Life Imitates a 1960s Sitcom

Tampa, Florida, issued a promissory note to storekeeper Thomas Pugh Kennedy on June 21, 1861, in the amount of $299.58.

Kennedy's great-granddaughter says the city never made good on its loan. Now, Joan Kennedy Biddle and her family are suing to collect the payment plus 8 percent annual interest.

The total bill: $22.7-million.

Biddle wouldn't give specifics on why she decided to sue now, using as evidence a piece of paper that has been handed down as an heirloom for generations.

"This thing has been in the family since the date on the note, and it has never been repaid," said Biddle, 77. "My daddy told me, and I certainly believe him." [Link]

The relevant case law comes from an episode of The Andy Griffith Show.

Andy is forced to evict Frank Myers from his home only to later discover that he holds a century-old bond that is originally believed to be worth $349,119.27. Since the Mayberry treasury holds just over $10,000, the mayor and town council scramble to keep Frank happy by renovating his run-down home. Later, the bond is discovered to be worthless because it was paid for with Confederate currency.

What's Delia's Defense?

As part of his ongoing effort to educate genealogists on the law, Craig has posted an interesting quiz over at GeneaBlogie. Until I find out the answers, I will not be publishing my grandmother's diary online.

Did Baby Get Sex Change?

From The New York Times of Aug. 23, 1922:

The question as to whether the baby born to Mrs. Bertha Rich of 22 Dwight Street, Jersey City, on Aug. 12, was a boy or a girl has stirred up a hornets' nest.

Mrs. Rich says it was a boy. Her husband, Edward Rich, statistician for the Underwood Typewriter Company, says his wife told him the baby was a boy. The officials of the Bergen Sanitarium, Clinton and Madison Avenues, Jersey City, say the baby was a girl.

Rich declares that the sanitarium did not give Mrs. Rich her own baby, and he has retained Charles E. S. Simpson, as attorney, to take appropriate legal action. According to Rich, his wife told him that Dr. David Russell said to her: "It's a boy." Rich told his office associates that he was the father of a boy, and mailed announcements to his friends.

On Aug. 18, says Rich, Dr. Russell asked him what name he desired to give the child. Rich selected "Edward Jr.," whereupon, Rich declares, the physician wrote "Edwina" on the birth record. On the same day, according to the puzzled father, Mrs. Rich told the new nurse to "give the boy a bath," whereupon the nurse exclaimed, "It's a girl."

Dr. Russell's explanation is that Mrs. Rich's desire to have a boy was so strong that she thought the child born to her was a boy. When the baby was born, he said, he told Mrs. Rich it was a girl, and so did the nurses. Dr. Peter Maras, Vice President of the sanitarium, said that Mrs. Rich's baby was born prematurely and weighed between three and four pounds, and that if there had been a thousand babies in the sanitarium at the time it would have been impossible to have made a substitution. [Link]

And Then There Was One

Plans to offer balloon rides at a site in Devon, England, have been stalled by an interesting clause in a 1920 deed conveying the land.

"The conveyance includes a clause that the covenants imposed by it will operate only 'during the life of any lineal descendant of Queen Victoria alive at the date of the conveyance and within 21 years of the death of the last survivor'.

"Because this clause, or variations of it, was used extensively prior to 1925 we have researched the genealogy of Queen Victoria's descendants.

"There are a vast number of them and surprisingly two who fitted the above description were still alive a couple of years ago. [Link]

Too bad there's not a website listing Victoria's descendants, indicating which are alive and which dead. Oh, wait, there is. The only surviving descendant who was alive in 1920 is Prince Carl Johan of Sweden (b. 1916). It isn't noted on the website yet, but Princess Katherine of Greece and Denmark (b. 1913) died last Tuesday.

A Born-Again Christian Criminal

From The New York Times of Aug. 1, 1880:

Infancy has its privileges. A woman was arrested in Presburg, Hungary, for receiving stolen goods. She was by birth a Jewess, but six months previous to her detection had been baptized into the Roman Catholic Church. When put upon her trial she pleaded that she was an infant, and could not, therefore, be held answerable for what she had done—the date of birth in Hungary running according to the date of baptism—and after serious cogitation the tribunal declared the defense a good one, and that she, a woman of 40, was legally but six months old, with a score of years before her which she might turn to dishonest account with impunity.—Chamber's Journal [Link (pdf)]

Couple Joined in Acrimony

Eugene J. Mandziuk is suing Diana Lynn Hickson for not really being his wife.

The couple participated in a wedding ceremony in Warren in the summer of 2005 in front of 90 guests.

The Rev. Larry Sullivan signed the wrong line on the marriage license, according to the lawsuit, and Hickson was supposed to correct the oversight.

She never did, the lawsuit says.

Last March, Hickson told Mandziuk about the situation and said she didn't want to live with him any longer, the lawsuit says. [Link]

Mandziuk wants to be compensated for the cost of the wedding ring, as well as the wedding and reception.

Man Loses His Mummy

Janice notified me of this update to last year's mummy story.

