The subject of rape is a sensitive subject in one of my family lines.   My 
grandmother was raped (by a married man who had a wife and children and was a  
relative) at a family reunion in 1909.  She was 16 years old at the time  and 
only grandma and her father knew who the offender was.  We are told  that my 
grandmother's father threatened this relative and told him that if he  wanted to 
live then he would leave the state of Virginia that if he ever came  back he 
would kill him. My Aunt, the child of this rape was raised by her  mother 
alone, with the family support system.  When my grandmother married  my 
grandfather he adopted my aunt and raised her as his own.
 
In another line in my family, a man married and had several children, he  
disappeared and everyone thought him dead and we found him living in another  
county with the sister of his wife and they also had children.
 
In still another line, the head of the household had his wife and child and  
a servant living in his household.  This servant had several children by  the 
head of this household as per the census records.  After his death  she 
changed her children's surname to indicate the name of her dead employer, as  per 
census records.
 
 
This type of thing has gone on through out history.  It is no  something to 
be ashamed of.
 
Babies being born out of wedlock is not something that is a recent  
occurrence, it has been going on for hundreds of years.  True it is harder  to track 
such births but I don't believe that in today's society there is as  much a 
stigma as it was years ago.
 
Pat C. Johns in Va.
 

 
 



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