The Darker Side of Genealogy

I wasn't sure I wanted to write this post. But I feel I should, not only as a cautionary tale but also as a way of remembering someone whose life was far from easy.
Beginning genealogists get a lot of advice; don't take others' research as fact, check multiple sources, document everything, and so on. Sometimes, though, people also mention what I have to think of as the "darker side of genealogy" -- what happens when you find something out that is unsettling or even shocking?
ewormuthphotography.com
A number of people have written about this issue, to mention just a few: Sue Shellenbarger wrote in the Wall Street Journal about how people are affected when they find something disturbing in their history. hayden in Daily Kos has written about one of the ultimate shocks: How do you feel when you find out one of your ancestors owned slaves? And Lisa Alzo gives us advice on how to document troubling things we find out through our research.
I'm not talking a…
Beginning genealogists get a lot of advice; don't take others' research as fact, check multiple sources, document everything, and so on. Sometimes, though, people also mention what I have to think of as the "darker side of genealogy" -- what happens when you find something out that is unsettling or even shocking?
ewormuthphotography.com
A number of people have written about this issue, to mention just a few: Sue Shellenbarger wrote in the Wall Street Journal about how people are affected when they find something disturbing in their history. hayden in Daily Kos has written about one of the ultimate shocks: How do you feel when you find out one of your ancestors owned slaves? And Lisa Alzo gives us advice on how to document troubling things we find out through our research.
I'm not talking a…