Hi Christine I would think it's quite possible that the Rainow, Gawsworth and the Butley HUDSONs were of the same family. From my researches in this area I can see that there was more than one HUDSON family in each village. I suspect that if you follow each family back a couple of generations that they would have a common ancestor. It may take you a little time but it could be an exercise well worth doing. If your 4xggrandfather, James, was an agricultural worker, a miner or a home weaver, he may well have moved from one place of work to another to work in the mills in Macclesfield. I've made a supposition here as the area was undergoing considerable change in the latter half of the 18thC and lots of people were on the move. Do you know what your forefather did? Macclesfield was not far from Rainow and Butley and Gawsworth only a little further, but maybe James and his family were actually living in Macclesfield in 1776. John and Hannah would have been married in Prestbury. Rainow had only a chapelry in the parish of St Peter, Prestbury and this was not licenced to conduct marriages. Marriage registers in Rainow only began in 1846 when the church was built. See Genuki. Have you seen the website: http://www.rainow.org/ This contains maps of the area and useful background. Hope this helps a bit! Ruth