Martin H. Watson Family Tree

Posted by Martin watson on Julie Boynton's Facebook page,

June 10, 2019
My story is a little unusual as I encountered Julie, the administrator, from two different directions. I was researching my family, in particular one set of great grandparents, Jane Adamson and George Leggett, who had six children together in and around Hartlepool between 1894 and 1900. I don't think they were actually married. It seems that George had been married to a lady called Mary Boynton in the early 1860s. At some point he seems to disappear from their life in Scarborough, before reappearing with Jane Adamson. Jane Adamson grew up with Edwin Potter, (and Jane's mother, Ann Adamson), brother of Richard Potter. Edwin and Ann were prominent Quakers in Middlesbrough. Jane Adamson was conceived a couple of years before Edwin married and Adamson, Jane's mother. Until very recently I had assumed that Edwin was Jane's father, but recent DNA evidence refutes this. She is listed as Jane Adamson, even when living with Edwin and Ann Potter.

It was through my research into the Potter family that I came across Julie, and mentioned that George Leggett had been married to Mary Boynton. Julie has done wonderful research into the Potter family, as well as the Boynton family but we can find no connection between Julie's research and Mary Boynton who lived with George Leggett in Scarborough in the 1870s. George and Mary had 4 children, but only Mary Jr survived childhood. From 1881, each census until 1911 records Mary Sr and Mary Jr living alone, but Mary Sr still describes herself as married. It is a mystery on which we are both still working.

On the marriage certificate of George Leggett and Mary Boynton, Mary names her father as John Boynton and his occupation is a Roper. George was a fisherman working the coast up from his birthplace of Corton in Suffolk as far as Hartlepool, where he eventually set up home with Jane Adamson, step daughter of Edwin Potter. I welcome any insights, advice or research connecting Mary Boynton to the Boynton family or to the Potter family.

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