False Gaither Pedigree

Date: 1076 to 1477
Location: England
Surnames/tags: Gaither Disproven_Existence

The Real People at Beginning and End

The purpose of the pedigree was apparently to connect two real people.

At the later end, John Gater was a real person, baptized 1604 in Lamberhurst, Kent, England. He was important to the pedigree because he, in turn, had been conflated with another John Gaither to become ancestor to most of the Gaithers in the United States.

At the beginning, Ralph de Gael de Montfort and his wife Emma FitzOsbern were real people. Ralph was born in Brittany, and may well have accompanied William the Conqueror to Normandy, making him an attractive addition to one's pedigree.

The False Gaither Pedigree

To further the Gaither pedigree, John Gater was given a line of ancestors stretching back to Ralph de Gael de Montford. The pedigree appears in many popular genealogies, including one The Bennett/Gaither Clan/Descendency. Regrettably, the entire pedigree has no sources and after discussion in G2G must be judged fake: See Disproven Existence Notice: A Gater-Gaither Pedigree.

The profiles in that pedigree, which appear below, have been added to the Disproven Existence Project. Since people who never existed cannot have parents, spouses or children, they have been delinked from their pedigree relationships, which appear below for reference.

1. Walter de Gader born 1076, Brittany with wife Emma de Baladem, born about 1072, mother of Milo and Walter.
2. Ralph de Gater, born 1092
3. William de Gater, born 1120
4. Richard de Gater, born 1148
5. William de Gater, born 1176
6. Henry de Gater, born 1205
7. Henry Gater, born 1233
8. John de Gater, born 1262
9. Nicholas Gater, born 1291
10. Henry de Gater, born 1260
11. William Gater, born 1294
12. Nicholas Gater, born 1331
13. John Gater born 1366
14. John Gater, born 1403
15. Edmund Gater, born 1440
16. John Gater, born 1477

In addition to having no reliable sources, the dates of this pedigree have some obvious glitches; if you add the death dates, there are an unusual number of children born the year of the father's death.