cop-dryer) in 1891. His younger sisters remained in Manchester. Joseph died in 1900 and his wife and daughters are living in Edenfield in the 1901 census and William (a newsagent now) is living with them. Margaret Helen Knight was born in Manchester around 1852 but her parents had moved to the area from Scotland where four of her siblings were born. A younger brother was born in Manchester. Margaret's mother, Jane Knight, was buried in Edenfield churchyard in 1905 age 90. As Jane was living with a grandson in Manchester in the 1901 census she possibly came to Edenfield to be with her daughter in her last years. The stone also commemorates Margaret Helen (Ellen) who died in 1932 in her 80th year but I am not sure if she is buried there. William died in 1958 age 81. I remember him well as a man who had travelled to many parts of the country and was able to talk on many topics.
