Politician Caught in Family Fib

Miami City Commissioner Marc Sarnoff has claimed to be the grandson of radio and television pioneer David Sarnoff. Well, he's not.

On Monday, Sarnoff attempted to correct the record. David is his great-uncle, not his granddaddy. “I know very little about my family,” he said. “My understanding is that he is my great-uncle or something like that.”

David’s connection with the Sarnoff clan ended in 1969, when his father Joel divorced his mother, the commissioner added. “I don’t know my grandfather’s name,” Sarnoff replied when asked the identity of his paternal granddad. “I just remember he had big hands.” [Link]

David Sarnoff's niece says, "I haven’t a clue who this man is. He is certainly not David’s grandson, nephew, or otherwise. He is not related to us."

Who Do You Think You Are Fooling?

At least one scene in one episode of the BBC genealogy show Who Do You Think You Are? was staged. The featured celebrity, Carol Vorderman, was unaware of the manipulation.

Vorderman wanted to know where a photo of her great-grandfather was taken and was shown asking passers-by in Prestatyn for help.

Finally, shop assistant Dawn Farrell identified it as Bodnant Gardens in the Conwy Valley.

But Dawn revealed: "A man told me Carol was going to come into the shop with a photo and ask me about it. He said, 'She is going to show you a photo - could you tell her it is Bodnant?' [Link]

Bill Henry Still in the Bullpen

Bill Henry claimed to have been a major league pitcher right up until his death last week in Florida.

Naturally, his obituary made headlines nationwide. After all, Bill Henry had been in the majors for 16 years, even pitched in two games of the 1961 World Series while playing for the Cincinnati Reds.

His obituary (now retracted) caught the attention of the real Bill Henry, who is very much alive, and of genealogist and SABR member David Lambert. It was Lambert who noticed that the deceased Henry's vital stats didn't add up: the ball-playing Henry was born 1927 in Texas, not 1924 in Missouri.

Henry left behind a handful of honest-to-goodness Bill Henry baseball cards, one of which is autographed, although no one's sure if it's authentic.

His widow and third wife, Elizabeth, said her husband was fond of showing the cards to friends, even though the biographical information on the back of the cards didn't match his own.

She said he just told everyone that the printing company made a mistake on the cards by saying that he was born in Texas in 1927. [Link]

No, Really, Grandpa Was a Bastard

A very interesting piece in today's Washington Post about Frederick I. Douglas—a man who has been portraying abolitionist Frederick Douglass for two decades. When he's not delivering speeches in period costume, he's selling Frederick I. Douglass Wass Dis-Here Barbecue Sauce.

Douglas, of Baltimore, says he is a great-great-grandson of the great abolitionist, although some historians and documented Douglass descendants dispute his claim.

Douglas insists that he was born with the name Frederick I. Douglass IV. Explaining why he has not always used IV, Douglas says there was "not a need to use it. People use different things over the years. . . . I just did not use it. I didn't use it at that point in time."

He has also added an extra "s" to his surname since graduating from college.

In a 2001 letter, he claimed descent from Douglass' grandson Charles. Having learned that that Charles Douglass died at the age of 16 without issue, he now says that his grandfather was a different Charles—the illegitimate elder brother of the Charles who died.

Historians who specialize in Frederick Douglass say they have never heard of an illegitimate grandson. Douglas has provided no proof. [Link]

Army Poster Boy Was a Deserter

Marcel Caux died in 2004 at age 105. He was given a state funeral as one of Australia's last five World War I veterans, and an army recruitment poster bearing his image recently won a competition. But soon after his death, historians discovered that he was a deserter and a bigamist.

Ms [Lynette] Silver and Ms [Di] Elliott discovered that records issued in the name of Marcel Caux described the war service of Harold Katte, who was born in 1899 in Marrickville, although some records say Hurstville. Ms Silver points out that he had five names, five signatures, three nationalities, three places of birth, three dates of birth, three mothers, three fathers and two wives, simultaneously.

Though injured three times in battle, Katte's service was not wholly exemplary.

He had gone absent without leave for seven days in July 1917, for which he served 14 days in close confinement. He went AWL again in June 1918, when French authorities arrested him in the port of Brest, where he was said to be posing as a Frenchman. [Link]

Australia placed 376,000 World War I service records online this week, so you can search for the two-timing Aussie deserters in your own family tree.

Stone Cold Busted

John Edward George, Jr., was a Korean War veteran, but not a Medal of Honor winner. Nevertheless, the words "Medal of Honor" were carved into his government-issued headstone. Upon learning that someone had lied about George's receiving the medal, the VA took appropriate action.

They [...] took the white marble stone to the maintenance yard at the national cemetery in New Bern.

There, they hit it with a sledgehammer.

