Skeletons in every closet

I've spoken to people who tell me that they don't want to do genealogy because they're afraid of what they might find.  My response is that every family has skeletons in the closet and that we are not responsible for the misdeeds, mistakes and outright crimes of those who came before us.  I even had one person exclaim "Aren't you embarrassed?!" after I related what one of my ancestors did (the first story you'll see).  I replied that I wasn't embarrassed in the least at what my ancestor did 100 years before I was born.  I've found that sometimes, the good and the bad come entangled with each other.

My third great-grandfather Philander Gleason married Ruth (probably Chapman) and she fell ill and died from inflammation of the lungs 3 Apr 1870 in Antrim, Shiawassee County, Michigan (1, 2).  During this time, Philander had an affair with a woman named Charlotte Fuller (I believe she was also married) (3) and their son Wallace Philander Gleason was born 16 Mar 1870 (one month before Ruth died) (4).  Wallace was raised by his father and doting half-sisters.  It seems that Philander was appropriately named.

Additional illegitimacies

The following stories also illustrate how the good and the bad go together.  It's frowned upon to be illegitimate, but when you can say you're descended from royalty, it soothes the sting.

Robert and his wife Mabel FitzHamon

I'm descended from Robert FitzRoy (son of the king) born about 1090 in Caen, Normandy, France and died 31 Oct 1147 in Bristol, Gloucestershire, England (5).  He was the firstborn "natural" (illegitimate) son of King Henry I of England, 9th Duke of Normandy.  His mother is unknown.  King Henry was called Beauclerc which means Good Scholar because of his translation of Æsop's Fables (6).  King Henry was the son of William the Conquerer, born 1025 in Falaise, France and died 9 Sep 1087 in Rouen, Normandy, France (5, 6).  He was the illegitimate son of Robert II and Arletta (also spelled Herleva), a tanner's daughter (6).  Robert II was poisoned and died in 1035 in Nicaea, Turkey (5, 7).  William the Conquerer's wife Matilda of Flanders was descended from Charlemagne.

King Henry I

I'm also descended from David Yale, died 1626 in Chester, Cheshire, England (8), illegitimate son of John Yale and Agnes Lloyd.  John Yale was descended from Charlemagne, born 2 Apr 742 in Metz, France and died 28 Jan 814 in Aachen, Germany (9, 10), first Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.

Charlemagne, Emperor Charles the Great

I'm descended from Joan, illegitimate daughter of King John, born 24 Dec 1167 in Oxford England and died 19 Oct 1216 in Newark on Trent, Nottinghamshire, England (11).  Her mother may have been Clemence, Duchess of Brittany, who died in 1201 (12).  Joan died 2 Feb 1236/37 in Pen-y-Bryn, Caernarvonshire, Wales (12).

Murder Victims

I'm related to three people who were murdered.  Sometimes our ancestors are the perpetrators and sometimes the victims.  

The first was Elizabeth Evarts, my 8th great grand aunt.  She was killed by her husband Peter Abbott, who became insane, and was convicted of her murder on 16 Oct 1667 in Fairfield, Connecticut (13, 14).

The second was Ammiel Brickell, my 3rd great grand uncle.  He received news that his daughter Louise was going to elope with Samuel Garrett, and he found them at the Golden Eagle Hotel in Sacramento, CA.  Garrett shot and killed Ammiel on 29 Aug 1855 (15, 16, 17).  Louise married Garrett in the jail, and he was convicted and hung one year after the murder.  From this story we also learn that things written in stone aren't always correct.  Ammiel was originally buried in an unmarked grave in the City Cemetery of Sacramento (15), and later was re-interred in the Colfax Cemetery in Colfax, Placer Co., CA (15, 18).  His gravestone is incorrectly engraved with the death date of 10 Aug 1851.

The third was my 3rd great grand uncle John L. Beck, who was stabbed several times at a masquerade ball by Frank Castile, on 16 Feb 1897 in Cleveland, Klickitat, WA.  Not surprisingly, there are conflicting accounts.

"The story as told to Mrs. Whitmore by Ed Kutch, now deceased, was as follows:  It was a custom to have masquerade parties and to award a prize to the best costume.  An area man went masqueraded as a woman. His disguise was so complete that he was awarded first prize. This so angered Frank Castile that a fight began inside the hall.  The men were herded outside into complete darkness. There Castile, who had a stiff, crippled arm, slipped a knife from its storage alongside the arm. In the darkness he slashed out Wildly and split Beck from hip bone to hip bone, causing his death.  Castile then dashed wildly back through the lighted hall to escape on the fastest horse that was tied outside.  Sometime in the darkness his sanity returned and he rode to Goldendale and turned himself in. He was later freed and, as Kutch told the story, finally lost his mind from guilt.  Beck has a tall, white stone in Cleveland Cemetery and it says he was murdered. Beck was the father of one daughter, Hattie R. Beck. Tragedy came again to this family when the little girl died of pneumonia at the age of four years and nine months.  (The Grandview Herald, Grandview, WA., October 26, 1978, page 9 & 11)"

"Tacoma Daily News, Tacoma, Washington, February 17, 1897

KILLED ON ACCOUNT OF A GIRL. Goldendale, Wash., Feb. 17 -- Frank Castile, a stockman, stabbed John Beck in the abdomen, at Cleveland, yesterday, killing him almost instantly. The men were attending a masquerade ball and became involved in an altercation over a young lady. Castile claims that he killed Beck in self defense. He came here and surrendered to the sheriff."

Unfortunately, Frank Castile was acquitted of his crime.

Sources:

1.   U.S. Federal Census Mortality Schedules, 1850-1885

2.   Shiawassee District Library

3.   Michigan Marriages, 1868-1925

4.   Michigan, Death Certificates, 1921-1952

5.   Dictionary of National Biography, Volumes 1-22, Sir Leslie Stephens, 1909

6.   A Synopsis of English History from the Earliest Times to the Year 1870, Second Edition, Stacey Grimaldi, F.S.A., 1871

7.   The History of Normandy and of England, Volume III, Sir Francis Palgrave, 1851

8.   The American Genealogist, Volume 56 Number 2, Apr 1980

9.   The History of Charlemagne, George Payne Rainsford James, Esq., 1847

10.  A History of Charles the Great, Jacob Isidor Mombert, 1883

11.  The American Genealogist, Volume 52 Number 3, Jul 1976

13.  The American Genealogist, Volume 65 Number 1, Jan 1980

14.  History of the Colony of New Haven to its absorption into Connecticut, Rev. Edward E. Atwater, 1902

15.  Genealogies of Connecticut Families:  From the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Volume 1, Gary Boyd Roberts, Judith McGhan, 1983

15.  California, Mortuary and Cemetery Records, 1801-1932

16.  History of Sacramento County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, G. Walter Reed, 1923

17.  Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 9, Number 1383, 31 Aug 1855  Volume 10, Number 1453, 21 Nov 1855

18.  Grave Marker, Colfax Cemetery, Colfax, Placer Co., CA