JoAnn:
Sorry to be so long in getting to answer your posting of 3/9/97. The
Anneke Jans Bogardus "estate" is one of the oldest frauds in genealogy,
going back into the 18th century. Please read "The Heirs of Anneke Jans
Bogardus Versus Trinity Church: A Chronicle of New York's Most Prolonged
Legal Disputes" in the N. Y. Gen. & Biog. RECORD April 1994 and July 1994
issues. Anneke was a real person, with real descendants [350,000 known]
and there was really a farm located near Canal Street in Manhattan. The
legal dispute between Bogardus heirs and Trinity Church goes back at least
to 1738. There were numerous cases thru' the rest of the 18th and 19th
centuries. Early in the 20th century a number of frauds began where heirs
were supposed to pay a sum to a "lawyer" in advance so the "lawyer" could
get a huge fortune for the heir "waiting" to be claimed. [Similar to all
sorts of modern scams].
Not in this article, but somewhere else I read of a woman in the 1950's or
60's who was jailed for fraud when she claimed she was in London and had
gotten Queen Elizabeth II [as head of the Church of England] to order
Trinity Church to give the land back to the heirs ... she just needed more
money from the heirs to present her case. She was in the US at the time
of her supposed meeting w/ the Queen.
The NYG&B article ends w/ a statement that the New York County clerk still
gets requests from heirs who have paid "lawyers" large sums of money.
These heirs are told that only a pedigree is needed and huge sums of money
and land are waiting for them.
Sorry to have been so long in getting an answer to you.
David
On Sun, 9 Mar 1997, JoAnn G. Irwin wrote:
> Does anyone know anything of the Anneka Janse Bogardus estate in New York > City in the late 30s? This was mentioned recently by a cousin regarding my > CLARK surname research. > > JoAnn G. Irwin > irwinj33@net-link.net > >