[Nell]

Well, Jack the Ripper must be in someone's tree, Terri! But as we don't know who he was...

I do have an ex-candidate in my tree, though a tenuous connection. Jacob Isenschmidt was suspected of being Jack the Ripper, mainly because he was a bit bonkers and went around threatening people with a knife! He was taken into custody and was in an asylum when the double murders took place. He was in an out of asylums till he died.

My connection is that his daughter Katharine was the second wife of my great-grandfather Charles Williams. I hasten to point out that I am descended from Charles and his first wife Ellen. BUT Charles' mother Ann had a brother, William Mealing who ended up in Broadmoor having cut his fiancee's throat and killed her and their unborn child. I have often wondered if this is why Charles & Katherine decided not to have children of their own. Of course she might have been infertile and in any case Charles already had 8 children by Ellen.