What’s the biggest skeleton in the closet you’ve discovered?

I’m a Genealogist and I have come across some mighty stuff. Wrote a family history report for a neighbour and hid his paternal great grandfather was a Parish Priest and the mother was his housekeeper. His grandfather is in the Parochial House in the 1901 census as a Priests Boy.

My paternal grandmother apparently lived near me as I was a young child, but I have no recollection of meeting her. She was apparently a young woman of a large, well to do family of daughters who ran away with the gardener and ended up living in a council house in a pretty grim bit of a northern (England) mining village. That would have been in the early 1900s. Their eldest daughter (my aunt) was, apparently, illegitimate, again I never met her. My dad had nothing to do with his older siblings, though I did know three of his younger brothers. I hadn't a clue about any of this till the last couple of decades.

My great grandfather was the illegitimate child of the local British landlord, who seemingly 'had his way' with the servant girls in his house on a regular basis. He was raised by a local family whose surname he was given.

I had a granduncle who emigrated to New York in the 1920s, reportedly became a part of the Irish organised crime mob there, and met his end badly, at the hands of the rival Italian mafia. To hide the shame of his criminality, it was stated that he died from 'the drink'.

I would give some credit to family lore about mafia, the 'drink' might have been a convenient cause of death. I had a gr gran uncle who emigrated to USA and family were told he was murdered on a train. I was never able to pin down a record to fit but there was a lot of gang rivalry on the trains of the day, or it could simply have been a robbery. My grandfather wrote about his father getting told and correspondence ensuing. They were told he left no effects and just enough money to bury him. In the same family the story was they had to flee Wexford when implicated in a fatal incident with landlord's agent!

Great great grandfather jailed for stealing two pairs of boots in the 1806s - that was a come down as he started with his own business, having a shop at one stage ... I think the drink done him in.
One of his sons working as a jeweller, drank cyanide & died, and made a big splash in the newspapers.
One of his daughters married a clerk in the Freeman's journal, had 16 children, ended up in prison a couple of times for assault and drunkenness, her two youngest children were taken away from her and sent off to Canada; she fell down stairs and fractured her skull & died, again making a splash in the papers & again drink was involved.
My great grandmother was fined for not sending her children to school.
Various ancestors were fined for allowing their pigs/horses/goats/dogs to wander on the king/queen's highway
My da was fined for having defective lights on his Ford Prefect. He was never allowed to live it down!

BingCrosbee wrote: »

Also, incest was very common in the Ireland of the nineteenth century.

Where did you get that from? Source?
I have never come across a source that shows incest to have been common in the 19thC; quite the reverse actually, with most foreigners commenting on the chastity and modesty of Irish girls (e.g. Prince von Puckler-Muskau
"The natural grace of the Irish peasant-women, who are often truly beautiful, is as surprising as their dress, or rather their want of dress; ……but you would fall into a great error if you inferred from that, any levity or looseness of conduct. The women of this class in Ireland are, almost universally, extremely chaste, and still more disinterested."

pinkypinky wrote: »

You withheld information from your client?

I'd be amazed if that poster were a genealogist!

Probably the biggest confirmed skeleton is a previously unknown second cousin of my dad's. Not completely confirmed but it appears that my great grandmother's wealthy brother had a child outside his marriage. He never had any children with his own wife. I haven't confirmed this one and I probably never will but a great uncle or a cousin of my dad had a child who we never knew of. The child had believed incorrectly through rumours that the father was a priest. All through DNA tests.

I found out that my great grandparents only married two months before the birth of their first child. I found ancestors in the petty court records but mostly for stuff that isn't very dramatic like animals trespassing, animals killed by dogs, unpaid dog licence, not paying money owed, inefficient windscreen wipers, no light on vehicle, etc. Assault, threatening language and abuse sounds dramatic but there are no details surrounding it for most. My 3x great grandfather had his leg broken in an assault. My 2x great grandfather spent 14 days of hard labour in prison for assault. Not a skeleton in the closet but my 2x great grandfather was assaulted and robbed. His father brought a man to court for burying a corpse in his private burial ground (there's the skeleton!). My 1st cousin 3x removed was summoned to court for dangerous driving in an uninsured car. I learned that my great uncle died of strychnine poisoning. My great grandfather was sued for possession of someone's money but it was dismissed. My great grandfather's sister was left most of a millionaire's fortune without his knowledge that she was secretly married. I learned that my great grandmother's brother-in-law died aged 53 in a mental hospital from melancholic exhaustion which was sad to read. They gave him a lovely obituary.

