It is likely that Thomas began his apprenticeship as a cutler in 1815 at Sheffield. Unfortunately, the apprenticeship records containing fathers' names ceased the year prior. Although, these records show it was typical of Whitakers at this time to come to Sheffield from other parts of Yorkshire to be apprenticed as cutlers.
There are several possible Yorkshire baptisms - one is dated 9 Nov 1800 at Bingley All Saints, birth 22 Sep at Harden to John Whitaker and Ann Mawson. One autosomal DNA match has John's parents (Thomas Whitaker and Sarah Clegg) as ancestors in their tree, via John's brother Charles who married Alice Atkinson.
