Hi Karen, I actually have two sets of Atkinsons in my tree! One is from Bolton and starts with Emma Atkinson, born 1879 and married to John Edward Whitlow on 8th December 1900, she died in 1917, while her husband was away at war, and left my grandmother and her sister with her (Emma's) sister. Her parents were William Atkinson and Mary (nee Grimshaw). These might be a link but William was a cotton machine minder, not a brewer? The other Atkinsons are earlier, John Edward Whitlow (Emma's husband) had a father William whose mother was Martha Atkinson born in 1829. This family comes from Antrobus in Cheshire, or that area as far back as I have information (1710) Cheers, Pete Hulme