Digging Into Your Family's History Should Come With A Warning

It seems more and more people are interested in finding out where they came from and so Ancestor.co.uk is allowing people to have a free look at the passenger lists of the ships which took Scottish emigrants to the Americas. The Mitchell Library in Glasgow also allows people to have a look at the Poor Law records which detail the poverty and suffering of those that came before us. But anyone with a romantic notion of their ancestral past should think carefully before investing time and energy researching their family history.
It might be my sick sense of humour but as well as being slightly disturbed at the image I couldn't help but laugh when I read the story of the Australian who researched the details of his ancestor's transportation to the colonies. He assumed his forefather had been on the prison ship for rebelling against the famine and the Crown by stealing corn to put food on the table so that his family may survive to see the next morning. Imagine his surprise when he discovered the documentation showing the reason for the one-way trip to Botany Bay was for his carnal knowledge of horses. And to think that Australians like to make fun of the Kiwis for sheep shagging.