Cattle Rustlers and Nazi Sympathizers

Charles Collins “C.C.” Day

Two years ago we discovered that we are the descendants of a cattle rustler, thanks to an Ancestry.com records hint.  This despite the fact that my dad grew up in the home of my great-grandfather, and had never learned the details of a prison sentence for his grandfather until almost 60 years after his death.

In 1890, at the age of 22, C.C. Day and two other men were caught stealing cattle.  They had “collected” the cattle in Northern Idaho, and driven them almost 200 miles across rough frontier terrain to sell them in Walla Walla, Washington. They were convicted of stealing 34 cattle, and my great-grandfather and others were sentenced to five years in the Idaho State Penitentiary. 

Idaho State Penitentiary Report for C.C. Day

Interestingly, my oldest brother, my daughter, and I made a visit to that old penitentiary in Boise a few years before we discovered that our ancestor had spent time there.  As a historical site, tours and sightseeing occur there regularly. At the time, it was nothing more than a curiosity, but I couldn’t have imagined living in those difficult circumstances.  My heart goes out to my great-grandfather, who spent more than three years of his young life in prison. Thankfully, in the fall of 1893, C.C. Day was not just released early, but pardoned for his crime.  A lawyer had successfully petitioned for his release, thanks in part to the support of the owners of the cattle he had stolen. Later details into the circumstances of the event had revealed that C.C. Day was likely hired by the ringleader, and didn’t realize the cattle were being stolen — in the words of those at the time, he was “sinned against”, rather than being guilty of grand larceny. “Your petitioners therefore pray, that said Charles C. Day be pardoned of their crimes and restored to liberty and citizenship.”  The court agreed.

It's important to remember that no one should be defined by a single event in life, so while C.C. Day might have been a cattle rustler at one brief point, he was for much more of his life, a farmer, rancher, hotelier, grain buyer, and a well respected, honest businessman.  And more importantly, a loving husband, father, and grandfather to five young boys who had lost their father. It's understandable for those five boys to grow up in their grandfather’s home, idolizing him, and knowing nothing about the rough part of his past.

In addition to having a cattle rustler in the family, my wife’s grandfather worked with Nazis.  In May 1940, in the early years of World War II, Germany invaded the Netherlands. My father-in-law was born in Amsterdam just a few weeks later.  During their occupation, the Germans implemented what became known as the “Arbeitseinsatz”, or forced labor. As a result, men aged 18 to 45 were forced to work in German factories.  My wife’s grandfather, Jan Govert Wolf, was one of those men.

Jan Govert Wolf left behind a wife and 2 children in Amsterdam, going to work in Hamburg, Germany in 1941, and later in Burscheid, Germany at a company called Gotzenwerke.  A register from 1942 lists his occupation as a “dreher” or lathe operator. World War II records indicate that he worked at Gotzenwerke for the remainder of the war.

One important principle in considering difficult events in our family history, such as cattle rustling, and working in Nazi Germany, is to avoid jumping to conclusions, as well as to avoid engaging in “Presentism.” Presentism is the tendency to apply today’s moral standards and expectations in the interpretation of events in the past.  By doing so, we risk judging our ancestors too harshly, rather than simply learning about the events of their lives in the context of history.

Many that research and collect the stories of their ancestors are shocked to find out the unsavory details of their ancestors lives.  Often they will think to hide the details or events that might cause them embarrassment. In 2005, a popular romantic comedy named Hitch, starring Will Smith, explored this fact in a brief but humorous scene.  The main character attempted to impress a woman on a first date by taking her to Ellis Island to point out that one of her ancestors had immigrated through that location. Unknown to him, the woman’s ancestor was a notorious serial killer, and the woman ran crying from the scene, horrified that someone would discover their family secret.

Occasionally, rather than being shocked by the family secret, families may proudly tell the story of their famous outlaw ancestor. Or link themselves through some family legend to bring excitement to their genealogy. If such family legends exist, its worth doing a little research to make sure that it isn’t just a legend before passing the story on. In the case of C.C. Day, we found newspaper articles and court records that detailed his crime. For Grandpa Wolf, work records from the war chronicled his time in Germany. More often it may be hard to learn the details.

Rather than being embarrassed, engaging in presentism, or jumping to conclusions, as a family researcher, it is best to learn the details of our ancestor’s past, and present the facts as they are.  Just as each of us has flaws, so do our ancestors. And we may just find that the cattle rustler, Nazi, Prohibition bootlegger, or prostitute also turn out to be respectable citizens, and loving family members.

Charles Collins Day and his sister Maud