This is a bit of twisted family history and tells a story about what can happen when we delve into our family roots and end up uncovering things that we would rather we hadn’t.
The Taylor’s were very proud of their family history.
Their ancestors had traveled to America with the Pilgrim Fathers on the Mayflower.
They had included Congressmen, successful entrepreneurs, famous sports people and television stars.
They decided to research and write a family history, something that they could hand down to their children and grandchildren.
Having found a specialist genealogist and writer to help them, they were amazed at the family information that she managed to unearth.
However, a problem arose – how to handle Great Uncle Jefferson Taylor who was executed in the electric chair.
The writer said she could handle the story tactfully.
When the family history book was completed, the section about Jefferson read as follows:
Great Uncle Jefferson Taylor occupied a chair of applied electronics at an important government institution, he was attached to his position by the strongest of ties, and his death came as a great shock.
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