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Archiver > GEN-MEDIEVAL > 1996-03 > 0825962120


From: "Paul M. Gifford" <>
Subject: Re: Phony 19th-century pedigrees
Date: Mon, 4 Mar 1996 09:55:20 -0800


In article <4ha1s3$>
() writes:
>From: ()
>Subject: Re: Phony 19th-century pedigrees
>Date: 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."

The knights who accompanied the Conqueror in 1066 are generally known (indeed,
Walter Giffard, Lord of Longueville, was one); there has been quite a bit
published on various Giffard lines and the Chillington line appears in
Burke's, I think, with different names; immigrants to New England in 1630 are
well documented, relatively. The point I made was that, unlike some
fabrications, which connect a legitimate ancestor with a legitimate line in
England, or with a partial fabrication, this is _totally_ made up. The
text was written after 1828, but the penmanship indicates that the
document was probably written in the 1850s (the "s's", for example, are in the
old style). Unfortunately, instead of a document recording legitimate oral
traditions, it appears to have been written by someone, possibly an
Englishman, familiar with Dugdale (as Dugdale is quoted) and blazons, but not
familiar with Farmer or Savage, the early compilations of New England
genealogy, as if he were, a real immigrant ancestor would be named.

It would be interesting to see whether such "genealogists" advertised their
services in American newspapers in the early 19th century. Some similar
fabrications have appeared in published genealogies, but how they originally
were compiled is more of a mystery.

Paul Gifford

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