They didn't stop until it was in chunks so small it was impossible to read the words that had once been carved into it. [Link]

The World's Oldest Liar

The Gerontology Research Group is keeping an eye on the world's supercentenarians—those people who've neglected to check out by age 110. The group's website has a number of tables with data on current and past supercentenarians, but my favorite is the one listing False And Exaggerated Claims of Longevity.

Charlie Smith claimed to have been born in Liberia on July 4, 1842, and died Oct. 5, 1979, in Florida at the whopping age of 137. The July fourth birth date was chosen by Smith himself—"Out of loyalty to his country" reported Time in 1967. He may have chosen the year of his birth as well, if a Boston Globe article on Guinness World Records is correct:

A record search in Arcadia, Fla., showed a marriage record in which Smith claimed he was 35 years old in 1910. He apparently exaggerated his age by at least 33 years. ["Eat a Tree, but Never a Bicycle," Feb. 11, 1982]

His exaggeration was perhaps even worse. A partial marriage index for DeSoto County (county seat Arcadia) shows a marriage for Charlie Smith and Bell Van on Jan. 8, 1910. The couple was living in Lily, DeSoto County, in April of that year, at which time Charlie's age was 32. His place of birth was given as "Georgia."

If a liar, Smith was a very talented one. He said in interviews that he came to America in 1854, and lived in slavery until freed by Lincoln. No one seems to have doubted him. On its Emancipation Proclamation page, the National Archives links to an audio clip of Smith saying he was "21 years old when freedom was declared." A 1975 conversation with historian Elmer Sparks may be read or listened to at American Memory. At one point in the interview, Smith pushes the year of his birth back even further.

I'm a hundred and forty-four, last, last year, fourth of July. A hundred and forty-four years old now. My birthday, I gets a birthday card, I'm a hundred and forty-four last fourth day of July, last year. I'm a hundred and forty-four.

It's hard to consider Smith truthful when you read the other stories he told of his life. A few years ago, a screenplay titled 'Long Came Charlie was optioned by Dustin Hoffman's production company.

Described as "a black Little Big Man," 'Long Came Charlie is the incredible true tale of the world's oldest man, crusty codger Charlie Smith, who on his 134th birthday shares his poignant and often hilarious life story, which includes a disasterous [sic] cattle drive on the Chisholm Trail, a brush with death at Gettysburg, an encounter with Abraham Lincoln, Charlie's travels with the Jesse James Gang, his gunfight with Jesse himself and how he apprehended the man who shot President Garfield. [Link]

According to the Sparks interview, Smith's partner in apprehending Garfield's shooter was none other than Billy the Kid.

Throw in Mark Twain and Queen Victoria and that'll make a great movie.

[tagged: genealogy, family tree, ancestry]

Genealogy Scam Hits the Fan

From The Denver (Colo.) Post of Nov. 24, 2005:

State sues genealogy company

By Manny Gonzales
Denver Post Staff Writer

For $49.95, people who bought genealogical "yearbooks" from a Denver-based company got the same family coat of arms, the same family recipes and even the same family jokes, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday.

And it was a lucrative scam that swindled 150,000 people nationwide who bought into fake family histories, according to the civil suit filed by Colorado Attorney General John Suthers.

[snip]

Because jokes were the same in many of the yearbooks, some Jewish customers were offended when their families were referenced as being Catholic, the suit claims.

[snip]

[Read the whole story]

Fake Family Founder Tries Cunning New Defense

From the (Salt Lake City, Utah) Deseret Morning News of Nov. 12, 2005:

Fake family trees online may trip up genealogists

By Lee Davidson
Deseret Morning News

Genealogists beware.

A software company is marketing a new program to Internet advertisers that could quickly generate Web sites full of extensive, but fake, family trees.

Critics say the approach appears to be part of a new money-making scheme to lure people who search for family names on Google, Yahoo or other search engines to Web sites that use bogus data to help ensure they appear high on "hit lists." They then make money if visitors click on advertisers' links.

They worry that novices might download false information that is designed to look real, and then corrupt others' family trees if they share that bad data online or through family history databases such as those offered by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or the commercial Utah-based Ancestry.com

[snip]

"Boo hoo," [Fake Family co-creator Don] Harrold told the Morning News in response to such complaints.

[snip]

[Read the whole story]

If you're not yet outraged, see the Fake Family discussion on Dick Eastman's website.

Not a Bright Idea, Generally Speaking

From The (New Orleans, La.) Times-Picayune:

'General' who led cemetery protest proves bogus

8/8/2005
The Associated Press

SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) — A man who donned a Marine general's stars and a uniform full of medals as he led a campaign against a local cemetery's alleged abuse of veterans' gravesite flags turned out not to be a general at all.

William Lawson left the Marines in August 1946 as a private first class after just 19 months of service. He never saw combat in World War II as he had claimed.

[snip]

[Read the whole story]