Author

I am a retired United States Army Colonel and corporate leader with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Nebraska (Omaha) and a master’s in logistics management from the Florida Institute of Technology. My wife Carol and I have been married for over 54 years and have two sons and four grandchildren.

I learned about Parker Hardin French while working on family genealogy and researching great-grandfather Francis (Frank) Alexander Goodbody (1828-1906). Frank was a member of the fraudster’s California-bound gold rush expedition in 1850. The endeavor faltered in mismanagement and collapsed in deception, fraud, and forgery. Some 250 passengers were scammed by French, and left to their own devices in the little outpost of El Paso Texas. The fraud was well reported in period newspapers.

How did my great-grandfather— whose family viewed him as a smart, skeptical, and very tough guy— get swindled? I became fascinated with French’s story. Casual interest changed to intrigue and then to a six-year compulsive drive. I hit the web, gathered references, researched digitized records and newspapers, and visited historical archives and government record centers.

Great Grandfather, I found, was not alone in being conned; he was in great company with foreign leaders, business tycoons, prominent politicians, frontier toughs, and army officers.