The one ancestor I'm speaking of wasn't the only one in his family to do this. It seems like after doing some research there was a bit of 'mental illness' that followed this genetic line. My Grandfather, the son of the GG in the other post also beat his animals and sons with a bull whip. By all accounts, other than that, he was well respected and a founder of what has become a large Southern Baptist Church in the community. This is also the one line that 'sat out' the WBTS. This is also my largest 'slave owning' line. Even though I do not agree with slavery, I'm not saying they were terrible for that, it was legal at that time. They were not alone is this either.

Not all men were like this but there are records that tell of the rod being applied to wife and child alike. In every other aspect, these were good,, law abiding citizens. We just do not know what goes on behind the closed door of a home.

One of my other GGGrands came home from a yankee prison, found the widow of his best friend and married her. They had a good life. He was known as fun loving and rather lazy, but there's a tale about his avenging his brothers death that isn't proven or disproven. he wasn't ever charged with a murder.

We cannot judge them by today's standards. We just have to accept them because they were that they were. Good people did do things that today we see in a different light. Individuals were just that. As a whole, we do come from a long list of honorable, God fearing and Christian living people. It just seems sad to me that it took a very long time for women to be allowed to complain without fear. I'm not real certain that is really the case now. It's not about an entire generation of men, it is about a few individuals. Sort of like rotten apples.

Pam