James Reavis

James Addison Reavis , later using the name James Addison PeraltaReavis, the socalled Baron of Arizona, was an American forger and fraudster. He is best known in association with the Peralta land grant, also known as the Barony of Arizona, a pair of fraudulent land claims that if certified would have granted him ownership over 18,600 square miles of land in central Arizona Territory and western New Mexico Territory. During the course of the fraud, Reavis collected an estimated USD 5.3 million in cash and promissory notes through the sale of quitclaims and proposed investment plans.

Reavis was born the second of five children to Fenton George Reavis and Mary Reavis on May 10, 1843 in Henry County, Missouri near the town of Clinton. His father was a Welshman who had immigrated to the United States in the early 1820s. His mother was of Scottish and Spanish descent and proud of her Spanish heritage. The family lived on a small farm and owned a small tannery. Reavis received little formal education, but his mother read Spanish Romantic literature to him and he developed a grandiose and eloquent writing pattern. In 1857, the family sold their farm and moved to Montevallo, Missouri, where they opened a store.

Source: Wikipedia