Ah, I see. Thank you.
I think the same may have been true of my paternal grandmother’s parents. Her birth certificate says they married in New York in 1911, but New York has no record of their marriage. Both were immigrants, and they may have just had a religious ceremony. And Lord knows where.
My GGF on my mothers side had a mail order bride of Dutch descent. She never spoke good English. People of the family apparently just quit trying to talk to her. She must have been a very lonely woman. My Mother died when I was really young so I never got to talk to her about her Grandmother. My only Aunt that survived til I was an adult said she was a mean and angry woman. Nobody wanted to be around her. It seemed sad to me. I suspect there may have been some intellectual disability, also.
My GGM and several of my GGUncles were incarcerated in our county jail for public drunkenness circa early 1900’s. One of the GGU’s subsequently escaped after being jailed again for theft, stole a horse and was apparently never recaptured. He died in a neighboring state 30 years later using variation on spelling of family name.
My wifes paternal line evolves from “the triangle traders” of the late 1600’s to early 1700’s, who then became Loyalists who fled to Nova Scotia after the revolution. Over the next 50 years or so, they slunk back into the US.
Was he a Madison Avenue advertising executive in the 1960s?
No real skeletons that I can confirm. My great-great-grandfather had two wives who both died young, but I don’t know of any scuttlebutt about it. In the Postbellum, these things happened.
I’ve mentioned before about my paternal grandfather leaving the old country supposedly because he got a girl pregnant; my father’s youngest brother supposedly being the product of my grandmother having an affair; and my aunt’s mental illness and abuse of her daughter.
That’s just my father’s side of the family, and only the two previous generations. I don’t really want to dig deeply into my geneology.
Genealogical research revealed that my great-grandfather and great-grandmother were divorced in 1910 (a fairly unusual event at the time, I guess). She left him because he was a jerk, after about a year he sued her for divorce based on abandonment, he wanted to give her nothing but she got a small settlement. They both died in the same year 18 years later, both broke.
My father’s parents married several months after his older brother (my uncle) was born. I suspect this may have cut my grandfather off from his family, the couple mentioned above. I don’t think my father knew this until I got a copy of their marriage certificate.
Two cousins were married, and so were their parents! My mother said not scandalous at all, after the younger generation met and married, the older generation (both widow(er)ed) fell in love and got married. It just looks strange on the genealogy chart.
My father was married during WWII, before he met my mother; they had a baby girl who died of SIDS, and got divorced. My father never talked about it to us kids but it was an open secret; later when he finally did talk about it he described her as a nymphomaniac and an alcoholic. Knowing him, I took it to mean that she was unfaithful at least once, and that she liked to drink more than he did.
This one my sister discovered, thank Og, there isn’t enough eye bleach. Setup: after my mother died, my father took a trip that they had wanted to take, and for company (nudge nudge, wink wink) he took a former colleague’s widow. Trip over, he didn’t want anything to do with her any more (I was glad, she was a horrid old bigot). Payoff: after he died, my sister and I were clearing up his stuff. In a drawer she found a bottle of Viagra, and at least one “full beaver” photo of this old woman. Not particularly scandalous really, and I approve of old folks getting it on (especially now that I am one) but I don’t want to see actual evidence of it. Fortunately for me my sister disposed of the photo(s) and I never had to see them.
Apparently, one of my great aunts was a child my great grandfather (I think I have the greats right- my grandmother’s dad and her sister are who I’m talking about) brought home one day and said was his. She was almost a teen at the time, and ended up being raised as one of my grandmother’s sisters. He was an eel fisherman in Sweden, and obviously caught more than just eels.
Also, I gave up my daughter for adoption, my natural mother gave me up for adoption, and her natural mother gave her up for adoption.
And then there’s uncle HP. Son of my paternal grandmother and the thereafter husband of her sister. HP was raised by paternal grandfather as a son, but is buried outside the “family plot” in that little country cemetery.
What kind of lunacy were people about in, say, 1914? (Answer: About the same as now.)
Thanks to ancestry (dot) com.
The same great-grandmother was ordered deported from the U.S. for being a public charge and having had one or more previous attacks of insanity. (I am the great-granddaughter mentioned at the link and have the records from the National Archives which tell the whole sad tale.)
Also, the same 3rd cousin of mine who created the website found some relatives who went to prison at Leavenworth for selling margarine as butter. Details here and here.
Great Great Great Grandfather Wilton died in prison while serving time for indecently assaulting four 12-year-old girls from his neighborhood when he was 81. I can’t find any family members that will acknowledge knowing about it, but I imagine that’s because everyone closely involved is dead and the following generation wouldn’t have spoken about it.
24 Jul 1901 - CASTLEMAINE. - Trove
Pretty disturbing and upsetting to find, though ultimately it has passed into history and doesn’t make a difference to any person living today.
Two recent discoveries:
For the first – a very short backstory: Our family is successful and trouble-free, as far back as I can find. No crimes, no money problems, (almost) no divorces etc. Mostly successful, middle class although unusual occupations: Pilots, ship Captains, Engineers (both train and desk), lots of military, teachers, accountants, etc. Far more degrees then people and all doing fine. Except one branch. Divorces, far too many kids, trouble with the law, drugs, some have disappeared to “the streets”, one works as a stripper, etc. They seem to be in perpetual chaos. I asked my Dad about it last year, and he said I’d known but probably forgotten. The entire branch originates from an adoption in the past. None are our blood relatives. Makes me less sure about nature-nurture questions.
The second – only found out this year. One of the victims of a very well known serial killer was my (distant) cousin. Sorry, won’t name the killer for anonymity reasons, but you’ve heard of him.
I am descended from St. Ciarán who founded Clonmacnoise. The which is something that Catholic saints are not technically supposed to do. (Have descendants, that is.) Although the Irish Saints in general (yes, including Brigid) were known to be a randy lot.
Fascinating. I never imagined something like that could turn into a Federal case.
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A few years ago, one of my aunts told me about my grandmother. I knew she had changed her first name following my grandfather’s death, but I never knew it was in order to commit identity theft… from the same aunt who told me about it. So my little bubbe, who couldn’t even read and write, was a felon!
They must’ve been given a hard time by the inmates at Leavenworth, unless they were also guilty of more serious offenses (like creating a nuisance). 
I can top that. One of my ancestors was convicted of stealing three silk handkerchiefs from a shop in London at age 14. He was sentenced to death. :eek:
The only dark family secret is that we are probably using the wrong last name. I understand this is actually pretty common.
:eek: is right…imagine if he had tried to steal a shirt and pants - drawn, quartered and head on a pike outside of the London Tower?? That’s chilling…