The following information was compiled by Ms. Elaine Nichols of 2121 Kensington Ave., Salt Lake City, UT 84108 and published in Volume 19, Numbers 1 & 2, 1991 of the Genealogical Journal of the Utah Genealogical Association, PO Box 1144, Salt Lake, Utah 84110. The title of the article is; Family Group Record Fraud. It is my understanding that copies of this issue are still available from the Genealogical Journal.....Editor
Much of the fraud in genealogy can be attributed to a desire for establishing a royal, noble, or otherwise distinguished descent or for laying claim to an estate. There are instances, however, where deception occurs in the accounts of the humblest of families.
Examples of such fraud can be found in the Family Group Records Collection, Archive Section of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. Family group records for approximately six million people were submitted to the secfion from 1942-1970 for purposes of LDS ordinance work. They must be used with caution, for though sources were required, the records were compiled by descendants or relatives who usually had a minimum of or no training in genealogical research, and who used the only sources available to them at the time. With such a large number of family groups, no checking of informafion or sources was ever attempted. They were simply accepted and filed, with the responsibility for their accuracy laid upon the submitter.
It is in the sources listed on the family group records where the greatest danger of fraud can occur. Two examples of such source fraud follow. One is a deliberate fabrication of a source by the submitter. The other is a source that was spurious to begin with, but which was used on the family group record without caveat.
The family group record for Joseph Dean Fowler states that he
was born 13 Feb. 1825 in Beekman, Dutchess, New York, the son of Platt
Fowler and Emily Dean. His marriage date is given as 26 Oct.
1847 in Ulster Co., N.Y., and his death as 1901 in Topeka, Shawnee, Kansas.
His wife is given as Restiann Hoesage 34 in 1860, with a calculated
birth year of about 1826. She is listed as "of Ulster Co., N.Y." Nine children
are listed1:
Charles or Charlie Orville b. 27 Apr. 1839 Ulster Co., N.Y.
Mary Elizabeth (twin) b. Jan. 1851 Ulster Co., N.Y.
Daughter (twin) b. Jan. 1851 Ulster Co., N.Y.
Guella b. 30 May 1852 of Topeka, Kansas
Joseph b. (6-1860)1854 of Topeka, Kansas
Kate, Kittie or Katherine b. (5-1860)1855 of Topeka, Kansas
Reuben b. (3-1860)1857 of Topeka, Kansas
Ella (twin) b. (1-1860)1859 of Topeka, Kansas
Emily (twin)
b. (1-1860)1859 of Topeka, Kansas
The sources as listed on the family group record are:
1. 929.273 F829f, Fowler, Christine Cecelia, History of the Fowlers-p.
280.
2. 1860 Census, Topeka, Shawnee, Kansas-#79, p.308.
3. Dickinson, Wharton, Genealogy of the Fowlers in England and America
Appendix to Revised Edition-p. 379.
A check of the sources shows this same group in The History of the Fowlers, page 289, not 280.2 Restiann's surname is given as Hows and dates are given for only Charles and Guella. The Genealogy of the Fowlers in England and America, Revised Edition was not found in the Family History Library, nor was it listed in Kaminkow's Genealogies in the Library of Congress (Baltimore: Magna Carta, 1972).
The 1860 census for Topeka, Kansas, is available, however, and was examined
for the family. They were not found on page
308. In fact, Topeka City begins on page 641 and Topeka Township on
page 651. Family #79 in Topeka was that of a
Dudley family.3
The entire census of both Topeka City and Township was read, but no Fowlers were found. The Kansas 1860 Territorial Census Index edited by Ronald Vern Jackson and Gary Ronald Teeples (Accelerated Indexing Systems, Inc., Bountiful, Utah, 1978) was read and though Fowlers were found in Kansas, none were in Shawnee County, and none were named Joseph.
The 1865 Kansas state census of Shawnee County [FHL #570196] was searched with the thought that perhaps the family number and page were from there. However, the reference plainly did not come from that source either.
