* Cell Block Sam *

     Every one's got a bad boy in their family.  My bad boy is my maternal grandmother's younger brother, Samuel.  I had written about Uncle Sammy in earlier posts regarding his bigamy and war desertion.
     Two of Uncle Sammy's cousins told me that he had spent time in prison.  The cousin on his father's side of the family told me that he spent time in Sing Sing prison which is located in Ossining, NY on the east bank of the Hudson River in Westchester county.  She did not know the cause of his incarceration but thinks it was back in the 1950's.  The other cousin, on his mother's side, told me that Sam had spent time in Dannemora prison which is actually Clinton Correctional Facility located in the village of Dannemora in Clinton county, close to the Canadian border.
     Both of these prisons are maximum security prisons.  What did my grand-uncle do to get sent to these places?  His father, also named Samuel, had spent a year or so in a reform school when he was a teenager.  His crime was incorrigibility.   like father, like son?
     I am unable to get prison records at this time, if they even exist, because I don't know Uncle Sammy's date of birth nor do I know when he was in prison, if he was actually a resident of the big house.
     Was Sammy really the bad boy as his family members suggested?  I wonder if I'll ever find out.