How convenient it would be to many of our great men and great families of doubtful origin, could they have the privilege of the heroes of yore, who, whenever their origin was involved in obscurity, modestly announced themselves descended from a god.

Washington Irving (1783-1859) American author [pseud. for Geoffrey Crayon]

Knickerbocker’s History of New York, Book 2, ch. 3 (1809)