By Brian W. Hutchison

Unearthing ancestral skeletons may not always be a good thing! Genealogical researchers, particularly hired professionals, must take great care with releasing unearthed facts and clients, too, need to be prepared for the outcome of the findings. Our newly-found historical knowledge, along with the way that we report them, can be as cruel and painful now as they were when they were contemporary to the moment!

The case of Blodwin ‘Winnifred’ Davis is the story of a creative woman who fabricated the story of her life from an early age so well that, to this day, it has been extremely difficult to determine who she actually was and what become of her. She deceived those around her and, some might even suggest, succeeded so very well that in the end she had deceived herself to the point of believing her own stories.

The deception would unravel slowly later into her life, though it would not become fully exposed and apparent to others until long after her death. The family would come to learn the shocking truth about Grandma Winnie, as she was kindly referred to by her family, and her long-developed deception to the point that it would haunt them, leaving them to ask, “What is the truth about our ancestral past?”