At 03:50 PM 2/20/99 +0000, Doreen Whitaker wrote: >I have recently started researching my husbands family. His grandfather >was Leonard, ggrandfather was George Womersley (both from Heckmondwike. > His gggrandfather was Thomas Whitaker born 1849 but I don't know where >yet. I am told the family came from Clitheroe, Lancashire but I have no >proof of that yet. I'd be glad of any information to help in the research. > >Doreen Whitaker, Bourne, Lincs > Yes, there were a lot of Whitakers in Lancashire, especially in the general area of Clitheroe. A Whitaker married the daughter of the holder of a manor ("The Holme") near Burnley in the 14th century and the family held it until that line died out in the 1700s. I have found many Whitakers on record as being in that area and into the West Riding of Yorkshire. Also of interest: the Venerable Thomas Whitaker, a Catholic convert who became a Jesuit and was martyred during the English Civil War was from that area as well. I haven't done any modern British genealogical research. (My Whitaker ancestor left England in the 1600s.) Elizabeth Whitaker