My great grandfather sued a neighbour for the trespass of sheep and assault. He confronted the family and they told him to clear away to hell, called him a bloody w---- from the bogs, etc. and two men struck him with sticks and was hit on the side of the head according to his wife. He was originally from an area around a half hour drive away. One of the brothers was fined for trespass, assault and expenses. In another case, relating to my great grandfather getting back £50 he lent to his cousin, it was mentioned that the sister of the defendant used to go to my great grandfather's house occasionaly. She met him one night and, being under the influence, he struck her when advising him to go home so they were not friendly. She often did washing for his dad since there was no woman in the house since his mother died when he was 6. His sister died when he was 12 and 7/8 of his brothers had died by the time he was 11 with the last brother also dying young. I don't think that I'll ever tell my mum about that since my mum never knew him and he died in an accident when my granny was 16. My mum only ever heard good things about him and, even then, it wasn't much since granny got upset when talking about her parents since both died in accidents.

My 3x great grandmother and 3 of her children were evicted from their home under an order made in an equity suit instituted against her son by the Ulster Bank. They were arrested for taking forcible possession of their home. The farm was purchased at public auction held by order of the Court. The solicitor for the family set up a question of title to the lands on behalf of the mother and claimed to have a right to the lands. The Judge charged the jury, telling them that the rights of the parties were ascertained by the court and that the prisoners had no right to take forcible possession and that the orders of the Court must be obeyed. The jury found them not guilty after half an hour consideration. A newspaper in the US noted my 3x great grandmother's son's connection and services in the cause of Irish Nationality. Her son was sent to prison for conspiracy to defraud in 1898, threatening language in 1899, obtaining money under false pretences in 1899.

My grandfather's brother was at court for false pretences with intent to defraud obtain a cow by means of a worthless cheque. My great grandfather's brother was brought to court for having 5 people in his pub at 12:35am. He had 2 men on his premises another time, 4 another time, 6 another time. Another time, whiskey was sent to the public analyst and there was an excess of eight point three seven of water. He wasn't accused of tampering the whiskey but put it down to moisture of utensils being the cause and he claimed that he did not notice on the bottle was written in Irish that the spirit was 30 underproof. A girl was paid £7 in damages for being poisoned by a pork pie. However, the Justice said that he would like it clearly understood that there was no reflection on the pub owner who had exercised all reasonable care and had not been guilty of negligence. My 3x great grandfather was charged for selling drink after 21:00.

My grandfather's first cousin was on hunger strike in Newbridge and was reported to be in a dying condition in 1923. He was a First Lieutenant of the IRB. He drilled, raided for arms, took part in the burning of 3 barracks, an attack on a dispensary and the burning of a courthouse. He was trained in the use of a machine gun. He attended training camps and learned to make bombs. He mined a barracks. He emigrated to the US. His brother was also an officer in the IRB. Their father had taken part in the Fenian Rising, was excommunicated and on the run for 3 years according to the family.

brainboru1104 wrote: »

I found out my great grandfather assaulted a constable in Fermanagh, spent time in Sligo prison and then moved to Cork after release, slightly changing the spelling of his surname.

I'd love to know the full story there.

I'm the same with those cases. I'd love to know the context. Did he have a reason for his anger or was he just under the influence, etc.? It would definitely be interesting to know more in those cases.

8valve wrote: »

My great grandfather was the illegitimate child of the local British landlord, who seemingly 'had his way' with the servant girls in his house on a regular basis. He was raised by a local family whose surname he was given.

I had a uncle who emigrated to New York in the 1920s, reportedly became a part of the Irish organised crime mob there, and met his end badly, at the hands of the rival Italian mafia. To hide the shame of his criminality, it was stated that he died from 'the drink'.

Is that you dev?

A great grand uncle whose father owned a number of public houses left for the US the early 1900's. Got on well and became a US citizen and married, worked for the US Navy and returned to Ireland after his father had died and his brother lost the vinters licences due to ill feeling with a local RIC Sargent. Shortly after his mother tragically fell to her death from a window. His brother left for England leaving his wife and young children behind, never to return. The brother who had returned from the US - took over the running of the business but sadly died within a few short years - leaving his widow to return to the US alone. Found all this out by checking records, newspaper reports and finding some distant relatives on the Internet!

srmf5 wrote: »

I suppose that it depends what's considered incest by the poster. It could be just referring to people who were 3rd cousins, etc.

I somehow doubt that. Cousins at that remove are very distant for the word ‘incest’ to be used. Second cousins share about 3% of DNA, it drops to less than 1% for third and about 0.25% for fourth cousins.

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What is the point of a a skeleton in the closet? Those stories often have an element of truth. Surely any half-serious genealogist would try to ascertain the facts? What is the point of perpetuating a myth?
If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton you may as well make it dance. (GBShaw)