A Scam to Claim Railroad Magnate Mark Hopkins Fortune

Photo: Mark Hopkins, American railroad magnate, co-founder of the Central Pacific Railroad. Credit: I.W. Taber; Wikimedia Commons.

California railroad magnate Mark Hopkins died in 1878 without a will or designated heir – and the huge fortune he left behind was under siege for more than a century by scammers claiming a connection to the man, and therefore his money. Read more of my story at GenealogyBank W. R. Moss’ Hoax: A Scam for the Hopkins Fortune