Every family has secrets. But some secrets are darker than others—and some leave behind headlines, scars, and a trail of records in their wake. Murder cases, unsolved crimes, public hangings, or even...
Category - When Ancestors Broke the Law
Petty Crimes, Big Consequences: Minor Offenses That Shaped Family Histories
Not every crime makes headlines. In fact, many of the offenses found in old court records are small—petty theft, vagrancy, disturbing the peace, trespassing, or breaking local ordinances. These...
Women on Trial: Forgotten Cases and Family Scandals
In most family trees, the women are harder to trace. They often changed names, had fewer legal rights, and were less likely to appear in records that followed property or voting. But court...
Prohibition, Moonshine, and the Law: Tracing Bootleggers in the Family Tree
During the 1920s and early 1930s, a jug of illegal whiskey could change a family’s fortune—or tear it apart. Whether your ancestors ran stills deep in the woods or simply served homemade brew at a...
Courthouse Clues: Civil Cases That Tell Family Stories
When most people think about court records in genealogy, they imagine criminal charges, jail time, or dramatic trials. But there’s a quieter, more common type of legal record that can be just as...
The Family Felon: Finding Criminal Records in Your Tree
Not every ancestor was a pillar of virtue. Some were drunks, swindlers, thieves—or worse. You may have been told stories about them, or maybe you found hints in old letters or whispered rumors passed...