Oh, poor, abused, Mary West!

Question

So, a few days ago, a note came up in my Wiki Genealogy Feed saying that West-7536 had been disconnected as the father of West-2551. Since West is one of the names in my own family tree, I took a look to see if these West were "my" Wests, and the further I looked into the Change Details for West-7536, the weirder the picture got:

West-7536 started out as the wife of Lawrence-4769, with a birth date (1579), a birth place (Wissett, Suffolk, England), death date (1647-05-03), a death place (Charleston, Suffolk, Massachusetts), and a source (granted, only Find A Grave, but still better than nothing). What she never got, as near as I can see, was a second source, to wit: https://our-royal-titled-noble-and-commoner-ancestors.com/p677.htm#i20332, which might have made the picture much clearer (or muddier, depending on the dependability of that site). 

What she did get was disconnected from her husband. Apparently, somebody conflated Lawrence-4769 with Lawrence-303, who may or may not be the same person as Lawrence-1340. (And if your head is starting to ache with all this, you're not alone.)

In any case, after some time travel and a sex change operation, poor Mary ended up being Unknown West, born in Gloucester, Virginia in 1760, and the father of a bouncing baby boy born in 1800. And now, she has lost her new wife and son, and is just a leaf on the wind again.

So, those of you participating in the Source-A-Thon this weekend, or just anybody interested in sources, Wests, historical accuracy, or WikiTree in general, perhaps you might be willing to do some sleuthing and discover whether there really was a Mary West born in Wissett, Suffolk in 1579 (or a reasonable facsimile thereof), whether her middle name was Larkin, Larken, or some variant thereon, whether she married Henry Lawrence in Wissett cira 1608, and died in Charlestown (or anywhere else in Massachusetts) circa 1647, and whether she should be merged with Larken-11, Unknown-13453, West-1307, or anybody else. I think I'm going to take some Tylenol and go to bed.

Comments

In 1579, I can just about guarantee that she had no middle name.

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It looks to me like Mary should be the spouse of Lawrence-303, although some of the content on the profiles for Lawrence-4769 and Lawrence-1340 seems to apply to the Henry Lawrence born in Wissett in 1586 (Lawrence-303), rather than the Henry Lawrence born in Lancaster (Lawrence-1340) or the Henry Lawrence born in Wiltshire (Lawrence-4769).

West-1307 looks like a clear duplicate to me, although she should be linked to Lawrence-303 instead of Lawrence-1340. (She can't possibly have married Lawrence-1340 in 1608 if he died in 1607.)

Mary West may be the same person as the Mary Unknown already linked. I'm not sure about the Mary Larken, although at one point, "Larkin" was listed as a middle name for Mary West. It may be, since Mary West was 7 years older than Henry, that she was married before (to a Larken or Larkin) and then widowed before she married Henry.

The christening at Saint Dunstan In The East, London listed on the Geni profile seems extremely unlikely to be "our" Mary to me, since Saint Dunstan In The East is about 102 miles from Wissett.

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I should say that I have restored Mary's profile to the original name, sex, and birth and death places and dates, although I have not linked her profile to any others yet.

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Oh, this story is getting more and more complicated the deeper I dig. Mary Larken is listed as the mother of Ann Lawrence (with Henry Lawrence-303) who was born in 1606, and Robert Lawrence (with John Lawrence), who was born in Middlesex in 1611. Since Mary West married Henry Lawrence-303 (at least supposedly), in 1608 or 1609, it seems unlikely that Mary Lark?n and Mary West are the same person. She may have been a previous wife of Henry, who died, and then Henry married Mary West. Or she may have been married to somebody else entirely and has just been conflated with the Mary who married Henry. 

(The question just occurred to me whether scriptwriters for soap operas derive their convoluted who-married-who plotlines from genealogy...)

Answer 1

Sorry, I can't really help Greg, but you made me laugh out loud.
Perhaps we have found the identity of the next Doctor. 

Answer 2

FMP has this, different place but,

First name(s) Marye

Last name West

Birth year 1579

Birth date ? ? 1579

Baptism year 1579

Baptism date 19 Jul 1579

Place Baverstock

Father's first name(s) Willm

Mother's first name(s) -

Residence Hurcott

County Wiltshire

Country England

Record set Wiltshire baptisms index 1530-1917

Category Life Events (BDMs)

Subcategory Parish Baptisms

Collections from England, Great Britain

Wiltshire Family History Society

Transcriptions © Wiltshire Family History Society

Comments

There are also ones in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, London and Devon.

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Have not found marriage for Henry/Harry and Mary at all on FMP

Answer 3

Here is a profile that matches most of that info (from Geni, not a great source either):

https://www.geni.com/people/Mary-Lawrence/6000000007441959580

and her husband on that profile appears to be on Wikitree with another wife:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Lawrence-4769