Ancestry/Genealogy

She left my dad when he was five...he never knew why for 50+ years.

Well, she had an affair outside of marriage (I think it was my grandfather's brother) and was kicked out, went to live with her parents, her mother had her put into the women's prison in Framingham for being "promiscuous".

Well, she had a child there... Nobody ever spoke of him, and I never knew he existed till I saw a census from 1930 that showed he had been born in prison. That was the last we heard, until I was contacted by his daughter. He had been living in Hawaii before he died. What makes me suspect he was the child of my grandfather's brother is that my g. uncle was like the ONLY person who went to visit her. I wrote to the Secretary of State and got her prison records. It's there. PLUS...my cousin in Hawaii emailed me a photo of her and her dad. OMG. He could be my dad's twin brother almost. They look more alike than my dad did to the rest of his half-siblings from grandpa's second marriage.

Anyway, Dad found his mom shortly before she died, and I can only assume she told him everything. He never said a thing to the rest of us, and the only way I found out was through genealogical/legal records.

My grandmother the jailbird.

It's a real sad story, though. Alcoholism and mental illness virtually permeates my dad's side of the family...