] (snip) He inherited from his 5th cousin twice removed -so perhaps the Austens never worked out that the name “Thomas’, especially Thomas Leigh would be an advantageous name in the inheritance stakes) Cassandra’s own brother Thomas had some sort of special need similar to her son George.

My family (as were lots of people of olden days) were very superstitious. My Mother and Grandmother had more old wives tales than I can possibly remember. When I saw your comment above about the name "Thomas" it reminded me that they might have been reluctant to name a child after someone who had a "problem" for fear that it might be "unlucky".

Your discussion also reinforces the thought that occurred to me while doing my family genealogy - that is, the naming of children after other close family members, which would help to find possible leads, because there were some strange names in the family.

Love from Linda who seconds Linden's "you are a treasure"