Hi Martin, It is always something wonderful when you find and/or discovered by a long lost cousin through family research. It is also a bit sad when you think about how these discoveries could have gladdened the hearts of mothers and grandmothers had they only been found earlier on. What makes it worse for me is that in 1956 I stayed for nearly a year with friends in Melbourne, and those lost cousins waiting to be found were only just doors away, and my Mum never knew until some of them were deceased. That was not to be the only time that I found myself living close, even right next door to cousins. We found out then because my son John exchanged names with the friends he was playing with in the street and they were all Hutton's. Many years later when those young cousins had grown up, we were moving from Melbourne to Cairns and when the trucks turned up with containers to be loaded, who should the removal men be but two of those cousins.
As I've pointed out before, these aren't coincidences. Something we don't understand is at play causing them to happen. That is why your gut feeling is so important. It is more than a subconscious notion, this is your psychic ability at play. Far too often we pass it off as a mere intuition, but it is much more.
Not sure if I mentioned it before, but back in the early 1980's when I was searching for lost cousins in Melbourne for someone in Bradford, Yorkshire, I stood by the grave I had just found and was at a 'dead' end, and so I asked out loud for help to find his family. I was heard! His grand-daughter came into our travel agency less than a week later and asked for help with a passport application, and when given her maiden name, out it all came. Two months later that lady was able to call in and see her lost cousin in England.
I also feel very strongly that Jane Adamson of South Shields 1889/1993 was somehow related to the Jenkison's of Filey and thus the Hunmanby Adamson's. We can't ignore it, but have to push on and find them all.
I don't suppose you have any memento handed down from those Leggett children of Hartlepool? Just handling such an article could open up some channel with an answer at the end. Unfortunately all the homes Jane lived in at South Shields and in Hartlepool have all gone, with newer homes in their place, or even an open space.
Have you ever visited George's grave site? If not, well you never know!
One thing that now seems to be obvious, we cannot find trace of a Jane Adamson in any census earlier than 1891 that fills the bill. She has to be in some of them and so it could be another wrong name tanscription, or what we know she did later on. When living with George she used his name even though they weren't married. What's to say she didn't do that before Henry Thompson? There may be some way to solve this, but first I think I shall look very closely at the Harper's and Jenkinson's in Durham City.
Cheers Malcolm
