[justshutupandtakeit]

Old wives' tales and urban legends often get accepted as truth particularly when spread by resentful survivors of events. They are embellished over the yrs so that what starts out as a kernel of truth, a woman was raped, gets blown into "a pregnant woman was gang-raped."

Would I believe every story passed down through my family about its antecedents? No. Though I would like to believe there was a Cherokee princess in my bloodline as claimed, I don't really.

[Capriole]

Fine. Have it your way. I have no vested interest in persuading you of the veracity of my ancestors. I would merely point out that in the nineteenth century getting raped was not something to be bruited about. Women did not tend to make up such things since the suggestion that a rape had taken place invited eternal gossip, questions about the paternity of their children, questions about their health, and other social consequences.