Uncovering the ugly family history

Uncovering the ugly family history

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I just found out that my gr grandfather committed suicide in1956

I'm trying to find out details so I searched an old newspaper collection.

There were no details of his death but quite a few criminal accusations including a rape charge in the 1920's that was dismissed because the accuser was known to entertain men.

A few years ago I found out about a gr gr aunt that nobody spoke of. She married a man that went to prison for stealing a horse. He got out and was struck and killed by a street car. She tried to sue because the driver was at fault.

The judge determined that the car company was guilty but she was awarded nothing because his life was worthless. The newspaper quoted the judge as saying that "he was a thief that galavanted with the negroes".

She ended up putting her children up for adoption because she was broke. Next I found her was married to a vaudeville performer that od'd on morphine and went to prison.

She died a year later. I still haven't found out the cause of death but I'm guessing that it was tragic.

Posted by bumboklatt
Don't let your family control you.

They are long dead. I'm just curious.

I'm finding all sorts of stuff.

My dads dad was an alcoholic. He got drunk and passed out on the street. When they found him in the morning he was dead. They hid it from us growing up.

Worse thing you can do is shelter your kids imo.

Posted by LadyNeptune
My dads dad was an alcoholic. He got drunk and passed out on the street. When they found him in the morning he was dead. They hid it from us growing up.

Worse thing you can do is shelter your kids imo.

That's horrible.

this is the first any of us has ever heard about him committing suicide but this was before my mother was born. I guess it was just something they didn't speak of. I'm wondering what happened.

Back then people just didn't talk about that kind of stuff - especially to children

My grandpa's sister was apparently locked up in a mental facility for killing the little girl she was babysitting (it was accidental) and my grandpa never knew until he was older

They took him to visit her but he thought she was away at school or something. ?

Posted by The_Ands
If you talk to your cousins maybe the ones you never see sometimes they have a totally different story or know a little bit more about some things and others a little less

There are none. My grandmother was almost 20 years younger than her brothers. They all died off decades ago and there is only one of their children still living. That's who told me about the suicide.

Posted by brianafay
Back then people just didn't talk about that kind of stuff - especially to children

My grandpa's sister was apparently locked up in a mental facility for killing the little girl she was babysitting (it was accidental) and my grandpa never knew until he was older

They took him to visit her but he thought she was away at school or something. ?

I read about those mental facilities back in the old days. They used to lock women up for PMS!

Look up "Utica Crib". It's horrible but was considered state of the art treatment in early 1900s

Try this site to search old newspapers. http://fultonhistory.com/

This is where I found out about the street car lawsuit. It was front page news.

I also just found news about my gr grandfather that committed suicide. Nothing about his death yet but in the early 1900's, he and his siblings were peddling a cure for alcoholism from their farm in Paris Hill, NY. I'm only on the second ad but it looks like some sort of snake oil scam.

Posted by Deedee86
Try this site to search old newspapers. http://fultonhistory.com/

This is where I found out about the street car lawsuit. It was front page news.

I also just found news about my gr grandfather that committed suicide. Nothing about his death yet but in the early 1900's, he and his siblings were peddling a cure for alcoholism from their farm in Paris Hill, NY. I'm only on the second ad but it looks like some sort of snake oil scam.

Probably laudanum. 😄

My grand grand father was a cleric in a high position. He used to travel a lot and took his son, my grandfather, with him when he was like 10 years old. While on those trips my grandfather was taken care of by servants while my grand grand father was partying heavy with other clerics, hookers and alcohol.

Posted by Deedee86
Try this site to search old newspapers. http://fultonhistory.com/

This is where I found out about the street car lawsuit. It was front page news.

I also just found news about my gr grandfather that committed suicide. Nothing about his death yet but in the early 1900's, he and his siblings were peddling a cure for alcoholism from their farm in Paris Hill, NY. I'm only on the second ad but it looks like some sort of snake oil scam.

Only good for NY newspapers.