Found out some bad things about Hubby's ancestors

[silaswall]

My relatives start to glaze over as well. BUT! they can remember the brother of an ancestor who went into a private asylum for the criminally insane. All the other men who were tried were acquitted so, he probably would have been as well. He was also involved in the scandal of an apparent adultery & bastardy bond. Or the gggrandfather who was a multiple bankrupt and confidence trickster (that is being polite). He got his mother-in-law to stand surety for him and she ended up in the debtors prison as well. You just have to introduce them to the right ancestors! 

[patty38]

Most of us have some "black sheep" somewhere, its all in the past and you are what you are today so don't worry, enjoy the present, it's all part of family history. I've got ancestors who committed crimes, and some that committed suicide but I can't change them they are my past and part of me and I am what I am today because of them. 
Good luck with your research

Patty.

[Jean McGurn]

I have found that having a few black sheep in the family has been a big help as I was able to find out more about them rather than just a name on the census or BMD.

You must also remember that life in the 19th century was a lot different and a lot harder than today. So I would say that unless you find something that has continued right through to the 21st century don't worry just be glad you can put 'meat on the bones' from the various records they have left behind. I even got a description including the fact he had a speech impediment to one ancestor from a jail record.

 

[joboy]

Us family historians are all inquisitive (nosey) types ..... we cannot help it and when we find something 'choice' it spurs us on because we love and cannot resist doing it.
I have found one or two 'odd sods' in my pommy ancestors but since coming to OZ and marrying an OZ and finding out her family background with links to about seven transportees my searching here has been most enjoyable ......... trouble was that my wife's family were in complete denial of any family association with convicts and were not too pleased with my interest which started about 1960 when I first started taking 'hard copy' from the local LDS church .......... I have retained that hard copy to this day but it is all now on computer.
Groom says in #5
I know people in Australia are delighted when they find that they have ancestors who were transported from the UK as convicts.
This was not always the case .......... it was only when us 'nosey' types started to ventilate their background that they relented and eventually started to enjoy their heritage.
Your husband will most probably be pleased to know that 'some' of his ancestors did not necessarily live a quiet (pious) life.
Hang in there and enjoy!!
Joe

[roopat]

And anyway, just because there's nothing recorded about them, doesn't mean all the others are pure as the driven snow! 

[davethepost]

And anyway it could be a lot worse, you could be related to the aristocrac!!!!


                            Dave

[annieoburns]

I do hesitate to broadcast unsavoury details that I have found in research.  There is a sense of betrayal of a secret well hidden from  their contemporaries and a person's descendants. Such things were kept private for a good reason. Perhaps when another generation has passed over, it will be less sensitive a matter.  I feel it is pandering to the curiosity of present family to highlight the nasty bits which will not be placed  in the context of the times.  These matters are mostly there to be found in the records for all to do their own research but some might be word of mouth or informed deductions.

[Erato]

"a secret well hidden from their contemporaries"

Oh gosh, not necessarily.  Nothing much went on in small towns that was not a matter of enjoyable gossip.  It certainly wasn't any secret when my gg-grandparents' divorce trial had to be moved to another county because the local scandal was so great that even school children were mocking gg-grandpa in the streets of the village and a headline in large type declared, "Raving Maniac!  C.H. Ware Loses His Mental Grip!"  And there were several other articles of a similar nature.

[joboy]

"a secret well hidden from their contemporaries"

Oh gosh, not necessarily.  Nothing much went on in small towns that was not a matter of enjoyable gossip.  It certainly wasn't any secret when my gg-grandparents' divorce trial had to be moved to another county because the local scandal was so great that even school children were mocking gg-grandpa in the streets of the village and a headline in large type declared, "Raving Maniac!  C.H. Ware Loses His Mental Grip!"  And there were several other articles of a similar nature.

I could not agree more ..... one has only to look at 'Trove' at;
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/33172332?searchTerm=dalkeith%20murder%20fox&searchLimits=
to see the juicy bits of news items about a distant member of my tree who was murdered by an axe.
The newspapers in those days spelt out all the gory details ..... even in the late 1930's in London our local newsagent always had copies of 'The Police Gazette' stuck in his window which showed the most hideous drawings of mutilated bodies and us kids (as kids do) used to relish looking at them.
Joe