13. The Forger Who Became An American Baron
James Reavis put in a lot of time and effort to create the documentary trail of the aristocratic Peralta family. He traveled to Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Spain, where he spent days on end in museums and archives to learn the style and feel of old documents. He experimented tirelessly with various inks and chemicals and papers, to figure out the best materials and processes to produce forgeries that would seamlessly fit in with original old documents. He even scoured Spanish flea markets, where he bought old portraits of random people. He then designated them – with the requisite forged documentary support – as members of the Peralta family. After he created the fictional family, Reavis decided to hedge his bets and executed a plan to create a close connection between himself and the Peralta land claim.
He married into the aristocratic Peraltas. The fact that the baronial brood was fictional was no insurmountable barrier for Reavis. He came across a sixteen-year-old orphaned Mexican girl named Sophia and convinced her that she was a descendant of the noble Peraltas. By then, Reavis had honed his skills to such a degree that he was no longer a mere forger, but a master forger. It was thus child’s play for him to alter church records, and insert documents that made Sophia the “last surviving” member of the fictional but illustrious Peralta family. Once he had made Sophia the “Baroness of Arizona”, Reavis married her, and through that marriage, he became the Baron of Arizona.
