Is second wife of Jacob French, b. ca 1553 a confused duplicate of known wife Susan Warren

Question

On 18 Jun 2021 GeneJ X wrote on French-1090:

I have adopted this previously orphaned profile of "Ida French," who is reported as another spouse Jacob French. 

Source for Ida's profile is "OneWorldTree." This association seems in error. 

On WikiTree, Jacob French is b. ca 1553, Assington, Suffolk, England, and known to have married Susan Warren, 1578 at Bures St. Mary, Suffolk; they are shown the parents of seven children. See French Family Association, for its Second Generation], Jacob as son of Thomas, and Third Generation for Jacob m. Susan Warren. 

Parish record for Jacob French m. Susan Warren also in John B. Therlfall, "Thomas French of Assington ..." NEHGR 142:250; digital images by subscription, AmericanAncestors. 

Shall we consider Ida to be a confused duplicate of Jacob's wife, Susan, and merge the two wives profiles accordingly?

Comments

She certainly wasn't born Ida French

But has anyone investigated to explore the possibility that there was an Ida Someone who could have married Jacob as an early first wife? Her death date as given, 1576, would suggest this, not a duplicate of Susan, whom he married in 1578.

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I did a search for FamilyTree entries, 

Jacob French, b. 1530-1600, England; spouse (exact) "Ida." 

94 entries returned (various given names French, some other surnames), but none of the entries that returned remarked of events in 16th or 17th century. Perhaps only one in 18th--Balderick DeFanchimont and Ida de Rochefort ... at Normandy. 

FamilySearch

Answer 1

FS is hardly infallible, and at that date, the parish registers can't be relied on.

The point that sticks with me is that these two profiles were clearly intended as different persons - one as a first, short-lived wife, and one as the second, long-lived wife and mother of the children. I think I would rather see Ida detached.

Absence of evidence ...

Comments

Also - you have proposed eliminating Joane French as a child of Jacob based on her birth date of 1576, two years before his marriage to Susan. But it could just as likely be the case that Joane was the daughter of Ida, who conceivably died in her childbirth.

Given the extreme tenuousness of the evidence for this family, it seems about as likely

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The Joane French Bridges issue has little to do with her baptismal date.

It has more to do with the various personas who become entered one place or another as as a wife of immigrant, pgm John Bridge. After some period, those wives disappear, only to rise again with some other slight twist to their identity.

Such is the case of this Joane, as it has been the case with others before her--Marjory French, Susan Marjory French, Susan French, Elizabeth French.

Joane Bridges had a dob 28 Feb 1576 in Assington ... Elizabeth French has 28 Feb 1576 in Essex; Susan Marjory was merged, but she had a dob in 1576, probably was 28 Feb 1576 ...

Marjory French on the Ammons site, has dob as 25 July 1580, which has been "borrowed" from Jacob and Susan's son William.

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Well, that certainly is an interestingly suspicious set of data!