I received the following question and is one that I thought others may be interested in as well. It is regarding how to find the criminals in the family tree.
Question from Rees:
“A quick (sort of) question? I’m doing genealogy for my wife’s family,
and I’m beginning to suspect that her great uncle vanished from
Philadelphia society in the 1920s when he was arrested and
incarcerated for something – no one who might know is saying what.
So, I’m trying to find some source of arrest records in Philly. Any
idea where I might find such archives? Footnote?”
My first thought was to suggest that Rees go to the historic newspapers for the answer but I thought I’d ask the Facebook Genealogy group if they had additional suggestions. Within five minutes I got the following replies.
1) Get in touch with Ron Arons who has written a book on criminals and genealogy research.
2) Check the historic newspapers in the Philly area. Ancestry has newspapers but the best source by far, in my opinion is GenealogyBank. You can buy access to the record or subscribe.
3) Check the Eastern State Penitentiary
Thank you to Paula, Lorine, Linda and Melissa for their suggestions.
Good luck Rees and thank you for your question!