introduction
This information is included here because it's the stuff I've most frequently dished out via email to the genealogists who've made enquiries.
the name
NB All of this information is highly likely to be totally inaccurate!
As far as I know, the name Whalley is Danish/Norse/whatever in origin. It means something to do with a small valley or something equally unexotic. More specifically, Whalley is a town in Lancashire (UK). It's in the part of England which was under Danish rule for a time in the middle ages or whenever, hence the Danish name. The main feature of the town is an abbey, which I think might still function in some religious capacity though I don't think it's got any monks any more. I have a vague recollection that at one point it also had a drag club amusingly named Andertons after the late and unlamented homophobic former chief constable of Greater Manchester.
our family
Our family (on my father's side) originate from Darwen in Lancashire, near Blackburn and not that far from Whalley, I guess. At least in global terms...
On my mother's side we are Smiths, which is enough to put anyone off the idea of genealogical research (contemplate the number of Smiths in the UK and trying to untangle that lot...). Though my maternal grandmother was an Appleyard which would be more traceable.
As far as I know we have no relations in the USA or Canada.
claims to fame
Well, none really. Except that there was a Whalley who signed Charles I's death warrant, though I doubt very much that he was a relation. Pity, really. Apparently he fled just in time when the monarchy was restored and hence wasn't hung, drawn and quartered like some of the other regicides. I'm told that he fetched up somewhere in Connecticut and is buried there. Of course if he is an ancestor it would explain my own anti-monarchy leanings, though I doubt if I'd have made a good Puritan as they seem to have been rather a dour bunch. Though I could go with the black clothing...