So where does that leave us? Well, Sylvester Aylsworth, who is pre-Anjou (1863-1942), seems to be the earliest known source of the wildly improbable, and surely worthy of Anjou, fiction of the "three brothers" immigrating to New York and Connecticut from Holland and Wales. While this sounds like something one would expect from an Anjou line, in this instance Anjou appears to be innocent. By subscribing to the three brothers theory, German seems to be referencing Aylsworth, not Anjou.
Stiles, on the other hand, was a contemporary of Anjou. Stiles’ work, while not without mistakes, does seem to be well respected among the New England and DAR crowd. Stiles also includes sources for his own foray into “historical fiction,” writing about the Ellsworth provenance, which could plausibly preclude Anjou. On the other hand Stiles states in his footnotes he is indebted to the assistance of six other individuals in his account of the Ellsworth line, any of which potentially could have been tainted by Anjou.
German (1871-1961) was also a contemporary of Anjou, however I would say his research in this matter seems to draw heavily on Stiles and Aylesworth. In German’s favor are the following:
First. While the immigration pattern for the Windsor area would seem to support the Timberscombe, rather than the Cambridgshire theory, this can be attributed to Stiles, who has a plausible, if unproven, provenance for this theory
Second. Yes the family coat of arms is present, but this seems to be a ubiquitous misunderstanding persisting to our day, without Anjou’s continued help, so I am not sure how damming this is.
Third. German comes nowhere citing a even modicum of sources, let alone an overwhelming number.
Fourth, German is at least skeptical of some of the claims he makes in his research.
There are at least two key points though which need to be explained before ruling out any Anjou contamination:
First. Who is Lucia Bower? German’s work seems to be the oldest reference to this person. Lucia is a possible (probable in my opinion) invention. All other details can be sourced to earlier documents, at least tenuously, but there seems to be no basis for Lucia.
Second. In Appendix I of Our Ellsworth Ancestors, entitled “The Ellsworths and their Name”, separate from the main body of research, German details the family origin, early usage of the name, ties to nobility, improbable connections between several ancestors (the three brothers theory). The interesting part about this appendix is a footnote which states the appendix was copied from a Genealogical and Historical Sketch provided by the Media Research Bureau, 110 F, St. Washington, D.C. German adds the illuminating comment that this address was reported as “Out of Business” by the Postal Service in August 1955.
German never included any footnotes or source citations elsewhere. He must have smelled something fishy, but could not resist including the authoritative findings of the “Sketch.” To stir the pot even more, this “Sketch” lists a 12 source bibliography. Eleven of the twelve source are legitimate and I have verified. While the sources do have tidbits of filler info referenced in the “Sketch,” they are a far cry from supporting the juicy details regarding Ellsworth provenance. The twelfth source most likely is legitimate too, but I have not verified it. If it is legitimate however, the title of the book indicates at most it can be more filler.
Who / what was the Media Research Bureau? Anjou’s outfit was called AMERICAN CONSUMERS SOCIETY, located at No. 2 West 45th Street, New York. The company referenced by German could be another front, or maybe a competitor in misinformation? Here is a link showing an advertisement for the Media Research Bureau
http://books.google.com/books?id=MtsDAAAAMBAJ&pg=RA1-PA799&lpg=RA1-PA799&dq=media+research+bureau+1110+f+st+washington&source=bl&ots=2ymB5rxIHq&sig=EPF5wCzxvy98U1DR9F8LWXeJqzE&hl=en&ei=cQb6TJiPINP4nwf27oXGCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CB8Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=media%20research%20bureau%201110%20f%20st%20washington&f=falseThis sketch as copied by German does not list Lucia, so either this “Sketch” is only partially reproduced, which does not seem to be the case, or there is some other unidentified document from somewhere else that German is drawing on when he says Reference is made by some writers that Josiah was born 7 August, 1629 in Cambridgshire, England, the son of Sir John Ellsworth and Lucia Bower. (Not confirmed). Is this source Anjou, or someone else? This sounds awfully specific for such an early date, and no one seems to be able to produce any proof. As stated earlier in this thread, there seems to be a whiff of rodent here.