re: Ever discovered a ancestor or relative was a very bad person

One of my (somewhat) distant cousins has been identified as a member of the lynch mob that hung Leo Frank in the aftermath of the Mary Phagan case. After that he went on to be mayor of Marietta, GA.

I have multiple Confederate soldiers in my line (and a few Yankees too), and can place someone at most every major action of the war from 1st Manassas on through the siege of Petersburg.

Strangest story I have come across in my research is from my wife's side. I found a death certificate for two of her distant cousins and it said they died from gunshot wounds within a day of each other in the same small town. I researched it a bit and found out that a father and son had been out drinking at a bar and were walking home drunk. They get in an argument and both pull guns and shoot each other, and both end up dead from the wounds.