General Chat

My g/g/grandfather murdered his wife.......

A gg uncle of mine married in 1844 had at least 4 children, married again in 1858 (while his first wife was still alive) and had 8 more children..... then he took off to places unknown.

His second wife married again in 1872, she thought 1st husband was dead...... and gg uncle turned up.... somebody informed the authorities, and SHE was sent to jail for bigamy!

Who knows where gg uncle was during those years....... may be yet another wife somewhere.

Flipping eck Joy! I was just about to go to sleep!.......sheesh that was gruesome!

Kense

just imagine poor William having TWO mother in laws

I haven't found any villains yet, but I do have one on the receiving end - my 4xG Grandfather was stoned for his religious beliefs. He survived but carried the scars for the rest of his life. :-( :-(

Another bad lad in my tree (fifth great uncle) was this one who was jailed for bigamy.

http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?div=t17940115-39

I can't quite understand meeting someone on Tuesday and marrying them on Friday though. :-S

ps Hallo cousin David.

I have a few who spent time in prison, but only one for murder...... he wasn't actually one of "mine" but was married to a distant cousin (husband of 2nd cousin 4 times removed).

He was hanged in Edinburgh in 1884...... I'm told there are still arguments about it in the town he was born in.

The Scots have very long memories.

http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/23rd-november-1872/3/the-very-gruesome-murder-discovered-last-week-in-c


here's mine

I think murder as too much like effort for any of mine but I do have one who set fire to some woodland in Herefordshire.

He is probably the only one of our family who has been to Herefordshire and they didn't want him back!

Like KenSE, I may be descended from the Culworth gang. Its leader was John Smith snr (1724-1787) and his sons, who escaped justice, were: John Smith jnr (hung 1789) and William (Chr 14/5/11762). William settled down to be an upstanding member of the community. Having married Martha Hirons on 16/7/1781, they had 7 kids in Culworth from 1785 to 1800.
It looks like I go back to a Thomas Smith born about 1790 in Culworth, who married Mary Bazeley on 18/10/1808. Their kids included Sarah (1813), Ann (1815), Mary (1823-46) and James (1829-1829), but would probably include Henry (chr 20/7/1820) who is my known ancestor.

I have one he chopped someones head off. I have all about. The court case and what was put in the papers at the time. It was in 1896 in Essex

Hazelx

i've just seen that martins father was in lewis jail when he was young, like father like son .

I haven't proved the connection yet but it seems probably that one of my ancestors, name of John Smith, was the leader of the Culworth Gang. They never killed anyone but were the scourge of Northants in the late 18th century.

http://www.culworth.net/page6.html

My proved history goes back to William Smith born in Culworth in 1811.

my dads great uncle Joseph Noble was hung for murder in durham goal in 1905 :-(

In my tree, a second cousin 3x removed,was murdered together with her entire family, by an axeman, in 1912 in Oregon. It was a very gruesome murder, apparently, and he sodomised the mother and young daughter. Various suspects, but the murder was never fully solved.

My 4th great grandfather was transported to Australia 1n1829, for stealing some carpentry tools, and had previously been in prison for poaching.

I only have one who unsuccessfully tried to derail a train in 1850.

Found him in prison on 1851 census, looked at online newspapers (Lancashire Library) and found a few incredible write- ups about the trial, and the use of 'railway detectives'.

I suppose if he'd been successful, he would have been a murderer.

lots of interesting information on the oldbailey online, it seems that an ancestor of mine was murdered in a race hate crime and that was in the 1800's, how amazing this internet, explains so much from the past, stuff that had been buried for so long. I guess whatever the time or date, human being's behaviour doesn't change much!

yes some of my family remind me of the Munsters

and the rest the Adams family PMSL ;-) ;-)

joy,
i think we have all got a few like that, :-D

Joy

:-D :-D :-D