Week 26 - Black Sheep - 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 26 is the half-way point to the 52 Ancestors challenge, and I am surprised by how much this challenge has made me think.  The prompt this week is black sheep, and every family has at least one or two - family members who 'disappeared' into the prisons or asylums, were 'encouraged' to emigrate or at least move to another part of the country, or about whom stories were whispered by the older generation.

My family is no exception.  I have stories of illegitimate children, uncles who emigrated to Canada or the United States after a scandal, two ancestors who died in asylums and a few fascinating stories played out in the newspapers.  Sometimes it is the black sheep who leave behind the best stories and generate more records for us to find than their law-abiding relatives.

Two of my direct ancestors, William Mothersole and James Cocksedge (who became brothers-in-law when William married one of James's sisters) both had the reputation of hard drinkers and appeared several times in local newspapers on charges of bring drunk and disorderly.  Below is one example of their misbehavior while intoxicated, causing a disturbance in a local pub.

Bury and Norwich Post, Tuesday 22 September 1863

Apparently the two were friends from childhood and could cause quite a disturbance when they got drunk, and they were inevitably together when they found themselves in trouble.  While not terribly 'black' sheep, they must have been quite a trial to their families and twice found themselves serving time in goal when unable to pay fines imposed by the courts.