Was Your Ancestor in Debtors’ Prison?

This is a database I stumbled on for Yorkshire England. It is the website for York Castle which housed a debtor's prison. There is a brief history of the prison, the environment of the prison, a few prisoner biographies, and a few turnkey (guard) biographies.

By going to York Castle Family History Section you can search for an ancestor who was in the prison, either for debt or for criminal actions. Not all prisoners are listed as the database currently has prisoners from the 18th Century. I'm looking for William Elgie who I know was there in 1818 so am out of luck this time but it's a fascinating database with over 5000 names!

There is a very nice factsheet for tips on how to track down any missing prisoners and I am planning to use it find more on William if possible. I was able to find that York Castle Museum holds miscellaneous records from York Castle prison, including "Notebook with notes on various prisoners in York Castle, extracted from 1803-1868". 

Speaking of prisons, have you checked out my son’s website, Blacksheep Ancestors? He is in Famiky Tree Magazine’s 101 Top Genealogy Websites for 2021

J is For Jailbird

1863 Indictment William Massey for Theft

Olive Tree Genealogy is continuing a new Alphabet Genealogy series of blog posts. I'm not following the usual way of going A-Z surnames.

Instead I will create a one word "tag". Then I will share an ancestor (mine, my husband's, an inlaw's or one of my children's) who fits the tag

Today's letter isJ for Jailbird.

Do you have any ancestors who ended up in prison? I do, but not as many as my husband.

My husband's 3rd great-grandfather William Massey lived in St Mary's Ontario from 1860 until his death in 1865. 

William, a teamster, worked for the newly formed American Express Company which had an office in St. Mary's in the mid 1800s. In 1862 William was charged with stealing over $800.00 from the Company (approximately $20,000.00 now) and arraigned for trial. One of the jurors at his arraignment was non other than Timothy Eaton, founder of Eaton's Company stores.

Read more about William and the lies he told his family to explain his absence while in jail. 

Olive May Peer, born November 1898 in Port Credit Ontario, has a common Peer ancestor with me. Her 3rd great-grandfather Jacob Peer, who I wrote about in the book "The Peer Family of North America" is my 4th. great-grandfather. My grandmother, also named Olive Peer, was Olive May's cousin.

In February 1927 Olive May married Robert Jackson. She could not have known that her husband was using an alias, that his real name was Robert Rodgers, and that her husband would be charged with two counts of bigamy and sentenced to time in jail.
 
Read more about Olive and her bigamist husband.

For something a little lighter, perhaps even humourous read Baa baa blacksheep, have you any cows? My great-grandmother's brothers spent time in jail for stealing a cow! Imagine going to jail in 1901 for a year and a half just for stealing a cow.

To find more exciting and troubling stories of ancestors who have been sent to prison for various crimes ranging from being drunk and disorderly to murder, use the topic "JAIL"  That topic will also bring up lists of prisoners in various jails, and more!

Murder Most Foul - George Greenlees

August 5, 1895 in Buffalo, New York was a typically hot summer day. George Greenless, my 1st cousin 3 times removed, was estranged at this time from his wife, Ella 'Nellie' Misener. Hoping to find her at home with her parents, he entered their home and a shouting match ensued.

George then pulled a pistol and shot and killed his mother-in-law. Next he shot and wounded his sister-in-law's fiance Walter Flewell. Flewell later died of his injuries.

George's story is a convoluted one. He was sentenced to life in prison for second degree murder in 1898 and sent to Auburn Prison in New York.

During his trial he became friendly with the warden of the jail where he was held. Later George's Canadian relatives came to New York to testify, and more lurid stories of George's erratic behaviour and mis-treatment of his wife came out. At one point a witness stated that there was a great deal of insanity in the Greenlees family.

In 1909 he was sent to Sing-Sing Prison but was released on parole and married Rachel Roach in 1918 in Buffalo. In 1924 the courts granted George a parden. He and Rachel had six children before his death in 1928.

His widow Rachel married another Sing-Sing inmate in 1932. William Leonard, her new husband, was sent to prison in 1903, served a short term before release but was back in Sing-Sing in 1904. Another short term resulted but once again he returned to Sing-Sing in 1908 sentenced to 2 to 4 years. I cannot read his crime in the records as the writing is challenging.

Newspapers are amazing, full of genealogy gold! I found dozens of newspaper articles about George on a Free Trial Newspaper Site

Reform School Records are Genealogy Gold

John Wormald born 1880 in Yorkshire England, was sent to Calder Farm Reform School in 1892 at the age of 11. He was not discharge until 1897 at the age of 17.

