Violence is certainly not something our generation invented. Murder is not new.
There have been many surprises for me over the years of my genealogy research. One is how many instances I discovered that involved murder.
Strange, odd and sad, but true. But the genealogy part of it is worthy of discussion, nevertheless.
For most of these discoveries, no oral history passed down in the family about the murders. I can imagine why.
Death Certificates and Newspaper Articles
Most death certificates indicate whether or not the person met an untimely death at the hands of someone else. In those cases, usually the coroner filed a report. You should always try to discover whether the coroner’s reports still survive.
Depending upon the place and time, you may be able to find a newspaper article at one of the many commercially available websites. You will already have the date, from the death certificate (or vice versa).
Though never an exciting find, here are a few examples from my research that truly surprised me.
Elroy Roberson
My great-grandmother Vannie married a man named Elroy Roberson. I was stunned when I finally received his death certificate. He was shot to death.
This was an unknown piece of information to me and my family. He was only 27-years-old when he died:
Elroy Roberson
A newspaper article revealed the sad details:
The Jackson Sun, 7 April 1940
Newspaper articles can provide crucial details about the event. However, we must always remember that we usually don’t know who provided the details in the article. Which means we can’t assume its accuracy.
If the article mentions a trial, we should also try to find the records of the court case., which might provide a fuller picture.
Pearl McDaniel
At other times in my research, I found the newspaper article first. The Afro-American newspaper reported finding the body of Pearl McDaniel, my grandmother’s half–sister, on a street in Talbot County, Maryland. What a horrifying crime:
Pearl
Using this date, I found her death certificate, and later tracked the court records of the man convicted of the crime:
Pearl McDaniel
Edward Cottman
The death certificate of another collateral relative on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Edward Cottman, hinted at yet another grisly story:
Edward Cottman
His death made the front page, since it appears that he was murdered by his nephew. This tragic story certainly wasn’t passed down in the family.
Charlie Hale
In a different family line, the family did pass down the circumstances of the death of Charles Hale in Nashville:
Charlie Hale
His then wife, Nella, shared much of her family history with me including this story. Nella was actually shot herself at close range, yet lived to be 101. The police arrested the two men:
The Tennessean, 14 Jan 1931
Mary Torrence
The obituary below, as usual for this type of source, does not hint at the cause of death for Mary:
Mary Torrence
But her descendants shared yet another sad and strange story, confirmed by newspaper accounts:
Pittsburgh Post Gazette, 1 April 1961
I suspect her husband Nish, who married to one of my collateral ancestors, had an undiagnosed mental illness. Papers across the country carried the story, I’m sure because of its salacious headline.
In Closing
The pain of these deaths still reaches me across the decades, but I know I am not alone in confronting the violence and brutality in our family histories.
How do we handle writing these kinds of situations when we tell our story?
As gently and gracefully as we can.
Even though I can’t change any of this, it gives me some small satisfaction that the truth of what happened will now be remembered in our family history. I think we owe them at least that much.
My readers, tell me, have you discovered any unsavory deaths during your research? Were they surprising, or did they confirm oral history you already had? Were you able to find any newspaper articles, court records, or any other kind of documentation?
I am an engineer by day, but my true passion lies in genealogy. I have been a researcher, writer, and teacher for over twenty years. This blog is where I share family history strategies, resources, tips and advice for all genealogists. I also discuss researching slavery and its aftermath. This lifelong quest has helped me to better know my family’s past. I’ve taken back– reclaimed– some of that lost memory, especially that of my enslaved ancestors. I hope you’ll sign up to receive my posts—if you do, you’ll get a free PDF with some of my favorite tips! And please do share posts that interest you.
I’ve found at least three instances of murder and one instance of suicide. One was a shootout between members of the school board over who to hire as a teacher the next year (three on each side). One was the son-in-law shooting his father-in-law to death over reports that his father-in-law was spreading rumors about him abusing his wife and child. And one was a shooting that developed out of an argument that turned shoving match that turned into a knife attack. Then friends of the one attacked with a knife followed him to his horse and shot him to death. For the suicide, my relative’s husband suffered from PTSD from WWI. When he shot himself, they originally suspected her and arrested her for a night. Most of these stories were completely unknown in the family but came out because of the news articles I found.
Its so odd to me that this is such a little discussed topic in genealogy. I actually have several more I found through newspapers but the post would have been even longer than it already was. People can bury the stories in oral history but they cannot bury the newspapers. Thank you for sharing your finds. They are sad stories always, but we can learn something even from the bad in our stories.