A probate court judge yesterday said state officials can bury the infant's decades-old remains because Peavey hasn't proven his claim that he and the mummy are kin.

Peavey, 42, of Concord, has 30 days to appeal that decision, but he said yesterday he won't.

"I'm just washing my hands of it," said Peavey, who said he skipped the court hearing because he can't afford the DNA tests needed to prove kinship. "I'm disappointed it came to this." [Link]

Appealing Ancestors

Craig Manson has announced a most excellent new venture: the Historical Appellate Review Project.

You've heard the story that Great-Uncle Festus was a no-good horse thief. But was he really? Did he get a fair trial? Did he have a good lawyer or even a lawyer at all? Can his name be cleared all these decades later? We might be able to help!

HARP, the Historical Appellate Review Project, is dedicated to setting the record straight. Using state-of-the-art genealogical and legal research procedures, HARP will investigate your family's alleged black sheep and let you know if their names might be cleared! In certain cases, we even may be able to go to court and get the official record changed!

Find out if we can lift the cloud of doubt and suspicion from your ancestors!

There's even a special deal for "GeneaBloggers"!

If Craig wants this to succeed, he should start calling himself "The Hammer".

Lampoons Are Not to Be Carried

Mitch Traphagen's ancestor was caught carrying a lampoon in 1664.

Willem [Traphagen] was in a world of hurt. He let his emotions get the best of him and uttered a few words that were— well, less than decent. And then, to make matters worse, he was caught carrying a note disparaging a judge. As he spent his time tied to a stake in the center of the town that he had helped to create, he probably wondered if things could get worse. They could — he was also ordered banished from that town.

Believe it or not, my ancestor was convicted as a Lampoon Carrier. Yes, that was the charge for which he was tied to a stake. He also had a note pinned to his shirt describing him as such. [Link]

A History of the City of Brooklyn reveals that the lampoon writer received the same punishment.

To Err Is Human, To Capitalize Devine

William Devine has found a way to profit from his skills as a genealogist. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court recently declared him the rightful owner of a piece of land near Nantucket Memorial Airport that the town had improperly seized in 1968.

When the town took the property by eminent domain, it was listed as "owners unknown" on local tax rolls, even though there was an identifiable record owner, Lewis Popham Carmer.

Devine, a genealogist who specializes in finding flaws in land titles and then splitting profits with heirs who make successful claims on the properties, did not do that with the land near the airport. Instead, he bought the property outright from Carmer for $7,500 in 1985. [Link]

Don't Get Cold Feet in Virginia

Six months after a young man in Virginia called off his wedding, the cops showed up at his mother's door.

"What's he done?" asked the bewildered mother.

"He got a marriage license and didn't return it," the deputy replied. "Do you know where it is?"

The mother supposed that her cold-footed son, just wanting to forget the whole marriage thing, had just thrown the license in the trash after the wedding was called off.

"I guess we just threw it away," the mother said. Then she hastened to add, "But it was never used."

"That's a legal document," the deputy said. "He can go to jail for not returning it to the court." [Link]

A DNA Dilemma

Nancy Bovy has sent me another great item. Either Raymon Miller or his twin brother Richard Miller is the father of a 3-year-old girl. But there is no scientific way of knowing which one planted the seed.

The identical Missouri twins say they were unknowingly having sex with the same woman. And according to the woman's testimony, she had sex with each man on the same day. Within hours of each other.

When the woman in question, Holly Marie Adams, got pregnant, she named Raymon the father, but he contested and demanded a paternity test, bringing his own brother Richard to court. [Link]

Since identical twins are genetically indistinguishable, a DNA test can't rule out either brother. Whichever brother is saddled with child support can argue that he isn't the father. (This is also a good way to beat a murder rap on Law & Order.)

A Long-Lasting Libel

A gravestone in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, tells the story of a man's unhappy end.

The text is brief and small in comparison to the illustration. It reads, "AQUILA A. HENNING, BORN JUNE 7, 1892, SHOT NOV. 24 1932. AN INNOCENT SOUL SENT TO ETERNITY." [Link]

It was established in court that Aquila had shot at one-armed school teacher Harry Wilkinson, and then was gunned down by his intended victim's brother. The "not guilty" verdict didn't sit well with Aquila's widow, which might explain why his stone depicts an ambush.

The stone shows a man, Aquila, walking through the woods with his hunting rifle. In the background there are trees and bushes, and standing in those bushes is a man holding a pistol. The man has only one arm. Also seen in the bushes behind Aquila are six or seven faces peering out at him.

Harry Wilkinson didn't care for the illustration. He filed a $50,000 lawsuit against the monument company for portraying him as a villain.

This Little Piggy Went to Court

Footballer Bastian Schweinsteiger successfully sued a Bavarian company for selling bratwurst under the name "Schweini." It means "piggy," and is the athlete's nickname.

