YES it's true. I am often reminded by my paranoid family to stay extremely private, but these guys are dead. Vincent Price plays one of my ancestors we are less proud of, James Reavis (they gave me Reavis as my first name):
The U.S. government recognizes land grants made when the West was under Spanish rule. This inspires James Reavis to forge a chain of historical evidence that makes a foundling girl the Baroness of Arizona. Reavis marries the girl and presses his claim to the entire Arizona territory:
Master swindler James Reavis devotes years to forging documents that will give him claim to the entire state of Arizona. He finds a young girl whom he believes is an orphan and hires a governess to educate her in the manner of the Spanish aristocracy. He invents deceased parents for her whose ancestry can be traced to a mythical Spanish nobleman. He then insinuates himself into a Spanish monastery for three years so he can access its biblioteca which carries the records of Spanish land grants. He later joins a gypsy band to have access to the library of a Spanish noblemen where he can alter duplicate documents. When everything is in place, he marries the now-grown young woman and puts in his claim as her husband as the Baron of Arizona.
He was in power for a short period of time while everyone did paperwork. He was soon booted from his mansion and put in jail for a short period of time.
It was sociopath behavior and his heart was not in the right place, but WOW what a lot of dedication and psychotic planning! Bravo! I am from a long line of illustrious nut jobs... that end up being played by Vincent Price! How whacked! R
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