What is the first name of the letter writer?

[mckha489]

As it is a free weekend on Ancestry hopefully this link is to the marriage cert.

https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/2967/40366_293762-00794?pid=383459&backurl=https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv%3D1%26dbid%3D2967%26h%3D383459%26tid%3D%26pid%3D%26usePUB%3Dtrue%26_phsrc%3DTQi5%26_phstart%3DsuccessSource&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=TQi5&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true

And yes, Charles is a widower

Father is John Whitaker “gentleman” which seems strange given Charles is a Cotton Spinner. On the other hand the daughters do have “private means” on the 1911

[mckha489]

First marriage.

https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/2962/40364_636672_2410-00015?pid=560774&backurl=https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv%3D1%26dbid%3D2962%26h%3D560774%26tid%3D%26pid%3D%26usePUB%3Dtrue%26_phsrc%3DTQi7%26_phstart%3DsuccessSource&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=TQi7&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true

So ignore that Bates birth posted earlier

Then in 1861

Modified to add link https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M723-XHH  Father John is with them (see image) he’s a Fund Holder. Age 70
So when he died  there is probably a will, hopefully

[mckha489]

In 1851 John (a Merchant) has a wife Elizabeth and Charles is with them, plus another son George age 21.

Anyway, it is clear your Sarah Ann cannot be a daughter of John, sibling to Charles.
Am having trouble pin-pointing John’s birth c 1791.
There seem to be quite a few.

[mckha489]

First two pages of letter
Added. Finished

My dear Mrs .....

Father
wishes me to write to you
to say how very sorry we
all were to hear the sad
news conveyed in the
newspaper you sent us.
I am sure it must be
a great trial & loss to
you all, & a terrible


blank in your home
circle.
It is always so but
 perhaps more so when
the head( ?) of the family
is taken (?) away.
Our sympathies very much
 with you all
In your great sorrow

I remember when Mrs
Bulimer(?) went to ?
sometime ago she
said Mr Garth was
very far from well
With our sincere & kind
Regards to you all

[lmfamilyresearch]

Do you think this is the same letter writer?  This is also from Rochdale (this time the letterhead says Woodfield Rochdale.  The handwriting is similar but is it similar enough?

[Jool]

I don't think this is the same letter writer.  In the first letter the writing slants to the right, in the second it slants to the left. 

[sparrett]

Lizzie? As in short for Eliza/Elizabeth?
Sue

[mckha489]

I think it’s a different hand. And what’s more it’s been sent to Mrs Garth, which looks like it might be same person as in the first letter?  You wouldn’t write two bereavement letters, would you?

Also, signature on this one is much more informal. And clearer. Sissie.

[arthurk]

When I first saw it, I wondered if the signature on the first one might be Lizzie, as Sue has suggested. Having now seen the rather idiosyncratic handwriting of the whole letter, I'm still of that opinion.