Who here has ever had a relative hanged, that you KNOW?

[Padraig18]

As both my maternal and paternal ancestors were quite actively involved in various and sundry 'revolutionary activities' in Ireland, shall we say, 2 of my great-grandfathers were hanged by the British and one of my great-grandmothers was imprisoned as a spy (which she was, actually).

Any one? :bounce:

[Bridget Burke]

1. I don't have all the data....

Partly since I was raised away from my father's family--he was first generation.

There is a rumor that one great-uncle was smuggled out of Galway in a cattle boat....

[Padraig18]

2. More common than most realize

:)

[MaineDem]

3. One of mine

Margaret, many generations ago, was hanged for uttering an oath.

The poor dear, I'm sure the oath was deserved. This was in COunty Galway as well.

[trof]

4. It is said

that the first of my father's clan to reach the territory of Alabama from Maine was "about 2 jumps ahead of the sherrif".
Evidently he escaped the gallows, cause here I am.
;)

[Wickerman]

5. Distant cousin on my mother's side was a gunfighter

not very successful. He came to a bad end and was executed in Kansas - we aren't certain of the method - turn of the century cattle town stuff.

[THUNDER HANDS]

6. I don't know about anyone else

But I'm hung like a horse, does that count?

:)

[Padraig18]

8. LOL!

So am I, but that wasn't the question, doofus! :silly:

[papau]

7. Yep - a Salem Witch - we are very proud of her! :-)

That is on the wifes side - my side has too many "freedom fighters" -as in revenge for something - that have not lived to old age to worry about how they died.

:-)

[Braden]

30. I live in Salem

are you familiar with Witchcraft Heights? If so is this where it happened?

Ever been here?

[peekaloo]

9. horse thieves

from my father's side in North Carolina. (English ancestry)

[Sequoia]

23. Hey, same here

are you my cousin?

[peekaloo]

25. hmmmmmm.......

any Cherokee blood in the mix? Lots of people make this claim but in my first and only meeting with my father's mother I seemed to embarrass the family when I pointed out, rather loudly, the little old Indian lady in the wheelchair at the nursing home. Out of the mouths of babes, ya know.

[FlaGranny]

10. Just recently discovered

that a "possible" far-removed relative was hung in Australia in the days when it was a penal colony. Sent there for some crime, do not know which. Staged a revolt with some other men, killed the governor? or warden? or someone. Was hunted down and hung. Interesting, but I was hoping I would find a pirate relative or something more romantic.

[wickerwoman]

11. Almost...

I had maternal ancestors who were identical twins from Co. Donegal and likewise involved in "revolutionary activities". At the last minute, their sentence was commuted to transportation- one of them escaped to Canada and the other was sent to Australia. They both changed their last names to anagrams of each other, so somewhere out there in Australia, I have relatives.
On my father's side, I have a great-great grandfather who deserted from a ship in the British Navy and settled in Newfoundland. He's described as four foot nine with a sallow, hungry expression and fond of the drink. Ah, the joys of Irish heritage. :-)

[Robb]

12. It's a matter of family confusion...

...Lost to the ages is the true story of my great-uncle from Texas. He was either hung by cattle rustlers, or hung for cattle rustling. Sadly, the principals have all passed onto greener pastures, so we flip a coin each Thanksgiving to see how we want to remember him.

:)

[Ohio Dem]

13. Just the opposite.

The only person ever hung in my country was hung by my great great grandfather, the sheriff at the time. He said he would never do it again.

[Padraig18]

14. Interesting!

I know a guy whose grandfather was the judge who was required to sentence the last man ever hanged in Illinois, Charlie Birger, to hang. He was personally opposed to capital punishment, and drove to Springfield the very next day to ask the governor to commute the sentence to life in prison, which the governor declined to do.

[Interrobang]

15. A few on my maternal grandfather's side...

He's working class, originally from Glasgow, and a few of his ancestors were hanged for stealing sheep. After he found that out, he begged my great-aunt (my maternal grandmother's sister) to stop investigating the geneology on that side of the family! :)

[roguevalley]

16. had a witch in Salem hanged as a courtesy to her age.

the other was pressed. that is, rocks were piled on
until death happened.

My Irish and Scottish relatives were too fast to be
caught and came here. :)

[roguevalley]

17. mercy. Galway was busy. :)

Tyrone county ourselves.

[scarlet_owl]

18. My great-grandfather on my mother's father's side

was murdered. He was some big communist labour leader in Mexico. That is all I know.

[SiobhanClancy]

19. Michael O'Brien,hanged,1847

Gallows Green,Cork City,circumstances unknown. Gr-grand-uncle or some such. My gr-grandfather escaped to America in the early 1880s to avoid prosecution for "Fenian activities". He became a policeman:)

[Padraig18]

21. hehe

And I'm always surprised that Americans are surprised that Irish like them so (better than anyone else, I'd wager)--- Good Lord, millions of us owe them our very lives, on several levels and for several generations, eh? :)

[RebelOne]

20. Yep, Blackbeard

Edward Teach was a great, great, great uncle. At least I think he was hanged.

[argyl]

22. My great grandfather almost was.It was in georgia shortly after theCivil W

He was busted out of jail the night before the big event and hightailed it straight to Central Texas.A lot of people made it to Texas under similar circumstances during this preiod of American history.

[Snow]

24. Nothing so colorful on my side of the family - an ancestor in Essex

got in serious trouble in the 1600's for selling ale short measure, but they didn't hang him. My wife's family has a number of poisonings, though, and a coupla times removed great aunt was actually assassinated by ninjas, along with some friends of female persuasion who were with her - the ninjas weren't sure who was who, so the women all got chopped up. That'll teach them to stay out of politics!

[Padraig18]

27. Urg!

"Kill them all; God will know his own."

---Cardinal Richlieu

[kskiska]

26. No, but I have a first cousin once removed

who did time in Dannemora for armed robbery. He got to know Lucky Luciano there. Said he was a nice guy.

[BrotherBuzz]

28. Does hung, drawn and quartered count?

Story was told to me by my grandfather about his great, great...(x 10) uncle Southworth who became a priest and got in trouble for hiding/sheltering other renegade priests in the early 1600's in England and ultimatly went to the gallows. Hung, then hands and face cut-off (maybe more then that!), his remains were purchased by a Spanish ambassador who had silver hands and face fabricated and sent his body to the English monastery where he studied in France. End of story. I thought this was just a great yarn that grandparents tell grandchildren until an internet search confirmed it. My grandfather was telling me a true oral history that was more then three hundred years old, and that fact alone makes me stop and wonder how he knew about it.

I wish my grandfather had lived to learn the rest of the story. What Grandpa didn't know, and I later found out, was that the remains were hidden and subsequently lost by the monastery during the French revolution, only to unearthed in in 1927 (identified by the silver hands and mask), and sent back to England to be enshrined in Westminster Cathedral, and that Southworth was canonized in 1970 by the Catholic Church for martyrdom.

This has always been a strange story to me and I was very reluctant to believe any part of it and even more shocked when I found it to be a true! Thank you Grandpa, you always told a great story.

Here's a picture of him...kinda weird...and kinda cool at the same time with the silver hands and face.



Here's another that bears a remarkable likeness to Elvis Presley .

[HEyHEY]

29. No!

So I guess I'll be the first!

[Shanty Oilish]

31. Must be very common, I can think of 2 offhand.

And I'm not even trying. Neither one was quite legal. The hangings I mean, not the deceased. We also have lots of knifing deaths, several non-war-related shootings and one explosion fatality.
Grim...