Grumpyology, The Genealogy Anti-Blog

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CLAIM #8: Addie and Enoch Fargo went to the expense of hiring a photographer and proudly posed for this photo after Enoch pushed Addie down a flight of stairs onto her face, and beat her with a stick as wide as his thumb.

EVIDENCE: Her lip appears swollen, her nose is crooked, and her hair and eyebrows seem to be receding (evidence of arsenic poisoning) in this poor quality (and retouched) photo.

TRUTH #8: The owner of this photo admits it was overexposed and faded, and the dark areas only became visible with heavy darkening and contrasting in Photoshop. This causes the light areas in her hairline and eyebrows to fade (recede) even more. The effects of this "receding" are more evident on Enoch in the above photo, than on Addie. His hair, eyebrows, and mustache are almost gone. Was Enoch being poisoned, too?
EVIDENCE: Addie did have a crooked nose. Probably born with it. She also had a bad habit of posing with the right side of her mouth slightly open (maybe she smoked cigars), and her head tilted to the left. I doubt she knew she was doing it, but it made her mouth look bigger on one side, and her nose didn't point straight down to the center of her chin. Compare the left and right sides of Addie's mouth, and the angle of her nose in these photos, which are proclaimed as "happy."

  

CLAIM #9: Enoch Fargo censored Addie's mail, hiding letters from her sister and refusing Addie any contact with the outside world. If given the opportunity, she would have called out for help.

EVIDENCE: None (submitted as personal opinion)

TRUTH #9: While Enoch was occupied with his business and running the farm, Addie was out socializing with her women's groups. She and 14 friends formed a new chapter of the Daughters of the Revolution for their town. Addie was elected Regent and undoubtedly spent many months having meetings and helping members collect documentation. The chapter was granted a charter by the DAR a month before Addie died. She did a lot of hard work for someone locked in a tower. Addie even contacted the local paper two weeks later to promote her new chapter:

Waukesha Freeman, 30 May 1901 - "By the strenuous effort of Mrs. E. J. Fargo, a chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution has been organized here, the object of which is to perpetuate the memory of the spirit of the men and women who achieved American Independence. The chapter organized with sixteen charter members and was christened 'Tyranena Chapter, D. A. R.' on Saturday last, May 18, 1901."
EVIDENCE: http://books.google.com

 

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"If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance." - George Bernard Shaw