Did any one in your family tree expire in dramatic fashion?

[pmokeefe]

The Battle of Rock Island - November 9, 1793
Reminiscences of Snoddy's Fight, November 1793
(From Capt. Wm. Reid, of Sumner Co., Tenn. about 79 in 1844.)

Lieut. Wm. Snoddy mustered into service, at Winchester's Mill, 32 men in all -- my informant, being one of the number. Went and camped that night at Dixon's Spring; next day Nathaniel Lattimore killed a bear; third day marched to Caney Fork -- Wm. Reid pilot -- just as they were in the act of crossing the stream, talking pretty loudly, they saw two Indian sentinels jump up apparently awakened from sleep, and ran off.

...

Snoddy acquiesced, and had scarcely got to his position, when Reid was badly wounded in the right arm, having received the charge of the signal gun (fired, as was believed by Doublehead himself) -- and the firing on both sides at once became warm and general, and particularly on the right where Reid was -- close by fell Nathaniel Lattimore, and (Ms blank) Scoby fell dead -- and Andrew Stelle was shot through the hand, and Hugh Elliott was wounded slightly through the body. Three rounds were exchanged.

Nathaniel Latimer (sometimes spelled Lattimore) born 25 FEB 1768 in New London, Connecticut, was my 5th great-uncle.

How about your family tree, did anyone go out with a bang?

[Dave-V]

Not a war-time story, but I had a great-aunt who lived into her 90’s; sharp as a tack and no sign of dementia etc. She still lived by herself in her family’s old farmhouse out in the countryside near Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

In the late 1990’s one frosty winter morning maybe 15-20 degrees Fahrenheit (-10 to -7 Celsius) with 6 inches of snow on the ground her daughter and son-in-law drive into the farm for a routine morning visit and find her already sitting on the outside porch in her bathrobe and slippers. They rush up the porch steps and ask if she’s ok.

She recognizes them and calmly tells them she’s fine and she just wanted some air. Then she looks right past them out into the yard and exclaims “wait, THAT’s not right!!”. She takes off her slippers and before they can stop her, she walks straight out into the snow in her bare feet, her heart stops, and she drops dead.

[passenger]

The Battle of Rock Island - November 9, 1793
Reminiscences of Snoddy's Fight, November 1793
(From Capt. Wm. Reid, of Sumner Co., Tenn. about 79 in 1844.)

Lieut. Wm. Snoddy mustered into service, at Winchester's Mill, 32 men in all -- my informant, being one of the number. Went and camped that night at Dixon's Spring; next day Nathaniel Lattimore killed a bear; third day marched to Caney Fork -- Wm. Reid pilot -- just as they were in the act of crossing the stream, talking pretty loudly, they saw two Indian sentinels jump up apparently awakened from sleep, and ran off.

...

Snoddy acquiesced, and had scarcely got to his position, when Reid was badly wounded in the right arm, having received the charge of the signal gun (fired, as was believed by Doublehead himself) -- and the firing on both sides at once became warm and general, and particularly on the right where Reid was -- close by fell Nathaniel Lattimore, and (Ms blank) Scoby fell dead -- and Andrew Stelle was shot through the hand, and Hugh Elliott was wounded slightly through the body. Three rounds were exchanged.

Nathaniel Latimer (sometimes spelled Lattimore) born 25 FEB 1768 in New London, Connecticut, was my 5th great-uncle.

How about your family tree, did anyone go out with a bang?

A nice macabre topic leading up to Halloween.

I believe I've found at least three "killed by Indian" deaths in my family tree (dad's side, of course). One was a Captain John Hoagland who was shot in the head during the Battle of Sandusky in Ohio in 1782. At least he died instantly. His brother was not so lucky - torture. But as it was apparently revenge for a gruesome colonial massacre of Native Americans earlier that year I guess he had it coming.

I can't find the other two right now, but I recall them being from 17th-century New England. One was a woman who was killed in Connecticut.

