GEN-MEDIEVAL-L Archives

Archiver > GEN-MEDIEVAL > 1996-03 > 0825789123


From: "" <>
Subject: Re: Phony 19th-century pedigrees
Date: Sat, 2 Mar 1996 12:52:03 -0500


(Paul M. Gifford) writes:
Paul, how do you know the data you have is fictitious? I too have come
across some very old data, and I have no idea how to go about validating it.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Sally
>We have an old (probably 1850s) paper with a totally fictitious genealogy of
>the Gifford family, starting with one "Sir Randolphe de Gifford" who came to
>England in 1066, then going down a line of Giffords of Chillington (a
>legitimate family, but the paper names fictitious members), down to a
>fictitious immgrant, "Walter Gifford, who came to Massachusetts Bay in 1630."
>My great-grandfather was too young and too poor to pay for something like
>this, but it was probably done for one of his more prosperous relatives living
>in western New York then. The paper quotes Dugdale as a source. Most is
>totally fictitious, however.

>I'm wondering about the practice of such "genealogists" in the U.S. about
>1850. Americans at that time generally had little access to libraries, and
>such libraries as there were had little source material. They were no
>doubt very gullible. But apparently self-appointed experts must have
>advertised for their services in the newspapers.

>Gradually, with increased access to education, libraries, and travel, such
>total fabrications decreased. Has anyone researched or written on this
>phenomenon?

>Paul Gifford

This thread: