When you can't quite prove two people are one and the same...

[Jomot]

If it said Edwin then yes, I think it would.   

Lavinia Leggett's birth certificate places Jane in Mile End Road, Westoe in April 1892, which is very close to the Morton Road address where Jane was with Henry Thompson - less than half a mile according to Google.

It's not impossible for two people of the same name & age to live so close to each other (I was at school with someone of the same name & age), but it would be a coincidence too far if they both had  a father/step-father named Edwin.

[Mart 'n' Al]

Jomot, I know what you mean.  I've encountered two other Martin Watsons, one at my GP's surgery!.

My Australian cousin (it is probably his records you found) just sent me an electoral roll page that confirms that another daughter was born at the pub we believed was run by Jane.  It seemed likely, but the certificate said 19 High Street, Hartlepool, but we didn't know the street number of the pub.

You are so kind helping me like this.  If ever you need any PC advice, I might be able to help.  Keep digging!!  I have contacted the T&W Archive.

Martin

[Malcolm33]

   I have seen some terrible transcriptions and one yesterday was horrific.   I was trying to find the 1851 census for Benjamin Read and his family.    In the end I focussed on one of the sons, 'Walter', and then it came up in My Heritage with his name transcribed as 'MARY'.   Alright it isn't very clear but when the very next entry reads 'Wife', surely whoever did this should have taken a second look?

    I'm still not convinced about Jane.    Like you Martin, I need something more substantial to link her to the Potter Family.    In 1881 Edwin was a 'Contractor' and though I can't put my finger on it at the moment I think I did read a news report of him being an Engineer.    However I have found in my own family and elsewhere that people quite often used the 'Engineer' occupation to make it appear that they had some higher qualification.     

    If Jane had just said 'Durham' I wouldn't have so much doubt, but she stressed it and even said 'City' which is a far cry from an outlying village.     We have the very same puzzle in the Reed/Read search where the illegitimate girl is named Hannah Wilson sometimes and other times Hannah Ritchie.    Her birth certificate reads birthplace 'Toft Hill', but in every census she says she was born at Cornsay which is far to the north of Toft Hill and near Tow Law and Consett.

     In 1871 and in 1881 when Jane was 10 years old and then missing, the Potters lived in Middlesborough, so again far from Durham City.

     Another thing that worries me is the age of Henry Thompson and where is he in any earlier census.    We can be fairly sure that he did die in 1890, but there is no record of any Henry Thompson anywhere near that age.    Then the Thompson family living right next door to Jane in 1891 - how were they related?

[Mart 'n' Al]

Malcolm, Yes, it could be  Mary or Benj'n, but the next column should have helped. 

The Potter/Adamson connection might just be a coincidence, but, still being neutral, I can't find her anywhere else afterwards, other than with George Leggett. I'm still working on eliminating other Jane Adamsons.

Edwin Potter was definitely an engineer. He was an expert witness ("the engineer at the works") in the inquest following an accident at Cleveland Chemical Works where he worked, following the horrific death of a fireman at the plant.  Edwin and his wife were prominent Quakers in Middlesbrough.

I can't find anything to dispute the connection of Tudhoe/Hartlepool Jane, apart from the age discrepancy when she was a domestic in 1881.  But that isn't enough for me.

I am also unable to account for "Edward" nor "Adamson" earlier nor later.  But again that isn't enough for me.

Martin

[Mart 'n' Al]

Jomot, I just want to clarify that there is no doubt at all that Jane who married Henry Thompson is the same one who gave birth to 6 children with George Leggett.

I need to connect her back to Tudhoe, 1860, and Ann Adamson, later married to Edwin Potter, probably Jane's father.

Martin

[Jomot]

Yes, I realised after my post that some of it was superfluous, as what we need is evidence that the Jane who married Henry was also the Jane born in Tudhoe.

Fingers crossed that the original marriage record provides some clarity re Edwin/Edward, although personally I doubt that Edwin Potter was Jane's biological father.   

[Jomot]

Sorry if I'm going over old ground here, but returning to the 1881 census for the Jane Adamson aged 18 born Spennymoor - have you ruled out this being the Jane Adamson mmn Laverick born Q4 1861? 

This Jane had a sister named Martha born in 1868, which leads to a family in Whitworth in 1871 with daughter Jane shown as aged 7, born Tudhoe.   She seems to have married Alfred William Holliday in 1883, and the census has her age as 28, 38, 48 - so a good match for the Jane aged 18 in 1881.    The 1901 census also has PoB as Spennymoor.

Either way we seem to have two Jane Adamsons born Tudhoe 1860/61, but I can only find one in the 1881 census.

[Malcolm33]

Must admit I've been drawn to John Adamson born Wolsingham living Whitworth in 1851, a widower in 1861 with dtr Jane born Tudhoe.     But which 1901 census?    I'm looking at the one for Jane Thompson with son Henry Thompson and host of Leggett children, showing her born Durham, Durham.

[Jomot]

By 1901 she is Jane Holliday aged 38 living in Whitworth/Spennymoor.

I think she is more likely the 1881 Jane, leaving 'our' Jane Adamson missing.