It was early morning on April 1st when I, Randy Seaver, a seasoned genealogist of 38 years, opened my email with his usual mix of hope and skepticism.
There it was.
Subject: “Your Complete Family Tree—Back to Adam & Eve (Verified!)”
I chuckled. “Well, that’s new,” clicking it anyway. I knew my family tree was almost perfect.
Inside was a neatly formatted chart tracing my 2nd-great-grandfather’s Devier Smith birth father line—flawlessly—back through medieval England, Roman senators, and, astonishingly, straight to biblical figures. He was a Jenkins!!!! Every generation had dates, locations, even coats of arms. It was… beautiful.
Too beautiful.
But then came the attachments: digitized parish records, wills, land deeds—hundreds of them. Citations looked convincing. Some even referenced obscure county archives I had personally visited years ago.
My skepticism wavered.
By mid-morning, I had already messaged three fellow researchers:
“Either I’ve been wasting my life… or this is the greatest breakthrough in genealogy. How did I miss so badly on this?”
One friend replied instantly:
“Did you check the sources?”
“I’m checking now,” I typed back, heart racing.
I opened one record. Then another.
Something felt… off.
A baptism record from 1623 listed a witness named “J. Smith”—in a parish where I knew witnesses were never recorded that way. A will from 1741 mentioned property measured in acres… in a region that used strips and furlongs at the time.
Then I saw it.
At the very bottom of one document, in tiny script:
“Happy April Fool’s Day, Cousin Randy.”
I froze. "Huh?"
I scrolled back to the email.
The sender? My second cousin twice removed who dabbled in genealogy.
I leaned back in my chair, equal parts annoyed and impressed. “That girl,” I said, shaking my head, missed her calling as a genealogist … or a con artist.”
A moment later, another message popped in:
“Don’t worry, cousin—I cited everything properly. Even the fake stuff.”
I laughed out loud.
Then, almost reflexively, I opened my blogging software and created a new post:
“A Reminder: Even the best-looking records require verification.”
I paused… then added:
“But that was very well done. I had my hopes up!"
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Hmmm...I am going to look and see if there are any youngish Jenkins men in Jefferson County, New York...coincidences happen!
Their’s a certain truth in it, isn’t there? In genealogy, if something looks too perfect, it usually is—but every now and then, it’s nice to be fooled in good fun.
Here's the OpenAI graphic for this post:
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