Does a family legend include a law breaker?

Question

Did your ancestor run from the law? According to the family legend this happened in my husband's family. Just after the American Civil War his great-grandfather was accused of being a horse thief. To escape the hangman he had to leave Georgia and start a new life in Arkansas.

Answer 1

Yes, my grandfather run alcohol with taxi cab company he owned during Prohibition, several of the cabs had extra (fuel tanks)

Answer 2

Yep we have a bootlegger, car thief and bookie. All were long before my time but make for some interesting family stories of how people survived during the depression.

Answer 3

yes it appears my great, great, grand mother was a niece to jesse james. her name was anna mariah james.

Answer 4

I heard through the grapevine of my family that someone long ago was hanged as a pirate. But I don't know for sure. Down in the swamps and back woods of NC we had bootleggers, some of my mother's family use to drive those roads, I love it!! I want to be the driver next time!  I'm tired of being pure and good.   Poppy

Answer 5

Miz D , your story is much more interesting than mine . i had a brother who robbed banks and he got away with many . he also served a long sentence in prison , when he was caught ( served him right ! )

he has now passed but i do remember getting a chuckle out of a few of his more tamer law offences , lol . he was a bad boy .

take care . d.

Answer 6

We have had a few in our family over the centuries. Two were hung for various crimes in the early 19 th century . Some were deported to Australia for poaching deer off the Earl of Powis estate. I'm sure some ended up in Texas. Lord knows what they got up to . This is according to my Grandpa . Unfortunately , he couldn't lie in bed straight ! The " auld devil," that he was.

Answer 7

I think I will take the Fifth Amendment on this one...

Answer 8

My dad used to be a moonshiner -- here in the South that makes me redneck royalty!  I've got other  relatives who did things you can't joke about.  But family is family even if you don't like them or approve of what they've done.  Claim them all.

Answer 9

I forgot to but my dog a license one year, and had to go to court. . .so I guess I'm the first ! !  

Answer 10

I'm sure Jesse and Frank James are considered heroes in their family genealogy. The closest my family got to those James brothers was my grandpa as a young buck in Tx saw Frank sitting on a fence one day, and recongized him as being the notorious Frank James.

Well the way I see it Miz D, is your husband's great grandfather having to leave Georgia, set things in motion thanks to a missing horse. Had the horse not gone missing and he stayed in Ga, the chances of you meeting your husband would have been slim to none, so I figure there was a horse in Ga that may have just got bored and mosied off from the old corral, the great grandfather got accused. So what do we have here? The horse ends up being the hero thus keeping your family intact. So you see, you may not have ever met your husband.

(That's a good thing, right?) I always say, everything happens for a reason. :)

Answer 11

Well my grandfather a sheriff for 25 yrs and his brother, my uncle a Texas ranger for 30 yrs used to spin some fascinating yarns.  They told us we had a cousin who was an outlaw with a gang and all were hung by a posse for horse theft.and cattle rustling.

One of my male cousins was shot and nicked by the Mexican police while swimming back from Mexico after he mugged and stole a bag of marijuana from a drug thug.  he said he would never try that in the daytime again.  He made it back right where Texas rangers.were waiting for him.on the Texas border.

Answer 12

Well ...My sister is a horse thief!  and went to court and got away with it... what the heck!

We are also related to the original creator of the Boy scouts Sir Baden Powell...... He has to be a criminal, right? {Just Joking about him being a criminal!}

Answer 13

i think we all have skeletons in the cupboard

Answer 14

Well, I'm sure if you dig deep enough, you'll find some scoundrels in my family tree.  I do know that the house I grew up in had a built in storage cabinet that had a fake back so it opened up and you could hide booze in there during the prohibition.  We never discussed it.  But, maybe my parents were law breakers!

Answer 15

of curse they are important part of my upbringing!!!  everyone needs  one or two in the family so they can learn to handle all of the finger pointing and talk behind the back!!!

Answer 16

Rumor has it, one of my great-grandfather's brothers was a rum runner during prohibition. He was a Polish immigrant who worked as a fisherman on the east end of Long Island, New York. He and other Polish watermen would take their boats into international waters to pick up cases of alcohol from Canadian ships. They would then sail back to port and covertly unload the stuff while they unloaded their catch for the day.

Answer 17

Rum Runners

Counterfeiters

Wire tappers

Bookies

Gamblers

Painters

Cab Drivers

Merchant Marines...those are just the MEN.

I have no idea what the women were up to.  I was always with the men!

I was taken away at a young age & hidden by my Mother who changed our names numerous times & raised me in a very sheltered lifestyle where we moved every 6 months!  Everyone died with their secrets.

*Edit:  I might have to find another state to live in if I don't hurry up & die.  This sheets gettin' old & I'm gettin' tired of dealing with morons who are overtaking my state with stupidity. Aghhhhhhhhhhhhh (I'm screaming & pulling on my hair).

Answer 18

Only one lawbreaker in my family. Me.