This citation to the 1860 census was obviously fabricated, and yet the census had been the source for the ages of the wife and five of the children! The family was found, however, in the 1870 census of Shawnee County. The two youngest children, Ellie 3. and Rubin [sic] P., were listed as ages nine and eight and born in Pennsylvania.4
Based on the Pennsylvania birthplaces, the family was located in 1860
in Athens Township, Bradford County, Pennsylvania, where Restiann Fowler
was listed as age 27 and the children were listed as:5
Ellery age 10 b. N.Y.
Julia age 8 b. N.Y.
Joseph age 6 b. N.Y.
Eliza age 3 b. N.Y.
Ella age 9/12 b. Pa.
There are problems with the census itself (Ellery instead of Charlie), but it is evident that this is the correct family. Not only were the ages for Resfiann and the listed children different (thus affecting their birthdates) but Reuben, who was listed on the family group record as age three in 1860, was not even born!
Whatever the reason for the fabricafion of this source, it is fraudulent just the same. It makes no difference that the names of the children were essentially correct. The invention of a census giving false ages creates problems in properly identifying the family, as well as confusing subsequent researchers who may waste valuable fime following up on a fabricated source before concluding that it is not only erroneous, but deliberately deceptive.
The second family group record to be considered is that of Rev. James Keith, who was born in 1643/44 in Aberdeen, Scotland. He was the first minister of Bridgewater, Massachusetts, where he served until his death in 1719.
In 1873 a 24-page pamphlet by Royal Keith titled The Keith Family of Scotland was published by C. E. Keith and Co. There is no copy in the Family History Library, but the family group of Rev. James Keith is reproduced from this pamphlet in Epitaphs of Old Bridgewater, Mass. by Williams Latham.6 Mr. Latham makes it clear that the list, which contained exact dates of birth, is believed to be "wholly incorrect, without authority, and altogether conjectural," in short, fraudulent. The citation given on the family group record was to Elizabeth E. Boice Jones The Background of Mary Alice (Shaipe) Yalden Thomson and Alexander Beatty Sharpe, Jr.: Their Book Carter Sharpe and Allied Families (Rutland, Vermont: Tuttie Publishing Co., 1940), which, in turn, cites Latham but does not reproduce the spurious list of birthdates from Royal Keith. The submitter must have referred to Latham and chosen the list with specific dates to be used on the family group record found in the Archives.7
The children in the pamphlet are listed in the order in which they appear in Rev. Keith's will dated 30 July 1718 and proved 26 August 1719, sons first, daughters second, with the exception of his daughter Susanna, who was already dead.8 It is also the order in which the sons appear in The Histoiy of Bridgewater by Nahum Mitchell published in Boston in 1840.9 It is obvious that Royal Keith concocted his list according to the order in the will without considering that the daughters might have been older.
Mr. Latham based his assertion about Royal Keith's pamphlet on the dates found on the gravestones of four sons of Rev. Keith-Samuel, Timothy, John, and Joseph-found in the West Bridgewater Cemetery which, if gravestones are correct, show that the dates in the pamphlet for those four are wrong, thus casting suspicion on the entire list:10
Name
Birthdate
Death Date/Age
Correct Birtlidate
Joseph Keith 8 Nov. 1671
1730/55
1674-75
Samuel Keith 20 Dec. 1673
3 Feb 1759/82
1677-78
Timothy Keith 3 Apr. 1675
8 Nov 1767/84
1682-83
John Keith 4
Oct. 1676
11 Jun 1761/73
1688-89
While the true dates of birth are off by 3 to 13 years, they at least maintain the birth order and since the spurious dates make all of these older than they really were, no problems regarding age at marriage are created. This is not the case, however, with the two youngest daughters on Royal Keith's list. Mary Keith, said by Royal Keith to have been born 3 April 1684, was, in reality, married to Ephraim Howard by 17 September 1689, when their first daughter was born.11 Susanna Keith, said by Royal Keith to have been born 10 March 1687, was, according to Nahum Mitchell, the first wife of Major Jonathan Howard, who married his second wife about 1691.12 Thus, if Royal Keith is to be believed, Mary Keith was not quite five years old when she married, and Susanna even younger! There can be no doubt that Royal Keith's list of birthdates for this family is spurious.
