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This project documents lineages where information is circulating that was taken from the work of Gustav Anjou (1863-1952), sometimes spelled Gustave Anjou, an infamous genealogical inventor whose meticulous but fraudulent research influenced the family "histories" of many prominent American families in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Add profiles to this project if you know that the profile - or its duplicates - might contain information based on the research of Gustav Anjou. Then, in the About Me, explain the nature of the erroneous information. It would also be helpful to start a discussion about that family's link to Gustav Anjou.
The sources below contain two lists of family genealogies prepared by Gustav Anjou, in many cases with the call number at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. Note that not all of the books were authored by Anjou--for some, he was hired to do research that was then incorporated into the books of others.
Background
(the following is excerpted from Wikipedia)
Few if any names in genealogical circles draw the outrage that Anjou enjoys. He presented himself as a professional genealogist, and his services were employed by many East Coast families in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Anjou initially earned a reputation for providing copious amounts of research to back up his findings, much to the delight of his clients. For his "findings," Anjou's services were expensive for the day and he became quite well off.
However, scholarly investigation of Anjou’s findings has revealed flawed research with the intent to defraud. A 1976 article by George E. McCracken ["Title Unknown," American Genealogist, July, 1976] is one of the most widely quoted sources on the Internet about Anjou's fraudulent works. McCracken's article also names other authors of "suspect" genealogies, although none come close to Anjou and his activities.
In 1991, genealogists Robert Charles Anderson and Gordon L. Remington wrote companion articles on Anjou in the Genealogical Journal, a publication of the Utah Genealogical Association.
Anderson's article. 'We Wuz Robbed, The 'modus operandi' of Gustave Anjou' discussed the manner in which Anjou fabricated his genealogies. Anderson wrote: "A typical Anjou pedigree displays four recognizable features:
- A dazzling range of connections between dozens of immigrants to New England; for example, connections far beyond what may be seen in pedigrees produced by anyone else.
- Many wild geographical leaps, outside the normal range of migration patterns.
- An overwhelming number of citations to documents that actually exist, and actually include what Anjou says they include and
- Here and there an invented document, without citation, which appears to support the many connections noted under item 1 above."
Remington's article, "Gustave We Hardly Knew Ye: A Portrait of Herr Anjou as a Jungberg" revealed Anjou's true identity through exposing who his biological father really was.
Anjou's fakery has also been well documented by the late Donald Lines Jacobus, founder of The American Genealogist.
As a result of this research, Anjou’s findings are not respected in professional genealogical circles.
Families Affected
(from "Beware of Fraudulent Genealogies" by Ron Wild)
See Wild's article for the call numbers of the books in the LDS Family History Library. See also Robert Charles Anderson's Fraudulent Lineages and More Fraudulent Lineages.
- ANDREWS
- BACKUS
- BACON
- BEACH
- BELL
- BLAISDELL
- BLOEDEL
- BRAMAN
- BROOKING (Broquin)
- BUCKNER
- CALDWELL
- CARR
- CARROLL
- CARUTHERS
- CARTER
- CHALFONT
- CHAPLIN
- CHILD
- CHURCH
- CHURCH
- CLEMENT
- CLISE
- COCHRAN
- COOK
- COPLEY
- CORBIE
- CORLIEZ
- CORRY
- CRAWFORD
- CUNNINGHAM
- DANIEL
- DeRONDE
- DEVECMAN
- DICKEY
- DORNAN
- DOTY
- DU PONT
- DUNCAN
- ERICKSON
- FICKEN
- FISH(FISK)
- FLANDERS
- FREEMAN
- GALWAY
- GALLAWAY
- GALLOWAY
- GILL
- HOLLIDAY
- HALLIDAY
- HULBERT
- HURLBERT
- HULL
- HUNGERFORD
- JACK
- JACQUES
- JAMES
- JOHNSON
- JONES
- KENNETT
- KLAUS(CLAUS)
- LANE
- LEE
- LENMAN
- LEMAN
- LANHAM
- LENHAM
- LEWIS
- LILLY
- LINCOLN
- MARK
- MARSHALL
- McVICKAR
- MONS(MANTZ)
- MOORE
- NICHOLSON
- ORMOND
- PARSON
- PULLMAN
- REDBURN
- RICHARDSON
- ROBINSON
- ROCKWELL
- ROGER
- ROSS
- RUNK(RUNCK)
- RUSSEL
- SCHNEIDER
- SEAMAN
- SHAPLEIGH
- SPROULL
- STONE
- STOWELL
- SWIFT
- THAXTER
- THOMPSON
- TILNEY
- TONE
- TOPPING
- TRAYLOUR
- TURNER
- VON HORN
- WALLEY
- WARD
- WATERBURY
- WELD
- WELLING
- WHEELER
- WHITMAN
- WILSON
- WITHERSPOON
- WOLFF
- WOOLEY
- WORCESTER
Sources
- Wikipedia, Gustav Anjou
- Genealogical Journal, Vol. 19, Numbers 1 & 2, 1991, Pages 47–70
- National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Vol. 79, No. 2
- Fraudulent Lineages
- More Anjou Fraudulent Lineages
- "Grafting Family Trees" by Myra Vanderpool Gormley, CG
- "Beware of Fraudulent Genealogies" by Ron Wild, in Family Chronicle magazine
- A Genealogical Scam?
- Fraudulent Genealogies