When Your 2nd Great Grandfather Steals Bacon

One of the great things about genealogy research is discovering the ridiculous and dumb things that your ancestors and relatives managed to do.  Or were they quite ridiculous for the times in which that ancestor lived?  Today, one would say stealing bacon is a pretty stupid thing to do.
Well my 2nd great grandfather wasn't exactly an angel.  I'm still struggling to understand how complicated his life was in the grand scheme of things.  So in July 1886, my 2nd great grandfather Floyd Martin was convicted of house breaking.  According to the Russell County Virginia Convict Records, Floyd admitted to breaking into the smokehouse of J.T. Gray.  He stole 2 sides of bacon valued at $10 (calculated for inflation, it would be roughly $262 today).  He received a 2 year sentence for the crime of house breaking.

Although the crime would seem like a silly crime, being a poor rural African American farmer in the 1880's was probably extremely tough.  It's even tougher when you have a wife and additional 10 mouths to feed (He and my great grandmother Nancy had 14 children total).  I've often wondered whether or not my 2nd great grandfather actually served the entire 2 year sentence.  According to census records there was a gap 5 year gap between my 2nd great grand uncle Jefferson and his sister Ella.  It was the first time where there was a gap greater than 2 years in between the birth of his first 12 children.  This seems to confirm that he did serve the full 2 year sentence.  The last gap was a 6 years in between the last 2 children.  This gap may be worth exploring as well.

To me 2 years seems like a very harsh sentence.  I'm not saying that my 2nd great grandfather should not have been punished, because he should have to a certain extent.  Two years just seems like an extremely long time.  So when your ancestor steals bacon, you can't help but to chuckle at such a bone head mistake.  However upon closer examination of the crime and the circumstances surrounding it, you have more compassion and appreciation for the lives of your ancestors and relatives.