Friday, January 15, 2010

"Some of it's not too proud to be told."

An article on Kelowna.com, "Skeletons in your closet: Exploring the dark side of genealogy," revisits one of the more intriguing subjects of family history, the secrets. The article makes the point that "In our ancestors' times it was a lot easier for people to disappear if they ran into problems, and it was easier to cover up most scandals. . . . We are now more tolerant and forgiving of scandalous behaviour and more interested than ever in the details." As my grandmother liked to say of our own family history, "Some of it's not too proud to be told."

Of course, some family secrets are darker than others.

Along those lines, a couple of websites that might be of interest include, Black Sheep Ancestors and the International Black Sheep Society. This Society was featured back in 2007  in Dick Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter, with link to an article entitled "Black sheep, good sheep," by Patrick White. You might also want to check out Genealogy Today's "Ancestral Criminal Records," which offers not only a collection of criminal mug shots and wanted posters, but links to other resources that might be of interest.

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