Just to give you some more info, of Richard and Susanna's children, one was also called Richard born 1812 and he was my husband's ancester.
Ok, I then found a marriage in 1855 of a Susannah Moss Whittaker, it turns out the marriage (in 1855) was conducted at Coppenhall Parish Church, which is near to Nantwich, Cheshire and interestingly, the name of Susannah Moss Whittaker’s father was Ralph, which was the name of 2 of Richard's (born 1812) children. Is there a distant connection there?
I've found some info in my notes.
"Another ancestor has been doing lots of searching at the Stockport Archives and found more children for Richard and Susannah. What is interesting and probably points to Susannah Moss being the one baptised at Manchester Cathedral in 1774, parents John and Mary, is that the eldest two children of Richard and Susannah that she has found are called John and Mary! She's searched through the Stockport Sunday School records and found a William Whittaker, father Richard, who was 13 at the time he started at the Sunday School on 20 November 1814. So it seems that William is another son of Richard and Susannah. Which makes 11 children for them, John 1796, Mary 1798, William 1801, Elizabeth 1803, Sarah 1805-1816, Jane 1807, James 1810-1811 (living at Green Lane, Romiley when he died*), Richard 1812-1880 (my husband's ancestor) Hannah 1814, Alice 1818 and James 1820".
Green Lane, Romiley is interesting because that is where Susanna was living on the 1841 census and a William Whittaker born about 1801 was living next door to her, married with a bunch of children with names very similar to the names of Richard and Susanna's children. That family and Susanna all have N next to their name to the question whether born in the county.
So if we think Susanna Moss baptised in 1774 is correct, I wonder if the marriage banns in 1793 also related to her? However, we are no nearer to finding Richard Whittaker's origins.
garstonite - no that's not my tree, I don't have a public tree. I can't actually see the trees on that link without joining.