29 September 2017

Roger Manchester: a man who never was

Myko Clelland‏, @DapperHistorian, who delights in unusual genealogical items, tweeted out this story with the comment "This ad was taken out in 1907 - Perhaps he's still waiting..."










It appeared in the Dundee Courier on Wednesday 14 August 1907.
But, there was no such Canadian. Not in the 1901 census, Not in the 1911 census.
Looking to the US there are articles in several newspapers in May 1907 and later referring to a man by that name from Washington County, South Dakota seeking a dumb wife.
The first mention I could find is on 9 May 1907 including in the The Evening World of New York in a column Oddities in News From all Over the World. Other items are "Bug in Lived in Ear of a Girl for 12 Years", "Man Eats 40 (Raw) Eggs in Quarter Hour". National Enquirer stuff.
What of Roger Manchester? There is no person by that name to be found in the US censuses of 1900 or 1910!


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Think of it as an urban myth! Cheers, BT