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Ethicial Issues?

Ethicial Issues?

Posted: 25 Feb 2015 6:41PM GMT
Classification: Death
My husband's Great-grandfather was murdered in 1932. I have the death certificate that labels it a homicide and many newspaper articles that describe what happened and the outcome of the trial. My question is: what do people think about actually listing the person who committed the murder on the Family Tree? My tree is private, so if someone wanted to see it, they would have to ask. I guess it is more an ethical question - is it ok to reference an ugly "skeleton in the closet" that the other family may/may not know about? Thoughts?

Re: Ethicial Issues?

Posted: 25 Feb 2015 7:33PM GMT
Classification: Query
The manner of your ancestor's death certainly belongs in your family tree. Cause of death is a material fact which should be recorded for any ancestor for whom you have the information. I do not think that naming his murderer is an ethical issue, provided there is documentary evidence of his trial and conviction which is publically available. If so, these documents can be scanned and uploaded and mention made of the circumstances in a text file. If you are using Ancestry's online tree facility only, this would be in the "Stories" section, though I would highly recommend that anyone who is serious about family history uses a decent family history software package instead.

If the family of the murderer are researching their family history they will find out the truth soon enough. FH would be very, very dull without the odd black sheep or "skeleton"!

Caroline

Re: Ethicial Issues?

Posted: 13 Mar 2015 2:43AM GMT
Classification: Query
I don't think this would be a question of ethics. Is this person who committed the crime actually a family member? If so, and he/she is omitted, you might ask if omitting that person is ethical. This seems to me to be skewing history. If we dig enough, we'll probably all discover things that are less than desirable. I would go with the historical truth.

Re: Ethicial Issues?

Posted: 4 Jun 2015 11:33AM GMT
Classification: Query
The shame should not be on the person who was murdered but the person who committed the murder (unless you're the "blame the victim" type). Ben Affleck reportedly didn't want the fact that some of his ancestors owned slaves to be known when his ancestry was featured on a genealogy show. I say it doesn't matter what your relatives did; it is what you do that matters. There are some ancestors you descend from and some ancestors you ascend from.

The only possible exception to my thinking is if the murder was rather recent. Even then the biggest reason for not revealing all that facts would be in case close relatives would be hurt by it. Trying to hide the facts, to me, is just trying to whitewash history and the fact that so many people have been murdered over the years in this country (over one million since 1987 alone).

Re: Ethicial Issues?

Posted: 4 Jun 2015 11:43PM GMT
Classification: Query
Murders are a matter of public record. Anyone researching the family will eventually find it anyway.
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