Family Trees

I've been working on my husband's and my family trees. While there have been a lot of dead-ends, there have also been a lot of funky stories. These are from my husband's side.
One almost unbelievable tale begins with "Big William," who was 6'4" tall and weighed about 350 pounds. A woman named Elizabeth fell in love with him, but he married her sister Sarah. Nonetheless, Elizabeth swore she would have William's children. William and Elizabeth had 5 children while he was married to Sarah. Sarah and William had 11 children. After Sarah died, William married another woman named Elizabeth, and proceeded to have 16 children with her. William fathered a total of 32 children. This was obviously before the days of child support! He was eventually buried next to the river where he had lived his entire life. What a tale.
Another episode: I noticed a couple had died on the same day. That piqued my interest, so I dug a little bit further. The official account was that the husband shot his wife and then himself. The unofficial account, from the wife's brother, was that it was a Mafia hit due to a union dispute. Very interesting.
There was a young man who was shot by the local sheriff for stealing two horses. Another died when a horse kicked him in the chest. A young woman died when the horse pulling her carriage was spooked and ran off. A 17-year-old boy was shot and killed in a hunting accident. An elderly woman wrote about how difficult her life had been- no running water or plumbing, and raising 14 children.
These are all the folks that make us the people we are today. Everyday happenings and survival stories. I never get tired of it.

I bought this book to get help with researching cemeteries and gathering family tree information. It gives a lot of hints on getting death certificates, etc and interpreting the information on gravestones.