My third great grandparents were William Whittaker, a hatter, and his wife, Elizabeth, a Welsh woman, likely from Denbighshire. I am seeking to discover the birthplace of their son, George, my second great grandfather, in Denbighshire. He was born 17 March 1822. Shortly after William and Elizabeth removed to Romiley, Stockport, Cheshire, George was baptized by Thomas Bennett at the Congregational Church, Hatherlow, Township of Bredbury, Stockport, County of Chester, on 26 May 1822. The family continued to be members of this congregation, as several other children were baptized there.

Rev. Bennett wrote the name of George Whittaker's birthplace in the church record as best he understood it, but so far, I have been unable to decipher what he meant. The two pictures above are of the same image. The first is the original image from the church record and the second has been manipulated to provide a negative image.

The second word is Denbighshire. The village is the challenge. The first letter is a bit tricky. It could be "LL" but there does not appear to be any place with "LL" that is similar to the rest of the word; that is according to someone at the archives in Denbigh. Also, the minister was meticulous in capitalizing the first word of all the other place names, so it seems he would have done it in this case as well. I believe the first letter is a "U", an "M" or a "W", or maybe even a "C". It could be, among many other possibilities, _ovan, _oran, _avan. You may see something else in this lettering. He wrote so clearly elsewhere, I believe that he may have struggled with how to write something that he was hearing and was not sure how to spell. Sometimes saying the word is productive in trying to determine what was intended. Thanks for any advice in this matter.