An elderly gentleman from our community had a genealogical request for me: would I do a newspaper search for him. His grandfather was a Civil War veteran, and he wondered if there was a mention of him receiving a pension. Did a short newspaper article contain that information? Well, indeed, it did…along with some other interesting reports.
The elderly gentleman, who had requested the information, was well known in our town since he had been a Justice of the Peace for almost 40 years. He had stories galore to tell about cases and criminals. Little did he know…or I…that I would uncover a criminal case about people in his family.
Among the research finds for his family, there appeared “National Inquirer” type reports of two brothers who were counterfeiters. They counterfeited nickels in 1894. They were caught. They were jailed…they escaped…they were caught…they were remorseful.
When I presented the elderly gentleman with the research articles, I said, “I included research about the counterfeiters.” He was stunned…what…who in his family were counterfeiters? When he saw the names, he related that the men in the article were his grandfather, father, and uncle. He was never told his father was a counterfeiter. He was never told his father had been in jail. He did remember that a playmate had teased him about his “Daddy being a jailbird.” At the time, he thought the playmate was picking on him. He never questioned it with his mother. The secret was not divulged.
An elderly gentleman came and asked me to do research…it was 2016…more than a 100 years since his dad broke the law. His family had never talked about it.
Note: I also did research for a lady who had questions about her grandparents. Two of her grandfathers had been murdered by their brothers. She knew nothing about it…her family never talked about it.
Once Upon A Lifetime: Tales And Vignettes Of My Ancestors 