This blogger battled high altitude, dry air, and a near-empty library to make an important discovery in Greer, Arizona (elevation 8,356 feet). A local historian, Wink Crigler, not only preserved one of the two guest cabins at great grandfather J.E. Thompson’s lodge but possessed the only known photograph of the main lodge, built in about […]
Separating fact from folklore
Growing up I never knew whether to believe the stories grown-ups told about my near and distant relatives. The stories seemed too fantastic to be true. This website is dedicated to separating fact from fiction. But the truth, I've found, can be equally hard to believe.
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The Unexciting Truth About William Boyce Thompson’s Picket Post Mansion
After his stroke, a personal assistant rolled an invalid William Boyce Thompson in a bathtub on wheels to the window so that he could watch the sunrise over Apache Leap from his beloved Picket Post mansion. The heartwarming story is one of several compelling urban legends told to visitors of the Magnate’s Castle on the […]

Philip Benjamin: Portrait of a Small-Time Con
The life of Philip Benjamin (1779-1852) remains a mystery. But a review of his legal woes in the 1820s when he was trying to raise a family paints a clear portrait of him as a swindler. The first-generation Jewish American was in and out of court, losing case after case, with the same ineffectual attorney, […]

James Richard Thompson: The Brains Behind the Operation
James Richard Thompson (1873-1927) was born in Virginia City, Montana, the second son of William Thompson (1832-1900) and Annie Marie Boyce (1846-1894). Relatives described him as an avid reader who lived in a house filled to the brim with books. The three boys – including William Boyce (1869-1930) and Joseph Edward (1875-1950) – were wonderfully […]
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Starting with me, this website goes back in every direction, exploring every curve along the way, then doubling back in different directions. I wish my parents were around to see what I've discovered.
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“If you go to New Orleans to investigate the roots of Judah P. Benjamin, you may wind up disappointed.”
»» Read Judah P. Benjamin's Homes Largely Forgotten In New Orleans
“Hatevil Nutter was by no means alone in his hatred of Quakers.”