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Introduction - Webmaster's Note:

There are several instances in this data-collecting ancestral project of mine where I have had occasion to discover the sinister actions of a few ancestors. Slavery. Persecution. One man in the Pilgrim days that was fined by the courts for chaining his wife to their bed and beating her. I could go on, but in short, shameful things.

When I first started running into these dark deeds, I asked myself, "Do I want to put this my website? Do I want to admit to the world that their blood is in my blood?" I decided that, yes, I would. It is better to raise one's head and speak the truths that one knows - even if they're truths bound in oppression, the spilt blood of the persecuted and the ashes of those victimized by the tyranny of cold men. To fail to speak these truths does not erase them. It does not make the past fade into obscurity without our scrutiny. It is there, regardless. To deny the darkness of our ancestors and accept only the light is lie to ourselves, bone-deep. It is a dishonor to ourselves, our courage. Victims of past transgressions may have no voice to speak themselves, but I feel that by acknowledging their truths, perhaps they will find release. As the saying goes, those that forget their history are doomed to repeat it. Let us all remember that and honor our ancestors and ourselves by never forgetting and learning from history.

I have visited the sites of many other amateur genealogists such as myself and I have yet to see someone willfully divulge as much of these unpleasant pasts as I have. Perhaps it's cathartic. I know it is unpleasant, but I believe that it is necessary. All one has to do to see atrocities these days is to turn on the evening news, it seems. It is my hope that if not by understanding, then at least acknowledging, the dark history along with the good, we can perhaps remember to be more understanding to others. Others of different race, religion, thought, gender and orientation - as a people. Chaos theory and the well-known Butterfly Effect theory can serve a positive image (rather than the usual "butterfly flapping its wings and causes a hurricane in China, etc.") if one applies the idea of small circumstance affecting the greater good in the light of doing what's right.

In closing, I shall strive to continue to display the diversity of our ancestral line, good and bad, right and wrong. I feel it is the least I can do.

Do not misunderstand me. I, by no means, view the world in rose-colored glasses. I know that it is easy to speak of acknowledging evil of one's ancestor's when I myself am not a descendant of one of history's most infamous monsters - such as Pol Pot, Adolf Hitler and Chairman Mao. I know myself. I know that I would probably be singing a different tune were that the circumstance. But thankfully, it is not.

I myself am no stranger to poor decision-making, so forgive me if I seem righteous. That is not my intention. However, I want very much to leave a little bit of grace in the world. Were I to be a witness to, say, mob violence against an innocent and to merely stand by and let it occur silently, I know that I would spend the rest of my life in regret for my cowardice. I hope that if ever cruelty and injustice are before me in so blatant a manner that I can at least have the fortitude and strength to say, "No. This is not right."

--R. Russell, 2006.

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