-=> Quoting Carol Shenkenberger to Nancy Backus on 09-05-08 15:15 <=-

 CS> Got oodles of those in my family tree!  Shake it only gently and the
 CS> nuts start to fall out .

Ain't that the case, though...  

 CS> My favorite coot.  A younger son of the elder branch of the Corbet's
 CS> (family castles and all).  Made his living doing abortions.  Quite a
 CS> rake, he got a high class simpleton girl preggers and had to skip from
 CS> england.  Landed in NY area when most of it was a farm.  Used to own
 CS> 5th avenue as part of his farm.  Had 5 wives in 'the colonies' til he
 CS> got caught.  Trapper and explorer and definately not one you want to
 CS> have 'recieved' as his later family would have called it.
 CS> Fellow died in luxury with 4 of the 5 wives and kids in attendance at
 CS> the age of 90 or so.  Reputed to have married a 6th wife 3 years prior
 CS> who showed up with toddler but it was never proved, so they are not
 CS> listed. 

Now that's a real character...!   Far as I know I don't have anyone
QUITE that colorful!  :)

 CS> The next favorite was a pirate, I kid you not. Part of the crew of the
 CS> infamous 'Black Pirate'.  His wandering foot trails out someplace
 CS> around Sint Maartins.  Left a wife and 2 kids in Boston.  Suspicious
 CS> notes that there may have been others.

Possibly a family "in every port"?  You might have got your sailor genes
from him...  

 CS> Then there is Robert the beast (so family records call him).  Yo have
 CS> to go way back for that one, around 1300.  Like'd 'em young.  Married
 CS> apparently 9 times to girls age 11-12. Suspected of killing them when
 CS> they hit 15 so he could get a new younger one.  Extremely charismatic
 CS> and girls lives were sold cheap then.

They may have merely died in childbirth, and the baby not survived
either, so no mention was made...   Did he have a surname (besides "the
beast")?

You get back that far, and the chances increase exponentially that we
are at very least cousins back there...  

 CS> I'd talk about Alberthic except this is a family echo.  Lets just say
 CS> he was sick.

Yeah, some of them are better euphemised...  ;)   One of my more
notorious/noteworthy ancestors is the famed Lady Godiva... :) 
Apparently her unclothed ride was done more modestly than some of the
tales imply... ;)

ttyl          neb

... We all have a branch on our family tree we would like to prune.