[This post was originally published on January 27, 2022.]
The following list of objections by Lizzie's first cousin three times removed, M. Scott Manning, alias msm1081 on Ancestry.com, M.S. Manning and S. Manning, was based, primarily, on a discussion between me and him, via Private Messages on FamilySearch, about whether or not this is could have been the case. On her FamilySearch profile, I suggested the possibility that Lizzie was the product of such an affair, based on analysis of my FamilyTreeDNA and AncestryDNA test results. S. Manning gave the following reasons why Charles Wilbur, in S. Manning's exact words, "was not her biological father. And Rebecca Orser and Charles Wilbur did not have an affair. And Lizzie is not illegitimate." Below this list, find my responses to each of S. Manning's objections:
1. I, William Mortensen Vaughan, have "not written one word about
all [my] relevant Lambert-related DNA matches."
2. S. Manning would "caution against putting much weight on use of Ancestry Thrulines."
3. Charles Wilbur and Rebecca Orser resided in locations which were too far apart for them to have had an affair.
4. Rebecca was ten "years [Charles'] senior."
5. Charles Wilbur "was not [Lizzie's] biological father. And Rebecca Orser and Charles Wilbur did not have an affair. And Lizzie is not illegitimate."
My responses:
1. I, William Mortensen Vaughan, had "written...about... [my] relevant Lambert-related DNA matches"; they contradict each other. Some seem to indicate that I am descended from Charles Wilbur; others seem to indicate that I am descended from Rebecca Orser. If I were descended from Rebecca Orser; Charles Wilbur; and their child, Lizzie Lambert, autosomal DNA, inherited from parents of either gender, might match autosomal DNA in descendants of Rebecca Orser and her husband, John Lambert. Even when autosomal DNA matches triangulated onto John Lambert and Rebecca Orser, this did not necessarily prove that John was Lizzie's biological father, because Rebecca and Lizzie might have passed their autosomal DNA to me and my DNA matches who triangulated onto them. What convinces me that John Lambert was, in fact, Lizzie Lambert's biological father, was when I recently discovered that more matches triangulated onto Lizzie's paternal grandfather, John Lambrecht. This meant that autosomal DNA was passed from John Lambrecht and/or his wife, Ursula Zacharias, through John Lambert, to me.
2. Any argument about putting weight on Ancestry ThruLines is irrelevant, because, based on my FamilyTreeDNA test results, I had already determined that Charles Wilbur seemed to be Lizzie Lambert's father before I had ever even heard of AncestryDNA's ThruLines. AncestryDNA's ThruLines simply reaffirmed what I had already discovered.
3. Charles Wilbur and Rebecca Orser resided in locations which were close enough for Charles to discover and adopt Rebecca's daughter, Lizzie, so they were close enough to have had an affair.
4. Rebecca being ten "years [Charles'] senior" serving as a reason not to have an affair with him is the most amusing reason S. Manning gave, especially to me, a man who has been married for nearly twenty years to Libertad Green, a woman nearly a quarter century my junior.
5. Merely stating that Charles Wilbur "was not [Lizzie's] biological father. And Rebecca Orser and Charles Wilbur did not have an affair. And Lizzie is not illegitimate" does not make any of that true. If anything, it reinforces a Streisand effect.
The Streisand effect is the primary reason I became so concerned with the issue of Lizzie's legitimacy and Charles Wilbur's precise relationship to her.
Once upon a time, there was a WikiTree profile for Charles Wilbur, as well as a FindaGrave memorial. Then I was informed that that Lizzie Lambert was adopted by Charles and Aurelia Wilbur. I have a copy of Charles Wilbur's will, in which he states that Lizzie was his adopted daughter, so I have no doubt that he legally adopted her and wanted her to be his heir. But, one day, I discovered that Charles and Aurelia's WikiTree profiles and FindaGrave memorials were gone. It was if someone were trying to purge the Internet of any evidence that they ever existed, let alone that they might have been regarded as Lizzie Lambert's parents, adoptive or otherwise.
