John WHITAKER

                   REFN718 JOHN WHITAKER's (9th Great-grandfather of Kelsey Elizabeth Denkers) origin is a mystery. Th ere are records of three JOHN WHITAKERS arriving in Maryland from 1668 to 1777. DOn't know wh ich if any are our JOHN. We know that JOHNwas a servant, since he is named as such in an ear ly parish register of St. George. Later he is listed as JOHN WHITAKER, Planter. Most endentur ed servants were recent immigrants to the Colonies and paid for their passage by selling them selves for a number of years. This would tend to indicate that JOHN WHITAKERcame to Americ a from England and was not born in the Colonies.  Few men born in America became endentured s ervants. The papers identifies land patents of JOHN, so that his home can be fairly closely locat ed. Beaumont Whitaker was ableto pinpoint two of JOHN's land patents, "Whitacre's Ridge" an d "The Enlargement", lieing near present Route 40 east of Old Joppa town, just north of prese nt Beechwood Mobile Homes area. The name WHITAKER or WHITEACRE is English and from pre-norman times. It is found severa l times in the Doomsday book of 1086. However, my research seems to point to the area of th e Parish of Rochdale in Lancashire, England, as a likely homebase for most WHITAKERS.  The pa rish registers which exist back to the late 1500's are already full of WHITAKERS, and at leas t two other American WHITAKER lines trace to the area. A few miles outsidethe village of Roc hdale, is a place mentioned in old histories, no longer present on any map, call White Acre , likely an open meadow in which the foliage was sort of white flowering plant.  It is likel y that in the 12th and 13th centuries when surnames first became generally used, that a famil y of families living in the vicinity of White Acre, took the place as a surname, hence I am J OHNof WHITE ACRE, eventually contracted over time the WHITEACRE then WHITAKER.  We can speculate on the names of JOHN's father and grandfather, and his wife, Catherine' s father's name by the names of his children. Custom was to name the first born after the fat her's father, second son after father, and third son after either grandfather or mother's fat her. Since JOHN's first son was also named John, either John broke tradition, or more likely , John's father was also named John. That would leave the second son named after John's Grand father, Charles, and the third after Catherine's father, Peter.  Just speculation, but there are a number of Charles' in Rochdale parish registers, and n o Peter Whitaker's.  John's son, Charles, clearly followed this tradition in naming his firs tborn, John, and second son, Charles. Also, tradition would hold that first daughter is name d after father's mother, which would be Elizabeth, and second daughter after mother's mother , Ruth, (who apparently died before John as she isnot mentioned in his will.) Therefore, on e might look for the first names of John's wife, Catherine's parents as Peter and Ruth. It might be that JOHN was connected with the Quakers. A number of families around them w ere clearly Quakers from early records, and Harford County, is very close to Philadelphia, th e center of Quakers in America. There is also definite records of another WHITAKERfamily fro m Lancashire, England, who settled in PA in about 1720 who were Quakers. There is another theory of JOHN's origin, that has circumstantial merit,but no hard pro of. It is that he was born in Virginia, a descendant of earlierVirginia Whitakers. Alexande r Whitaker was among the very first settlers at Jamestown was the colony clergyman and a well -educated man. Alexander baptizedPocahontas. He drowned in 1619 leaving no children. About t he same time Alexander's younger brother, Jabez, came to Virginia, was a prominent man of th e colony and did leave sons. The theory goes that our JOHN was a descendant of Jabez, most li kely a grandson or great grandson. In 1676, a rebellion broke out inVirginia against the gov ernor whom many viewed a