Bastian's surname means "pig climber". How the 22-year-old's ancestors came by this moniker I am not sure. Perhaps scaling pigs is a job in Germany. Maybe it was once a popular hobby. Or perhaps it was just an isolated incident culminating in the punch line, "But you clamber on one pig . . . " [Link]

Where There's a Will, There's a Way to Keep It Secret

I've written before about Robert Brown's claim that he is the illegitimate child of the late Princess Margaret. Now Brown wants to take a peek at her will to see if it might prove his claim. Problem is, wills made by members of the Royal Family are not open to inspection by the public.

If individuals in general were allowed to claim the right to represent the public and seek judicial review, there would be "anarchy", counsel said. "This week Mr Brown; next week Mr White, Mr Pink, Mr Green."

This principle was established to avoid "busybodies, cranks and mischief-makers". Mr [Frank] Hinks said: "With all due respect, this applies to Mr Brown. He is suffering from a delusion." [Link]

Evidently very little respect is due Mr. Brown.

Lawmakers Debate Use of Pit Bulls in Cemeteries

A bill granting South Carolinians access to relatives' graves on private property moved forward on Tuesday, despite some disagreement on the issue of immunity from liability for property owners.

Rep. Alan Clemmons, R-Myrtle Beach, said the S.C. Association of Realtors believes the immunity is necessary to balance property owners' rights. People should not be able to sue if they come in and trip over a gravestone, he said.

But the owner should not be allowed to release a pack of pit bulls while people are visiting and be held immune from damages, [Rep. Jim] Harrison said. [Link]

[Photo credit: Cuchlain by Cara Fealy Choate]

There Was Jell-O in Her Genes

Elizabeth McNabb was 19 in 1974 when she began her search for her birth mother. Fourteen years and a court order later, she was given access to her original birth certificate in Salem, Ore. She soon after made contact with her birth mother, Barbara (Woodward) Piel, and learned that she was the product of an illicit affair.

McNabb's great-grandfather, she also learned, was Orator Francis Woodward, a Leroy, N.Y., entrepreneur who purchased a business making a flavored gelatin known as "Jell-O" from his neighbor for $450 in 1899.

Barbara Piel died in 2003, but it took until last week for McNabb to be granted her share of the multimillion-dollar Jell-O fortune.

On Friday, a unanimous New York Appellate Division, 4th Department, panel ruled that McNabb legally constitutes a "descendant" and "living child" of her mother, Barbara W. Piel, under trusts established by Piel's mother in 1926 and 1963.

McNabb -- an office manager who has with her husband cared for more than 160 emergency-care foster children -- now stands to split those two trusts with her two half-sisters. Her one-third share totals approximately $3.5 million. [Link]

Still Trafficking in Human Misery

One family has found a way to continue benefiting from the slave trade. To mark the 200th anniversary of legislation ending the British Empire's involvement in the practice, unnamed individuals are putting up for auction a slave ship log book once owned by their ancestor, the ship's master. It could bring $6,000 or more.

It is unclear if the logbook owners, who [auction house] Bonhams say they believe are descendants of "master" Lewis, are aware of the criticism surrounding the slave ship log auction.

After the auction, one legal expert says, there theoretically could be legal ramifications for the owners.

"What comes to mind under common law approach is to bring an action that we refer to as unjust enrichment," says Mark Ellis, Executive Director of the International Bar Association. [Link]

I think we've finally found some people who are fully qualified to apologize for slavery.

Genealogy On Trial

In 1943, a federal court jury was asked to decide whether the late Mrs. A. V. Lane of Dallas was descended from royalty.

It all started when Mrs. Lane and her husband hired the American Historical Company of New York to prepare a history of the Lane and Hughey families. The volume was delivered after the couple's deaths, and their heirs refused to pay the remaining balance of $8,355, charging that the royal lineage presented was suspect, and that the cost was excessive. But the only question put to the jury was whether the genealogy was true.

"I submit to you the question of whether the book is true," Judge Atwell told the jury. "One side says it is true. The other says it is untrue. Neither side knows, gentlemen, because they were not there when the questioned events did or did not take place. They rely on historical works."

That put the issue down to the question of whether a certain Sir Oliver Carminow, chamberlain to Richard II of England a few centuries ago, married a certain Elizabeth Holland. [Dallas Morning News, May 7, 1943]

Genealogists were put on the stand by both the plaintiff and the defense. The publishing company's genealogist noted that Mrs. Lane had been admitted a member of the Plantagenet Society and the Daughters of the Barons of Runnymede based on the same information found in the book. The jury deliberated for twenty minutes before finding in the company's favor.

Couple Chooses Name With Appeal

An Oregon appeals court was asked to pick a last name for Christy M. Wizner and Chad M. Doherty's two-year-old daughter.

Wizner, now 30, decided her daughter should have the same last name as her three other children. Doherty, now 31, wanted the girl to have his surname, arguing that "Wizner" is not ancestral but rather the name of the mother's former spouse. [Link]

Judge Pro Tempore Daniel L. Harris wisely ruled that "development of a bond between father and daughter will depend on the love and devotion that father exhibits toward his daughter, not on whether the child bears his name." He then declared that the child's surname will be "Dowiznerty."