I came across an interesting Reddit post where a Redditor was angry that their great uncle’s FindAGrave biography mentioned that their uncle had died in a domestic violence murder-suicide, killing his girlfriend (the mother of two young sons) and then taking his own life. The event happened decades ago but the sons and the grandchildren of the woman his great uncle killed could still be alive. It is common for newspaper article clippings and explanations of the decedent’s circumstances to be included in the FindAGrave entries of murderers, the descendants of murder victims seem to support this, additionally, there is an argument that this is important so that passersbys understand why certain graves are set apart and do not have flowers and do not feel undue sympathy. The person who edited the entry to describe the Redditor’s great uncle’s crimes was likely a local who remembered the act or a descendant of the woman who he killed but the Redditor was highly offended though the information was factual. I’m wondering how everyone feels about this.
Should FindAGrave biographies contain factual information about the decedent’s heinous crime(s) when applicable?
Yes, it is a matter of public record & vital biographical info.
It should be the choice of the descendants of the victim of the act.
It should be the choice of the descendants of the perpetrator, like the Redditor
No, never. Let the dead rest in peace.
Something else (leave in tags or replies).
I don’t know enough about this/I’m undecided.
I will say, I think it is very interesting that the graves of famous outlaws always mention that they are famous outlaws with no pushback but this person can’t stand the idea that everyone knows his great uncle was a piece of shit who killed an innocent woman. Additionally, one of my ancestors was a murderer (though it was allegedly a semi-justifiable act of revenge) and I would not care if someone edited her bio to mention that.
I said this in the replies but I think it is important to say it here, genealogy work is not for the faint of heart. We’re all descended from/related to highly imperfect people, sometimes people who did things that are unequivocally evil. The answer to finding out that one of your ancestors or family members was a terrible person or did terrible things is not to scrub all record of those actions from existence, it is to disavow them and work to be a better person. An ego-driven desire to save face and whitewash your ancestors into being innocent people can make you complacent in what they did and shows you are more focused on the possible effects on your own image than horror/disgust at the action itself or a desire to distance yourself from the behavior.
I’m pretty upfront with some of the terrible discoveries I’ve made in my genealogical research. For example, I have ancestors who fought on the wrong side of the Civil War (and some who fought for the Union, the family was right on what became the Virginia/West Virginia border) and instead of conveniently ignoring that or trying to scrub any record of their association with the Confederate Army, I continue to try to point out revisionist neo-Confederate narratives and continue to try to educate myself on anti-racism. Because no, I am not my 4x great grandpa, I never knew him but I know he did harm.


















