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Don't envy it too much. Most of my family has gone through sheer hell in this country.
No, and of course I hear that.. Perspective is everything. I was just saying that there is an American history that a lot of us have no direct connection to because our family was on a different continent when it was being made. I know the American experience wasn't always a pleasant one..
Someone recently started a thread in this forum, but it ended up being pretty clear that they just wanted a political argument, and didn't really want to talk about things you might find in genealogy research.
But I thought it would be an interesting topic: have you found ancestors in your family tree who did something bad, or something you are ashamed of?
The topic the other poster brought up was owning slaves; so that might be one example. Maybe you had a German ancestor who was in the SS? Maybe you've found criminals, like murderers, thieves, rapists, or maybe someone who have two families: the real one and the "secret" one?
My example is one of my great great grandfathers, who was 20 years old and living as a boarder with a farming family, as a worker on their farm. He ended up married to their 14 year old daughter (my great great grandmother) who had a baby soon after they married. I can't tell exactly from the dates, but it look like their relationship started when she was 13.
Today, this would be child molestation. I know back then girls did marry earlier, but even in the late 1800s, wouldn't you be upset if your boarder/employee seduced your 13 year old daughter? Looks like the shotgun wedding was the solution they came up with. But they did stay married their whole lives and had several other children over the years.
Has anyone else found these "shameful" things in their research? I know someone who found a relative who had apparently killed several of her infants. I thought that one was pretty bad.
Several among my immediate family. Child-beaters, wife-beaters, alcoholics, Nazis, you name it.
I have stopped any contact with them long ago, luckily most of them have already died by now. I don't even want to know about relatives further back in time. But I guess everybody has bad people among their ancestors, it is just a matter of how far back you go...
I am not embarrassed of them though, as I don't have anything to do with them, their deeds are not mine. I don't give a damn about biological relationships.
I'd be interested in my Mom's family history.. unfortunately early Hawaiians did not have a written tradition, they hula'd the family story or told it in stories.
There must have been a lot of bad dancers or mutes in my family, as the family history of the Hawaiian side is gone.
Part of my dad's ancestors were Chinese Christians who built most of the bells that hung in church steeples throughout the Philippines. My great great grand was from Madrid and only spoke Spanish. Her Dad was a Spanish naval officer stationed in the islands. There is a long history of naval officers in her family, all serving the Spanish crown throughout Spain's possessions.
I don't know of any relatives that I'd be ashamed or embarrassed to claim, but there are some interesting facts. For example, my maternal grandfather, who became a widely known and respected minister, had two brothers. One brother became a deputy sheriff, and the other became a moonshiner.
One can imagine what family reunions must have been like...
sounds a LOT like my mother's family in the walterboro, s.c. area ......
On my paternal side, my family were well known slaveholders. :-/ Also my Meme got married to my Papa at 14, and had my daddy at 16. My papa was in his 30's at the time :-/...They've been together for 45 years now I believe, so thats good.
I don't really have anyone that I'm ashamed of. They were all a pretty decent bunch. I guess I only take issue with one of my great-whatever-great grandfathers, who had 3 wives. Each time a wife would die, he'd hand off the kids of that marriage to his dead wife's family and start a new family. I think his children all felt this way too, b/c he didn't get a death notice nor even a headstone. I can't even tell you the year he died, but I CAN show you the graves of his parents, wives, and every one of his siblings and their spouses.
And then there's the Hessian mercenary ancestor of mine....
The Klan of the 1920's was not the same thing as the Klan today or even previously. Instead of a radical fringe group, it was a dynamic and powerful political force which controlled several state governments and which made no real effort to hide it's activities.
That an ancestor had some contact with them back then is hardly surprising and nothing to be ashamed of.
speaking of,
one ancestor i'm not too thrilled about finding was a very active member of Wade Hampton's redshirts.
another was a locally-born Tory who helped Great Britain capture Charleston, and then deserted the British army in 1782 when Charleston fell back into Patriot hands.
another was a planter who was born just after 1750, who owned 45 slaves, and was known to rape them. We still have lot of black and mulatto families in this area, with his last name. In general I have so many slaveholding ancestors that it is a real task to attempt to sort it all out. Several branches of my family had 3,000+ acres and 40+ slaves.
another relative in ^this same line was a bit older at the time of the Civil War, and fought 'defensively' in a local militia at the very, very end of the war. He ended up with a mass grave of 19 union soldiers from Massachusetts on his property, in SC. ....................On an unrelated note ... sometime after that battle, P.T. Barnum owned a large tract adjacent to that land, where he would keep and train circus animals. One story I was told recently, is that there was a train wreck, and lots of animals escaped. Supposedly to this day, there are strange looking animals wandering around those parts that look like HUGE bobcats with long tails. I don't know if it's true but it's a nice story.
There are a lot of marrying cousins, both distantly, and of the 'weirdo' variety. Some of the same people keep showing up in multiple parts of my family tree; some are even present in my mother's family and my father's family, back in the early 1700's. That is weird to me.
I've found a few military records that were just hilarious. One of them I read today, was a census-type record of about 20 or 30 different soldiers from the war of 1812. They all had detailed notes on each soldier, and each seemed to have served with distinction..... except my relative. He was disiplined for drunkenness 6 times, and fell asleep at his post twice. He received "lashings" for this.
these are of course bits and pieces. i' m sure if i knew the WHOLE story of my family, I'd be appalled.
My grandfather fought in the German army (Wehrmacht) in WW2. His father was wounded badly in WW1. He could not have joined the SS as although he was highly assimilated he was still a jew.
But he still answered his nations call as a German-as did many other German jews.
Why would I be ashamed of this? He fought honorably for his country against Communism. I would not expect modern Americans to understand, but he had the Prussian military code of honor to live in and was not responsible for the jackoff he was taking orders from...like every other soldier in history.
I found this interesting because I consider this similar to when people ask me why I am proud of my slave owning and non slave owning ancestors that fought and some died in the CW......they fought honorably and with great courage for whatever reason...I honor their courage and loyalty.
One of my gggrandfathers owned 25 slaves. One of my uncles owned close to a 100. Am I proud of it ? No. Ashamed of it ? No.
On my childrens side of the family, one of their ancestors murdered a man and fled the state of GA to Fla and lived, off and on, with the Indians.
I truly haven't run across anyone, to my knowledge, that was just horrible. A pedophile or child molester would be the ultimate shame....horse thief, nah, adulterer, nah, lazy bum, nah.
I am enjoying the other stories.
Last edited by AnnieA; 04-25-2011 at 11:06 PM..
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