Most of the crimes are petty ones, but some were pretty serious crimes.

One story has come to light, fairly recently to me, and I am not certain I believe it, is that a great-great grandfather was involved in a murder in Tennessee and fled to Missouri. What I have seen is pretty flimsy in terms of evidence. He did come to Missouri, but a much simpler explanation was that his wife's (my great-great grandmother's) family was apparently adamantly opposed to their marriage. They left Tennessee almost immediately upon being wed.

My take on family scandals is this: often times what happened in the past was miserable, brutal and sad. Our ancestors were what they were though. The most valuable lesson is to learn from the past, lest we repeat the mistakes of the past.

then killed herself in 1890. She did it with a double barreled shot gun, so she had to reload. She did all of this while her husband was at church. He eventually remarried and had six children.

Another one was a g-g-aunt who was a bootlegger during the 20's and 30's until she got caught and sent to prison. She got out of prison when she was required to marry a blind man. Never quite figured out why the blind man.

Another one was a g-g-g uncle who died in 1924 and was buried with full KKK honors. Obvious a higher up in the Klan, they said he was a good Christian man. Sounds familiar doesn't it. This was in central PA. If he was alive today, he would definitely be a tRump supporter.

I'm not doubting you, but I've never heard of such a thing. I'm guessing it was the 1920s answer to social programs: a disabled man needing a help mate and life partner and a woman of marriageable age with a prison record.

I have to ask: did they end up having kids?

I don't think they were married for long and she ended up living to 92.

Sent 4 mailers. I received one response. However, the response was excellent.

He was actually my great grand uncle (by marriage) before he became my great grandfather. His first wife was my great grand aunt. After she and her fourth child died in childbirth, he hired a housekeeper/nanny. She eventually married him, but it took 13 years and a load of kids before they finally tied the knot (at the insistence of the state of Virginia).

One of his daughters grew up, married the great nephew of first wife, and they had a son who subsequently became my father.

After the 2nd wife(my great grandmother) died, he married a woman 40 years his junior. That marriage ended up in divorce when he beat and abandoned her, then got involved with "a woman of ill repute", with whom he had a child out of wedlock.

Needless to say, he was quite a character! I love the black sheep-they're the spice in the spaghetti so to speak!

I don't have a lot of problems with ancient relations having criminal records!