Researching Famous (or Infamous) Ancestors

Black Sheep & Scoundrels in the Family Tree

Not all ancestors are famous for their good deeds. You may have a notorious gun fighter, convict, pirate, madam, famous outlaw or other "colorful" character hanging from your family tree. This hidden past often presents some unusual opportunities for uncovering more details. In addition to the resources listed on the previous page for finding famous ancestors, court records are an excellent source for learning about everything from houses of "ill repute" to bootleggers. Criminal and prison records are also worth a look. The Federal Bureau of Prisons maintains a database of former inmates (records prior to 1982 can only be accessed by mail). Many of the early American settlers from England were originally transported to the colonies as convicts - over 25,000 can be found listed in Peter Wilson Coldham's "The King's Passengers to Maryland and Virginia." Court TV's The Crime Library includes biographies and stories of hundreds of notorious gangsters, outlaws, terrorists, spies, and murderers. Famous pirates and pirate ships can be researched at the Salacious Historian. The Associated Daughters of American Witches searches for an preserves the names of those accused of witchery in Colonial America. On the Web site of the International Black Sheep Society of Genealogists, you can read about other's family connections to scandalous black sheep and find help for researching your own. More links for tracking down the black sheep in your family can be found at Black Sheep Ancestors.