Both case studies show that fraudulent sources were either invented or used on two family group records submitted to the Genealogical (now Family History) Library. This deception might have resulted from the instructions for submission, which stated that "A year of birth, either specific, calculated, or approximated or a date of christening is required for every individual listed on Family Group Records submitted to the Genealogical Society."13
This stringent requirement to provide dates of birth for all of the
children on the family group record may have motivated the submitters to
invent or use fraudulent sources in order to be able to submit it to the
Archives. Regardless of any higher purpose, the invention or repetition
of fraudulent information in genealogical research is a disservice to researchers
past and present. One can only hope that such deception is the exception
not only in the Family Group Records Collection, but in the wider realm
of genealogy.
* 2121 Kensington Avenue, Salt Lake City, UT 84108. Mrs Nichols holds a BS in elementary education from the University of Utah. She has served as secretary and Vice-President of the Professional Chapter of the Utah Genealogical Association. She is the author of Descendants of Joseph F. Smith 1838-1918 (Provo: J. Grant Stevenson, 1976); "Myles of Sutton Suffolk" NEHGR 138 (1984): 39; "Elizabeth, Wife of William Stickney of Rowley, Mass.," NEHGR 139 (1985): 319; and "Pioneers to Utah over Seventy Years Old, 1847-1869", Genealogical Journal 18 (1990): 53.
1. Family Group Record for Joseph Dean Fowler, Family Group Records Collection, Archive Section, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, UT Submitted by Glendon Clark Porter, 1747 North Main Street, Sunset, UT, 84015. [FHL #1274086]
2. Christine Cecelia Fowler, The History of the Fowlers (Batavia, N.Y.: The author, 1950), 289.
3. 1860 Federal Census (2nd Filming), Topeka, Shawnee County, Kansas Temtory, p. 649 (11), #79/79 (for Dudley family). The continuous pagination on this roll of microfilm begins with page 535-there is no page 308 anywhere.
4. 1870 Federal Census (2nd Filming), Soldier Township, Shawnee County, Kansas, p.133, #177/179.
5. 1860 Federal Census (2nd Filming), Athens, Bradford County, Pennsylvania, p.92(50), #394/371.
6. Williams Latham, Epitaphs of OLd Bridgewater, Massachusetts (Bridgewater, Mass: Henry T. Pratt, 1882) 3.
7. Family Group Record for James Keith, Family
Group Records Collection, Archive Section, Family History Library, Salt
Lake City, UT, submitted by Lelia Mander Anderson, 1169 Blaine Avenue,
Salt Lake City, UT [no zip code] [FHL 1274477]. See also Elizabeth E. Boice
Jones The Background of Mary Alice (Sharpe) Yalden Thomson and Alexander
Beatty Sharpe, Jr.:
Their Book Carter Sharpe and Allied Families (Rutland, Vermont:
Tuttle Publishing Co., 1940), 166-167.
8. Probates 4:184, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. [FHL #550510]
9. Nahum Mitchell, History of the Early Settlement of Bridgewater in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, Including an Extensive Family Register (1840. Reprint. Baltimore: Gateway, 1975) 21~215.
10. Latham, ibid.
11. Mitchell, 198, 214; Vital Records of Bridgewater Massachusetts to the Year 1850 (Boston: NEHGS, 1916), 1:138. That Mary was young when she married Ephraim Howard conforms to the story told in Ziba C. Keith, Genealogy of the Keith Family (Brockton, Mass., 1889). Ephraim Howard courted Mary much to the displeasure of her father. The couple ran away and were married before the irate father caught up with them. The following Sunday he preached from Hosea 4:17 "Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone", Later, however, he hecame reconciled and so preached from Jeremiah 31:20 "is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him I do earnestly rememher him still". It is beyond credulity to think, however, that she could have been as young as five.
12. Mitchell, 198, 214.
13. Genealogical Instruction Manual (Salt Lake City: Genealogical Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, June 1965) sec. 3, p.2. Similar requirements existed in earlier manuals.
A note from America's First Families.
The genealogy community owes a deep debt of gratitude to Mrs. Nichols
for a well researched piece of work. Let us all take
great care when using another persons work without proving that what
we see is factual in content......Harold Oliver, Director