Michael C. Harvey – the black inventor?

Our kids had to find out something about Michael C. Harvey for school – an alleged African-American inventor. His name appears on many lists about African-American inventors in the USA…

Here is what you will find on Wikipedia:

Michael C. Harvey (also known as M. C. Harney or M. C. Harvey) was an African-American inventor. In 1884 he improved a type of lantern.[citation needed] The original lantern is now on display at the Black History Museum. He received patent No. 303844 on August 19, 1884 in St. Louis, Missouri for the invention of an improvement in wick-raisers.[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_C._Harvey

His patent:
http://www.google.com/patents/US303844

I also tried to find something on Ancestry.com – and found that this guy is marked as >”W” = White< there.
So I don’t know if all history books need to be rewritten… but maybe the entry for Michael C. Harvey or M. C. Harney.

Here is the record that shows him to be “White”…
http://Big-Apple.TV/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Michael_C_Harney_-_Ancestry.png

Some other links:

Who was Michael C. Harvey and what did he do in his life?
Lantern-Michael C. Harvey – Doodles Ave
 

Any comments?