Finding black sheep: Joel CLOUGH (1804-1833)

It's official: everyone from New Hampshire is related.

I found this out this evening when I caught an episode of Ghost Stories. This particular episode featured a supposed haunting by the spirit of 19th century murderer Joel Clough at Burlington County Prison, where he spent his last days and was executed.

The story is a sad and disturbing one, but bears that fascination that murder trials hold for so many.

Joel CLOUGH was a 27-year-old mechanical contractor boarding at a house in Bordentown, New Jersey. To acquaintances he seemed mild-mannered and pleasant, but beneath the surface lurked an unstable and vengeful nature, along with a penchant for theft, fraud, gambling, and debauchery.

Clough became powerfully attracted to his landlady's widowed daughter, Mary Hamilton. By all accounts except Clough's, Mary did not return his strong feelings, though she was friendly and polite enough to him. He persisted, trying to give her gifts and writing her letters and finding every opportunity to be near her.

Apparently Joel Clough's constant attentions and refusal to take a hint began to annoy Hamilton. He asked her to a ball, and she told him it would create gossip if they went together-- so she with someone else. Clough became jealous of any other men who displayed romantic intentions toward Mary Hamilton, going so far as to threaten them. Twice Hamilton refused Clough's offers of marriage.

After Clough went on a business trip to New York (during which he drank excessively, visited brothels, and was arrested for stealing jewelry from a prostitute) he returned to the New Jersey boarding house in a state of depression; he had heard that Mary was engaged to another man.

He had also resolved that if he couldn't have her, then no one else could either. He called her to his room and asked her to give him some laudanum-laced water. As she did so, he leaped off his bed, drawing a dagger that she had either sold or given to him, stabbing her multiple times in the chest.

He was arrested, later escaping from prison only to be recaptured. After being tried and found guilty, Joel Clough was hanged for the murder of Mrs. Mary Hamilton on July 26, 1833.

After I googled this guy and discovered that he was originally from New Hampshire (Clough is a very old and prolific New England name), I had to see if I could find a relationship.

And yes, we actually do have a few common ancestors on at least four lines, all on his father Benjamin's side:

His 2nd great-grandparents Benjamin SANBORN and Sarah WORCHESTER were my 8th great-grandparents, as were James PRESCOTT and Mary BOULTER. His 3rd great-grandparents John CLOUGH and Jane SANDERS were my 10th great-grandparents, and we're also both descended from Reverend Stephen BACHELDER and his wife Ann BATES.

Who knew that a random let's-just-see-if-we-might-be-related ancestry.com search would turn this up?

This is what makes genealogy so interesting, though-- you just never know who might pop up in your family tree.

Source: The Only True and Authentic Life and Confession of Joel Clough.