We checked two Know Your Roots pages against the sources, and we found errors. We fixed them today. Here is what changed.
Miriam Elizabeth Benjamin
- How her chair worked. The page said it ran on an electrical circuit. Her patent describes a purely mechanical design: a gong knob, rods, and a crank that turned a red signal ball.
- What her patent shows. The page said she invented the call button. She was one of many inventors working on signaling devices in her era. Her patent shows she was working on the idea early and put it on the public record.
- Samuel Lee. The page said she tracked Lee down. Lee died in 1895. The 1906 award was paid after his death, and the page now says so. The amount now reads as the 1906 Boston Daily Globe reported it, and the page says she brought the bill before Congress nine times.
- Her shoe sole. The page said it delivered medication. Her patent describes a pouch of powdered material, such as sulfur, meant to keep feet warm and help circulation.
- A few smaller fixes. The pinking device is now marked as reported, not confirmed. The Civil War was about five months old at her birth, not four. We removed a street address we could not verify, and a named speaker for a quotation about her mother.
Bessie Blount Griffin
- Held loosely, as sources differ. Her parents’ names, the spelling of her nursing hospital, and her exact degrees now say so.
- Marked as accounts. Her work with veterans, her career dates, and the claim that she was the first Black woman trained at Scotland Yard now say they are widely reported but not confirmed.
- Removed. A line saying the FBI turned away her application, which we could not source. We also removed a detail about building her feeder in her kitchen over ten months, and a stated reason for the feeder’s design.
- Her patent. The page now gives the number, U.S. 2,550,554, and says the patent covers a neck-worn support for drinking, not the Invalid Feeder.
- The title and opening. They no longer state as fact an account we could not confirm.
What isn’t finished
We have not yet confirmed the exact payee and amount in the Lee award. We will update the page if we do.
We would rather correct the record in public than leave an error standing because it made a better story.