Crime and Punishment

 The Generations Cafe challenge for this week is CRIME AND PUNISHMENT. I thought long and hard on this one and was hard pressed to find a criminal in the family tree. From my personal knowledge and from my research on census records including locations and occupations I did not find any prison records. I do know, first hand, that my ancestors were not perfect! We had our share of alcoholics, gamblers, cheaters and those who made inappropriate sexual advances. But seems that no one ever got caught and prosecuted.

Well, no one except Henry Loveall, aka Desolate Baker, my sixth great-grandfather who was born in 1694 in Cambridge, England. He emigrated to America, then settling in Rhode Island, New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia. He used his status as a religious leader to engage in bigamy, sexual liaisons, disorderly, licentious and eccentric behavior. He was relieved of his duties several times. It is rumored that he was convicted of some crime and escaped from prison to continue his exploits. 



Records show he married his wife, Martha Vinnet, four times in four different places while engaging in all his nefarious activities on the side. Henry tried hard to live up to his name... love all. He had 13 children and it is said that all Lovealls descend from Henry. Some descendants changed the spelling to Lovall to disassociate themselves from this legendary ancestor.

You can read more about Henry Loveall, aka Desolate Baker on this blog:  https://www.ancestry.com/mediaui-viewer/collection/1030/tree/75345604/person/38342200003/media/a221006f-f27f-4396-8665-ad199a613acf?_phsrc=hsp1146&usePUBJs=true

You can find further information about Henry at https://www.geni.com/people/Rev-Henry-Loveall/6000000004058902783



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