Even though I've now been bitten by the G-bug for a couple of years now, I still know just enough about WikiTree to be dangerous.
When I was getting started on Ancestry & Family Search, two things threw me for a loop.
First, after a LOT of headscratching & chasing my tail, my cousin confirmed that my Paternal Grandmother's parents were 1st cousins.That was learning the hard way!
Then, in researching her husband, my Paternal Grandfather (died in 1949), I ran across a prison record. He and his cousin and two others were sentenced to life for the murder of their aunt's husband.
I called my cousin, the Family Genealogist that got me into this, he seemed a little surprised. He had known a little about it and asked his mom. She would tell him very little. It happened 16 years before the Grands married in 1910. All she would say was no one in town was very sorry to see him dead. And would never discuss it again with him. (She was a "firm" woman who held to her convictions. She passed away a few months ago at age 101. I digress.
I did find a couple of news articles about the case, last being at sentencing. It included, "The trial lasted three days and seemed in the main fairly conducted by all sides. There did not seem to be any over zealousness son either the part of the state or the defense. The trials went smoothly along and the result was expected by all."
Also, " When the Judges come to pass sentence upon the defendants' there occurred one of the saddest and most solemn scenes ever witnessed in the county court house. The defendants were all very young and not over 25 years of age and it is only to executive clemency that they can look to in the future. "
They were sentenced to Life at hard labor in the Alabama coal mines. I then found out he was nearly killed in a mine accident and was indeed pardoned by the Governor in 1902. Married my Grandmother in 1910, a year before my Dad was born.
So when I got into this, it was diving headfirst into a wading pool!