Looks like some of my genealogical research is seriously suspect, according to this article. This is really disappointing: the Freeman family (my grandmother’s family) was one of the genealogies I was pretty happy with, but it looks like some of the records (and it’s not clear how far back) are suspect.
This is an important lesson to me as an amateur genealogical researcher: always document your source…and investigate any second hand evidence before adding it in.