Here are his records

Source: West Yorkshire, England, Reformatory School Records, 1856-1914 on Ancestry.com

Notes in his record state he spent 5 days in the House of Corrections and 5 years in Reform School for stealing a purse from his uncle's house.  His parents, George and Annie Wormald, my son's great-grandparents, had administered several previous punishments for his misbehaviour. The record shows 2 previous thefts and punishments of a birch rod whipping for each:

John was said to not be a vagrant but he was from a large family and had friends who his parents thought led him astray. In some desperation they sent him to live with an uncle but as you see below, that was not helpful.

 

 While I feel sad for John and his family, the wonderful thing about this set of records is not only the photo of John and details but at the very bottom of the record is a list of several relatives - an aunt, three uncles and his grandfather. This is genealogy gold. 

I've tried over the years to find out what happened to little John after he was discharged but with no luck.

Bigamy & Jail: Rachel Eves & Her 4 Husbands

A wedding is supposed to be a joyous occasion. But for Rachel Eves Fardy her many marriages led to trouble. On 19 August 1899 a lurid headline hit The Globe newspaper:

HAMILTON: Mrs. Rachel Faraday Pleads Guilty of Bigamy

 

The Globe (1844-1936); Toronto, Ont. 19 Aug 1899: 20.

I was curious. I wanted to know more about Rachel. Why was her husband in the Home for Incurables? It was established in Hamilton Ontario in 1890 as St. Peter’s  Home for Incurables and cared for patients suffering from dementia or other chronic ailments.

An interesting tidbit is that her second husband was also a bigamist and was using the aliases of George Mavery and George Smith.

To give Rachel a voice and to tell her story I needed to find out more. A search of historic newspapers found several more articles that provided clues to further research.

After her short prison sentence was done, Rachel married two more times - to Frank Van Norman and then to Elias Slote. Her life was full of tragedy and challenges, from the deaths of two sons to the suicide of one husband and the chronic illness of her first.

Bigamy & Jail is Rachel's story - the story of a young woman enduring endless hardships yet finding the strength to go on, all the while doing the best she can to protect her children.

Who's Got Blacksheep Ancestors?

Blacksheep ancestors. We all love 'em. Let's be honest - there's something exciting and intriguing about having a bad boy or bad girl in our family trees. What constitutes a blacksheep ancestor though? It ranges from someone who sold booze without a licence to a murderer.

So without discussing the human tragedy aspect of an unsavory character's influence on family members, let's have some fun and list our blacksheep!

Here is my list of blacksheep ancestors

New Netherland (New York)

* 1657 & 1658: 8th great grandparents Jan and Dirckien Van Alstyne were fined on several occasions for selling beer to the Indians, and he was fined for selling brandy "after the ringing of the bell and during the sermon".
* 1657 & 1658: 8th great-grandmother Dirckje Van Alstyne taken to court several times for monies and goods owed and not paid
* 1659: 8th great-grandmother Dirckje Harmens Boertgen charged with theft of goods from a home
* 1682 : 9th Great-grandfather Albert Andriessen de Noorman aka Bradt charged with "behaving improperly before the young people" in an indecent way. Also charged that year with assaulting a neighbour with a knife
* 1685: 9th Great-grandfather Albert Andriessen de Noorman aka Bradt charged with starting fires and threatening his son. His other sons were ordered to confine Albert or "remove him from town"

Ontario Canada

* 1869. Great-grandfather Alexander McGinnis charged with assault
* 1879. Great-grandfather Alexander McGinnis sentenced to jail for selling liquor without a license.
* 1895. Great-grandfather Stephen Peer the victim of an axe attack by a neighbour and involved in a lengthy court case
* 1901: Great-grand-uncles Albert and Herman Vollick sentenced to 18 months in Kingston Penetentiary for stealing a cow
* 1916: Grand-uncle Ernest Simpson court martial for "having allowed a prisoner under his charge to escape" (found not guilty)

My daughter-in-law's interesting criminal ancestors (so far!) are:

*1672: Trois Rivieres Quebec. Her 11th great-grandmother Gillette Bonne, wife of Jacques Bertault hung for poisoning then beating her son-in-law to death

I am going to make a list of my husband's blacksheep ancestors and have him post it on his blog (AncestorsAtRest.blogspot.com) for fun! Meantime why not visit my son's website Blacksheep Ancestors.