any criminals in your family history?

Apparently there were a lot of thieves and con artists in my family. No wonder we ended up fleeing to the new world. Search your last name.

http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/forms/formMain.jsp

Nope. At least not in England

Im Australian, so I'll go out on a limb here and say yes.... That's a cool site, I'll have to have a proper search with some extra info when I've got some more family tree details handy.

I'm related to John C Calhoun. It doesn't get much more criminal than a politician.

I'm also related to Daniel Boone, so in my book that offsets it.

My last name was changed several generations ago upon arrival in the states from Sicily, so no, of course not.

Not in England at that time. But, according to my dad, he came from Scotland when he was 3yo.

I found nothing on my fathers side but my grandmother on my mothers side maiden name was McQueen. I found several McQueens that were policeman and testified at trials. One guy got six years for passing a counterfeit shilling.

I'll just say my BIL won't be getting out. Ever.

I have two newspaper articles about my great-great grandfather killing another man. Apparently he took his date to a barn dance at a neighboring town, but on the road there a group of locals stopped their buggy and accosted them. He shot one in self-defense, killing the man.

It's very interesting to read the articles, as the one from his home-town portrays the scene as he having no choice but to fire upon the other man, while the one from their town portrays him as the savage killer. He was not convicted of any crimes...actually, I don't think he was even prosecuted.

Pilgrims and a cannabal. No really criminal elements that I know of.

Do you mean convicted?

There's a story involving the vigilante "justice" where my great, great, grandpa killed a Native American, caught stealing firewood in what was Indian territory, now Oklahoma.

He then fled to NE Arkansas fearing retaliation.

I recall he was in Oklahoma originally after fleeing another "altercation," in Kentucky I think.

I need to have grandma tell me the story again.

Frank & Jesse James mother was my great-great grandmothers sister. Which makes them distant cousins. Does that count?
Also while digging into my family tree I found no history of my family name before the one that came from Georgia to Alabama. Now go look up Irish immigrants in Georgia early 1800's. Indentured servitude is politically correct term but often not entirely accurate.

i dont even need to go that far back to find criminals in my family

Wife's family has more than a few in recent history. All drugs I believe.

My great great great grandfather was killed by his father in law (my great great great great grandfather). I might have an extra great in there on each side. The 3G (3 greats) was a drunk and took his wife and kids back to her parents (4g). He went off on a binge, then came back for one of the daughters. 4g stood on the porch with a shotgun and told him that if he took one step closer he'd shoot him dead. He wasn't bluffing.

4g was found innocent on account of neighborhood improvement.

Yes. I have done extensive geneology research. Mostly bootleggers. Mostly.

I'm Scandinavian. You know...Vikings, so...yeah.

Nothing major back in England, but my ancestors left town about fifty years before the start of that list and hit the shores of Massachusetts.

Locally, my father's uncle walked into a bar, fired a shot into the ceiling and demanded all of the cash. Unfortunately, he also walked into the same bar every other night, so they didn't have to look too hard to find him. He served a year and a day.

I had a cousin who died in prison. Well before my time, I've heard various accounts, but my favorite version is Grandma's, who was said cousin's aunt. Story is like a story arc you'd see on Dallas.

Late '60s early '70s, love triangle, involving lady cheating on husband with local Dr. all while lady is also stringing along said cousin. Grandma's version has cousin taking the blame for killing cheating lady's husband for her. Dr. and cheating lady conspire to kill the lady's husband, allegedly she did the deed, and accused cousin. Lady's dad is in the know, knows cousin's feelings for lady, and convinced cousin that if he took the blame for it, the lady's dad had enough connections to get him off the hook. Cousin turns himself in, admits to killing lady's husband, and goes to jail.

Sure enough, while in county jail, lady's dad "arranges" an escape. Details are fuzzy, but a guard or perhaps several were friends with/related to lady's dad. Cousin escapes jail, and is on the lamb for several weeks, instead of leaving the state like was allegedly planned, he went back home, some think he was still enamored with adulterous murder lady and thought they would finally be together. Of course he was apprehended again.

The escape did nothing to help him, when it came time to trial sentencing.

Whether he really did it or not, he was in prison the rest of his life. Died of illness of some sort.

I don't remember what happened to the lady who allegedly was the actual murder, but I know that the Dr. co-conspirator/lover also died of illness, in prison on unrelated insurance fraud charges.

I'm taking grandma out to lunch tomorrow, I'm going to have to have her tell me the story again, details are a little fuzzy.

Without going into genealogy, my paternal grandfather was a bit of a street thug as a teen in the depression. He had enough of a record to regret it later. But later on he was also involved with the mafia.

On my mother's side, one cousin was busted with kiddie pRon, and I have lost count of how many general white trash drug and alcohol/DUI busts have gone down on her side. I'm my grandma's only grandson without a criminal record or severe mental disability.

Appleseed wrote: I'm Scandinavian. You know...Vikings, so...yeah.

Same here. Danish dna from Scotland

There are some other skeletons in the family closet, but nothing I care to air out here.

Edit-the search wouldn't do me much good, between a last name like Smith and the fact any English had come over on the mayflower.

One of my uncles had a brush with the law a while back. Wouldn't call him a "criminal" though.

Not any criminals I am aware of, but I had a distant relative that impregnated his girlfriend back when you weren't supposed to do that. My future grandfather heard word a group was going to tar and feather him and warned him. He hightailed it to Texas. Grandfather went to visit him years later and he had oil wells in his yards. Old sumbitch had gone and gotten rich.

Apparently one of my grandpa's uncles was a bit of a cad and decided that banks are much easier to rob if it's an inside job. Not sure if he ever got convicted for it but family lore has it that he may have managed to pull it off more than once.

Chuckle, don't need a web page to know there were criminals in my family tree. We were...enthusiastic.