Furthermore, S. Manning acts as if he were the sole proprietor of Lizzie Lambert's profile on FamilySearch. I can't think of anything I've ever added to her profile that he hasn't made a point of second-guessing and editing, if he can, to always have "the last word," so to speak. He acts as if he's afraid someone might disturb his great-great grandmother's remains instead of mine. As stated above, and according to his own claim, he is merely a "1st cousin 3X removed." (I have verified this claim via my own research.)
By the way, several months ago (in 2021), I complained to FamilySearch about S. Manning bogarting my great-great grandmother's profile, but I never heard from them until 2025, after I complained again. They informed me that posting incorrect information did not constitute abuse, which reply, as I told them, told me that they hadn't grasped the import of my complaint; my complaint was not that Mr. Manning was posting incorrect information about Lizzie. On the contrary, he had made and posted significant discoveries about her for which I am grateful, and I thanked him personally (via online messages). He discovered that Lizzie was not another Elizabeth whom he and I had both previously supposed that she was. He also discovered the record of her birth to Rebecca Orser and John Lambert. My problem with him is the manner in which he bogarted her profile, always insisting on having the last word, no matter what, as if he had the authority to have the final say on anything regarding his first cousin three times removed, my great-great-grandmother, Lizzie Lambert.
In 2022, I looked at the list of infractions which FamilySearch considers abusive, and it includes posting anything which might embarrass living people. Suggesting that S. Manning's first cousin three times removed might be the illegitimate product of an extramarital affair would probably qualify as such an embarrassment. FamilySearch seems to be less concerned with the truth than actual harassment.
UPDATE: In 2025, I discovered that twenty autosomal DNA matches on Ancestry.com triangulate onto Lizzie Lambert's paternal grandfather, John Lambrecht, via her father, John Lambert, and her aunt, John's sister, Catherine. According to Ancestry.com, we share between 8 and 57 centiMorgans, so I acknowledge that it Lizzie was almost certainly John Lambert's biological daughter.
When I posted this new conclusion, I noticed that Mr. Manning had been started referring to me as "one cousin," a blatant attempt to diminish my direct descent from Lizzie, in contrast to his relationship to her as a distant cousin. Then I noticed that he had posted documents among her gallery, associated with her Memorial on Findagrave, which I manage. It wasn't enough to bogart her profile on FamilySearch and Wikitree; he was attempting to bogart her profile on Findagrave, even though I manage it! So I posted AI-generated artwork related to her, and arranged the gallery to push his to the back/bottom of the gallery. I wouldn't have removed the documents he posted even if I could; they are valid, and I have no objection to that.
But he changed his captions under them, in response to my AI-generated art, telling readers to ignore those sad fakes. He actually called them "fake," which is tantamount to accusing me of the intent to deceive people.
I had clearly labeled my art as AI generated. It was not intended to deceive anyone.
I complained about this to Findagrave's moderators, and they saw it my way. At first, they altered his captions to avoid accusing me of deception, and calling my art "sad." I was satisfied with this solution. But they eventually took it a step further, and removed his posts from Lizzie's Memorial.
In response to him calling my "fakes" "sad," took a look at his profile, and discovered that he manages his parents' Memorials, but had neglected to sponsor them. So I sponsored them, and sent him a message, telling him that what was sad is that, in more than six months and sixty years since his mother and father died, respectively, he was too cheap to sponsor their Findagrave Memorials.
Although I acknowledge that John Lambert was almost certainly Lizzie Lambert's biological father, the possibility still exists that John's wife, Rebecca Orser, may have had an extramarital affair with Charles Wilbur. The following questions are still begged:
"Why did someone delete Charles and Aurelia Wilbur's Wikitree profiles and Findagrave memorials?"
"What was Charles Wilbur's precise biological relationship to Lizzie Lambert? He might taken her in as a foster child, and/or he might have employed her as a domestic servant; why did he not only adopt her but also bequeath his entire estate to her? Did he believe that she was or might have been his biological daughter?"
"Why is Mr. Manning so invested in bogarting my great-great-grandmother, Lizzie Lambert's profiles, when he is only a distant cousin?"
"What is he trying to hide?!?"
_________________________________
Commentary by William Mortensen Vaughan
