International Black Sheep Society of Genealogists

Now this is MY kind of a genealogy society. Membership is restricted to those who can trace a direct family line to a murderer, thief, gang member, or another among a host of reprobates.

The society's web site states:

The purpose of the Society is to discuss these individuals in order to learn more about them and share information about your "Black Sheep" with other members of the IBSSG! Many times having a Black Sheep in the family leads to a family "wall of silence" and research into the family becomes very difficult. Our Goal is to help find alternate routes to information sources, and to "normalize" the view of the blacksheep as a person, who has a place in the FACTUAL history of the family, without regard to behaviors.

A recent article in Canada's Globe and Mail reflects:

Popular websites such as Ancestry.com and Familysearch.org have also recently placed professional genealogical databases in the hands of the average Web surfer. And these hordes of new amateur genealogists are using them to seek out notorious relatives.

"It can be boring just looking at plain family tree with names and dates," says [Tyler Schulze, a communications specialist for the Canadian Department of Defence,] who was so enthused by his discovery that he launched Blacksheepancestors.com, a website with directions on how to track down a family felon. "The black sheep are a lot more interesting."

You can read the entire article if you click here.

Yes, there is hope for us who are not "bluebloods." There is a society for us!

Here's a hint: most everyone has one or more of these "qualifying ancestors" in the family tree. In fact, those with royalty and so-called "upper class" ancestors probably have more of these "qualifying ancestors" than the rest of us.

"I'm not embarrassed by it," Mr. Schulze says. "I mean, it's pretty crazy, but at least it makes for a good story to tell."

You can read more at http://blacksheep.rootsweb.com.

Comments

[Albertus LANG]

HI ALL,JUST grabed onto this site WHOA,well i have one of my Ancestor's was A highwayman in the north island of New Zealand @Taranaki also robbed Hotels Houses and Omata TOLLGATE ,and other places,all this happened in 1892 and onwards up till 1901 he was caught and served 8 yrs ,also wrote a Book called THE HIGHWAYMAN with a Mission 1959(under the pseudonym [GEORGIE]he died inNew PLYMOUTH 1960 aged 86 yrs ,kind regards Albertus.

[Ingrid]

I had an ancestor who was a Nativist in Philadelphia. Sounds a lot like a northern version of the Clan. They were sons and grandsons of immigrants who hated immigrants, especially the Irish. They were also associated with the Know Nothing Party, which eventually became the Republican Party. Our Nativists vanished about the time that my grandpa married my Irish grandma.

[Margaret]

Having some less than sterling ancestors, I can empathize with Tyler Schulze wanting to "normalize" these folks. However much we would like to find a way to understand or romanticize criminals, let's face it, we have to call them what they were. After all, if someone did to us what they did to others, we would not think that they were interesting or fun; we'd want them flogged and/or imprisoned.

[Wayne]

I have actually contacted this group and showed a desire to join as I am directly related to Benedict Arnold. Now, that's not bad if you are a Canadian like I am but it's not so great if you are an American. I contacted this society and never received so much as an indication that I was either welcome or not. Maybe Benedict wasn't bad enough.

[KellieR, IBSSG member]

Wayne...please send a message to blacksheep@rootsweb.com with the heading "membership request", and then explain briefly your ties to Benedict Arnold. This is a very very active mail list, and I cannot imagine why you did not receive a welcome with open arms!

[Elizabeth Petty Bentley]

I just tried to access the rootsweb site you listed, and it brought up a way to insert a webcounter on a web page--interesting, but not what I was looking for. Try http://ibssg.org/blacksheep/.

Beth