Tales from 'Who Do You Think You Are' (UK version):Read more at the link. I'm not sure people are aware that such things can pop up from time to time when one is researching one's kinfolk. I mean, come on, when have you ever seen a commercial on television from, say, Ancestry.com stating, "You too can find out if your Grandpa was a convict in Folsom prison". It seems many people might begin a genealogical search for one's kinfolk and discover some "less-than-desirables" about a family member and be completely blown away, right out of the water never to return again!
Sebastian Coe's roots go back to sugar cane baron who kept 300 slaves
www.telegraph.co.uk
Lord Coe has discovered that he is descended from a Jamaican slave owner who fathered an illegitimate child with a member of his workforce.
These kinds of kin are usually called Black Sheep. And how we react to these discoveries will determine whether we stick with our genealogy efforts or not... Some Black Sheep venues have popped up here and there on websites and various message boards where one can "brag" about the Black Sheep in your family, hopefully because the "crime" was not all that serious by today's standards or it has that "champion of the people, Robin Hood" element to the story.
And then you have the Black Sheep family researcher that will actually wear their relative as a badge of honor! Even though my relative Robert Campbell came to America as a political prisoner "sent to the plantations in New Jersey". I've looked and there doesn't seem to have been an expiration date for that decision. He was taken prisoner during an armed rebellion against the King, James the VII and II.
