When I created Cole-18779 there were no possible matches

Question

I would appreciate guidance on how to correct Jonathan Cole, who another member believes should be one that already exists- Cole-112.

Comments

Hi Jennifer. The two have the same dates and apparently the same wife, but different fathers (Isaac and Samuel). Before a merge can be contemplated, the identity of the father needs to be resolved.

You could add a comment to the profile Cole-112 asking for advice from the Puritan Great Migration Project.

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Jennifer, when you created that profile 4 years ago, it didn't match the other profile. However, it had no sources, and since that time other members have edited it to add sources and data that matched some of the original unsourced profile data. Some of the life details were changed. Instead of dying in England, he now is an immigrant to New England.

I have marked the two profiles as unmerged matches, which will make it easier for all of us to compare the profiles as they now exist. (And that  added a comment to Cole-112.)

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EDITED TO ADD (I now believe I am incorrect in this comment.) It seems they are most certainly the same man. His parentage has been a matter of debate for many years. A marriage record in Boston refers to his father as Isaac Cole, but it was not Isaac, but Samuel that mentioned him (and his son) in his will as his son and the son suggests in other documents that Samuel was his father, https://www.americanancestors.org/databases/new-england-historical-and-genealogical-register/image?volumeId=11579&pageName=194&rId=236462558

The better evidence is for Samuel being the father. I would favor a merge assigning the father as Samuel and placing a research note about the record of John being his father,

Answer 1

I'm sorry I jumped to conclusions about the cause of the confusion. I never looked at the original intent of the profile.  Ellen did and it seems they are NOT the same man.

The initial profile was already a conflation of sorts. Jonathan Cole-18779, who was said to be born in Warwickshire England and died 1707 at unknown was then attached to father Isaac who came from Sandwich in Kent (200 miles away) to America in the PGM. The conflation was off to the races with people "correcting" the profile over the years.

-I can find no evidence that PGM Isaac Cole had a son named Jonathan, and the only two children who appear to have emigrated with him are Jane and Isaac, Jr.

-I did find an index to a baptismal record for a Jonathan Cole in Warwickshire on 26 Feb 1626 but his parents' names were Richard and Lidea, "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V5G3-MLH : 19 March 2020), Jonathan Cole, 1626. I don't know whether they are the same person, but maybe you can work on that, Jennifer.

If I were the PM, I would do the following:

1. Detach Jonathan from Isaac
2. Revert Jonathan to being born in Warwickshire about 1626- death 1707 unknown and change the bio.
3. Remove the unmerged match
4. Then do a search for sources to support Jonathan in Warwickshire (especially if the son of Richard and Lidea doesn't seem to be him.)