Gustave Anjou

Gustave Anjou
Born	Gustaf Ludvig Jungberg December 1, 1863 Stockholm, Sweden
Died	March 2, 1942 Tottenville, Staten Island
Resting place	Fairview Cemetery, New York City
Pen name	Gustaf Ludvig Ljungberg
Spouse(s)	Anna Maria Anjou
Children	1
Relative(s)	Carl Gustaf Jungberg (father) Maria Lovisa Hagberg (mother)

Gustave Anjou (December 1, 1863 – March 2, 1942) was a self-professed genealogist who has been accused of fakery. His first name is sometimes spelled Gustav.

Biography

Born in Katarina Parish (Swedish: Katarina församling) in Stockholm, Sweden, Anjou was the natural son of Carl Gustaf Jungberg and his housekeeper Maria Lovisa Hagberg. After serving a prison term in 1886 for forgery, Anjou changed his name to "Gustaf Ludvig Ljungberg" and then began using the alias "Gustave Anjou" (based on the maiden name of his fiancé, Anna Maria Anjou). Usually he used the alias "Gustave Anjou," but occasionally he also used the aliases "H. Anjou" and "M. Anjou." Gustave and Anna Maria married in 1889. After emigrating to the U.S. in 1890, Anjou took up residence on Staten Island (Richmond County, New York) and became a naturalized citizen in 1918.

Controversy

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.

In 1910, the New York City Directory reported: "British-Am Record Soc, 116 Nassau R [Residence] 1116--C. Percy Hurditch, Pres ; Gustave Anjou. Sec.", and in 1912, it reported, "Am Genealogical Soc., 116 Nassau R 1117 - Gustave Anjou, Sec."

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 is one of the most widely quoted sources on the Internet about Anjou’s fraudulent works.

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:

1. 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.

2. Many wild geographical leaps, outside the normal range of migration patterns.

3. An overwhelming number of citations to documents that actually exist, and actually include what Anjou says they include and

4. 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.

Death

Anjou died on March 2, 1942 at Tottenville, Staten Island, and was buried in Fairview Cemetery (at West New Brighton, Castleton Corners, New York City). He was predeceased by both his Swedish-born wife Anna Maria Anjou (Oct. 21, 1860 – July 6, 1922) and by his only child.

External links

• Grafting Family Trees by Myra Vanderpool Gormley, CG
• "Beware of Fraudulent Genealogies" in Family Chronicle magazine
• LDS Family Library Transcript on Critical Analysis on Anjou's Tone Family Genealogy