Was Isabella Weaton the same person as Isabella Waiton

Let's start with what we know:

1. John Hubberstey married an Isabel "Eaton" October 24, 1780.

2. John Hubberstey and Isabel "Waiton" had three children baptised at St. Mary Newhouse R.C., Newsham. They were Robert (1787), Maria (1789) and Elizabeth (1792).

3. John Hubberstey and Isabel "Weaton" had three children baptised at St. Mary's R.C. Fernyhalgh. They were William (1794), Isabella (1799), and Thomas (1803).

4. Waiton and Weaton are both very rare Lancashire names. In fact, Waiton is basically unheard of. By the 1841 census there were only 6 people in all of England with that surname. Even Eaton was somewhat rare itself at the time (outside of Bedford), and appears to sometimes have been spelt "Heaton".

5. Robert, despite being christened at St. Mary Newhouse, had his children (with Jane Trelfall) christened at St. Mary's in Fernyhalgh. Fernyhalgh is also where Thomas and Alice (Taberner) had their children christened.

Conclusion:

The more I look at it the more it seems quite likely that Isabel Waiton and Isabel Weaton were in fact the same person, and that the two lines that I have written about should in fact only be one line.

Consistent spelling was definitely an issues in those days, especially from one priest to the next, so it is entirely plausible that upon switching churches that Isabel's name would have been spelled differently. The fact that Robert eventually has his children baptised at Fernyhalgh definitely adds more weight to the conclusion.

What we can not say though is whether the Isabel Eaton married in 1780 is the same person. For that to be the case there would need to be a reason that there were no children recorded for the first 8 years of marriage and then 6 for the next 16 years meaning that that at the time of the last birth Isabel would have been quite old (for childbearing). Of course there may have been children born that were not recorded as the records at this time were sketchy.

Afterthought:

With only a few Hubbersteys in a small area it is sometimes tempting to speculate about relationships, even if we don't have records. Here is one such speculation.

John Hubberstey and Elizabeth Horn were married in Woodplumpton Nov 5th, 1782. They then had 4 children baptised at Mowbreck or the Willows R.C. Wesham between 1784 and 1793. After that they had 6 more children baptized at Saint Mary Newhouse RC in Newsham between 1795 and 1806. What is interesting is that they arrived at St. Mary Newsham just after John and Isabella Waiton appear to have left. Perhaps there was a family farm/property that was being passed on.

One of the children of John and Elizabeth (John - b. 1788) seems to have married Dorothy Newsham (b. 1788) and after having lived in Claughton on Brock (where son James - b.1813 was born), moved back to Newsham where son Robert was born in 1815. James shows up in the 1851 census as a Roman Catholic priest living in Northumberland with his mother, and Robert shows up in the 1861 census as a Roman Catholic priest living in Euxton.

We also have another daughter (of John and Elizabeth Horn), Isabella b. 1804, who looks to have married a Charles Farnsworth in 1826. That line actually leads all the way to current descendants in Australia.