Gustave Anjou was a self-professed genealogist who prepared hundreds of fraudulent pedigrees. His first name is sometimes spelled Gustav.
Biography
Born in Katarina Parish 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". 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 and became a naturalized citizen in 1918. Anjou died on March 2, 1942 at Tottenville, Staten Island, and was buried in Fairview Cemetery. He was predeceased by both his Swedish-born wife Anna Maria Anjou and by his only child.
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 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. Subsequent scholarly investigation of Anjou's findings revealed flawed research with the intent to defraud. In 1991, genealogists Robert Charles Anderson and Gordon L. Remington wrote companion articles in the Genealogical Journal, a publication of the Utah Genealogical Association, elaborating on the nature and extent of the fraud committed by Anjou. Anderson's articleWe Wuz Robbed, The 'Modus Operandi' of Gustave Anjou described the manner in which Anjou fabricated the genealogies he prepared. Anderson wrote:
A typical Anjou pedigree displays four recognizable features:
Remington's article, Gustave We Hardly Knew Ye: A Portrait of Herr Anjou as a Jungberg, revealed Anjou's true identity through exposing the identity of his real biological father. Anjou's fakery has also been well documented by the late Donald Lines Jacobus, founder of The American Genealogist. The totality of research shows that Anjou's works are unreliable and they are not respected in professional genealogical circles.
