Question

Have “fake” Springer tree from late 1800’s. What are it’s original origins?

Answer 1

The earliest publication, that I have seen, of the false genealogy is in "A genealogical table and history of the Springer family, in Europe and North America, for eight centuries, from the earliest German princes;" by Moses C. Springer published in 1881.

But it might have originated earlier - see this Wikipedia article about the Springer Hoax

Unfortunately there are profiles on WikiTree for much of this false genealogy from when anyone could download anything, and they still need to be worked on to satisfy the disproven existence requirements.

Comments

Thank you for the book reference.  What I have is very elaborate tree that impressed my family.  They thought it was real.  It looks real!  The bottom portion of the tree was real and ended with my great grandmother.  Trying to understand the origins of it.  Cheryl (Farmer-7048)

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There is a Critical Review of Moses C Springer's book in The American Genealogist, vol. 18, iss 3. Although the reviewer, Milton Rubincam, thinks that Moses Springer, was misled, rather than the originator of the false genealogy, when you get many generations of ancestors, all false, it usually means that someone has invented them, rather than it being a mistake or a misreading of sources.

If the genealogy you have is the same as in the book, then there are a couple of giveaways that it is false.  The review mentions that there were no Counts of Waldenburg in that time frame.  The other is that many of them, even those in medieval times, have more than one given name; 'Christoph Louis Springer' for instance, and that is very rare.  More than one given name as usual practice appearing much later.

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The first line of biography for [[Springer-196|Christopher Springer]] states:

“It has been proven that the genealogical book by Moses C. Springer (see below) was a complete fraud.^[1]”

The source for this hyperbolic claim is cited as the Critical Review by Milton Rubincam.  However, after reading Rubincam’s article I don’t see that this is a claim he makes.  He seems to be saying that the parent connection between to Christopher Springer is merely unproven.  

I looked through a copy of Moses C. Springer’s book which I was able to find online.  I found it to be a mix of information that was true and provable and information that could not be proven using online sources.  

The property in Sweden & Delaware that was alleged to be due Springer heirs as part of the “Springer Hoax” was tied to portions of this tree which appear to be correct.  So the genealogy work related to the property was true, but the actual claims to that property were false.  

It’s not helpful to further research for the profiles like    [Springer-196|Christopher Springer (abt.1592-1669)]to contain claims like this that are false. 

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Hi, thanks for replying.  I have proven my tree with sources back to 1709. I am currently working other Family Tree lines.  This portion of my tree goes back to Profile Humphrey Hudson Springer (Springer-474).  His son Phillip is in the DAR registry just now finding this.  I am currently working on the proof.  My family was very disappointed when I told them that this Family Tree was fake.  The story behind this was that the family hired a lawyer to represent them and prove their lineage.  This was done was done up to Humphrey Springer and then the attorney seem to have left out the real proof.  Humphrey Springer seems to have incomplete source information.  This was worked on by multiple people.  I’m sure it will work itself out.  Thanks

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Here on Wikitree my line seems correct back to https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Springer-196

That profile has been disconnected from https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Springer-227

as per the note on the profile.  You could check your tree against Wikitree, but you will need to use the link to get to  Springer-227 because they’ve been disconnected.  

Someone has made exaggerated claims about  the Moses C Springer book being a “complete fraud” in both profiles. Those claims are not accurate. However I’m not saying Moses C. Springer was completely accurate either. It seems to me that from Springer-227 back needs to be checked.  It’s possible that it’s unprovable or that a different line is correct as suggested by Milton Rubincam.  

If what you have is different from that point back and the product of recent research it could be correct.  If it’s the same it could still be correct too.  The problem is that the acceptable sources aren’t  provided.  Those sources are likely to be written in German and may not be online.

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Ok.  I see that you are probably trying to connect Humphrey Hudson Springer to Springer-204, Jacob Springer.  I don’t trust the note on the bio there either.  However, it does seem to be better sourced.  We just have to check to see if the source backs up the claim of whoever wrote the bio.  Here’s the Milton Rubincam article. https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~ratchie/genealogy/Springer%20DNA%20Study/SpringerPaperMiltonRubincam1941.html.html

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Here’s the Cliff Radcliff article. 

https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~ratchie/genealogy/Springer%20DNA%20Study/CliffRadcliff.html