[Kellebel]

Only the other day did I read a story about one of my greatgreatIdontreallyknowhowmanytimesgreataunts who promised herself to a poor young man she was in love with and she ran off to be with him. She came from a rich and important family, so her mother made sure she came back home and she was forced to marry a man with more money and power. Back in the day, if a woman was already promised to a man, but somehow the deal got broken off by either one of them, the victim could get compensation money. So the young man sued her when she broke up with him and he got some money. She got married and the young man went off, got real sick for quite some time and once recovered, he needed to cover the medical bills, so he decided the money he got wasn't enough and re opened the case, hoping to get some more. The second verdict wasn't in favor of the young man, but he never came to know about it: a month before the verdict, he was found dead in a pond.

[spruithean]

I have a distant ancestor who originally came from Scotland and settled in New Hampshire who was "shot by Indians". There was also another ancestor who died at the Battle of Fort Oswego in 1756, this guy had a son who was a rebel to the British Crown who was eventually imprisoned and promptly escaped and managed to get back to family in Nova Scotia before making his way to Massachusetts, I'm not sure what happened to this man after that.

[geebee]

Did any one in your family tree expire in dramatic fashion?

You could say that. Along with many thousands of people with ancestry from southern Louisiana and Mississippi, I share descent from Jean Baptiste Baudreau. This man was among the earliest of European settlers of southern Mississippi, having relocated to the area from Quebec in about 1700.

Baudreau had a daughter Magdelaine and a son Jean Baptiste II. Magdelaine was my 6th great grandmother, but the person I'm writing about is her brother -- Jean Baptiste Baudreau II.

What qualifies my 6th great granduncle as "expir[ing] in a dramatic fashion" is this:

"Jean Baptiste Baudreau Dit Graveline II (1715–1757) was a colonist in French Louisiana, and is one of the few persons to ever be executed in the Americas by the breaking wheel."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Baptiste_Baudreau_II

[geebee]

I also have a 1st cousin thrice removed who died in what I would say was a "dramatic fashion". Although there were no reported eyewitnesses to the incident, Earl Bookhammer was apparently struck by a freight train while walking along a railroad track in 1940.

Earl would have been my great grandfather's 1st cousin, so my 1st cousin thrice removed.

Not only was my cousin found near the railroad track, the condition of the body also made pretty clear what happened. According to Earl's death certificate

The principal cause of death and related causes of importance were as follows:

Partial decapitation of Head
Amputated left foot

[Webb]

I think I have posted this before, but this is my great great great grandma, Matilda Jane Nickell:

Matilda.jpg

This is her nephew, Kels Powers Nickell:

Kels.jpg

This is his son, Willie Nickell:

Willie.jpg

Willie was found murdered, and near his head were two rocks, which was a signature of Tom Horn:

TomHorn2.jpg

Tom Horn was convicted of the murder of Willie Nickell, as Tom Horn was a hired gun man and used by the large cattle ranchers back when there was running feuds between the sheep ranchers and cattle ranchers. Willie was riding Kels horse and wearing Kels jacket when he was murdered. The only problem was that Kels also had a running feud with his neighbor and it was common knowledge that the two rocks placed next to the victims head was Tom Horn's signature, thereby making it fairly easy to make the murder look like it was committed by Tom Horn. Many years later a woman claimed to have heard the neighbor confess to killing Willie Nickell, and he used the fact that Tom Horn was in the area to get away with it.

[Webb]

In a follow up to the previous post, Matilda Jane Nickell's son and the brother of my great great grandfather, John DeSha Jones was murdered by his grandson.

download.png

Cleve was given to John DeSha Jones' brother, Allen Newton Jones, who was a sheriff in Oklahoma to reform. Cleve went on to enlist in World War II and lived out the rest of his life with no issues.

[spruithean]

I forgot to mention a 2nd cousin of some level removed, Alexander, who had enlisted in the Canadian Armed Forces in WW1 who saw combat, rose through the ranks and was about to embark on sniper training and only a few days before he was to partake in sniper training he was wounded and succumbed to his shrapnel injuries. He was 27 when he died. His 1st cousin who was born the year he died (Alex) was also killed in action in Belgium during WW2 at the age of 26. One is buried in Northern France and the other in Belgium, really quite tragic.