The 1800's Were Dangerous Times

Through my genealogy research, I've discovered that the 1800's were dangerous times, which kind of surprised me. I mean, we're talking southern Alabama here, not the untamed wild west, right? Or at least that's what I thought...

For one poor soul, his final exit was undertaken by the fine folks down at Clio Furniture (of Clio, Alabama), who not only sold some pretty fine furniture, but had a fair price for a funeral as well.

One (two?) of my favorite deaths so far is that of a woman named Jessie and the local sherrif. From what I've been able to glean, there was a bit of a land dispute between Jessie and a neighbor, so the sherrif came out to settle things. As it turned out, Jessie took issue with the sherrif on some point or another, and she shot him. Apparently this happened right about the time he shot her.

As it turns out for Joe Barrus, late of Barbour County, Alabama, 1827 was a particularly dangerous year because the cause of death listed on his death certificate was "shot by wife". Now you just know that if he'd listened to her just a little more often, then she wouldn't have had to shoot his sorry ass, right? Even way back then southern women didn't take any crap.