AN HEIRLOOM detective who found a historic death threat against a family of 12 has launched an investigation to track down their ancestors.
Author and genealogist Chelsey Brown, who lives in New York, shared the story on Instagram and TikTok after finding the chilling note.
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And the 29-year-old said she will try to return the letter to descendants of the family after searching for their identities online.
In a video to followers, Chelsey – otherwise known as Citychicdecor – said: “I cannot believe what I just read.
“I just read a letter that revealed an attempted murder from 1886 – and yes, I do mean murder.
“Of course, we are going to find the descendants of the attempted murduree [sic].”
She then read aloud extracts of the letter, which reveal that on Christmas Day 1886, a woman had threatened to kill a man’s wife, cause his family “serious injury” or “burn his house”.
Chelsey said: “Basically, a woman, for whatever reason, threatened to kill a husband, his wife and his entire family.
“From some research that I did, this couple had 10 children.”
She has already begun trying to track down the family’s descendants after finding a relative on website MyHeritage.
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“This is an example of an heirloom I would return to a family, one because it was so long ago, but also because their descendants will probably find it interesting,” she said.
Chelsey has shared her interest in history on her popular TikTok channel.
Last year, she told the bizarre story of how she’d picked up an old photo album at a flea market and decided to trace the previous owner’s descendants – only to discover they’re her distant relatives.
Chelsey bought the photo album featuring summer holiday snaps from 1927 at a market in the city.
After struggling to find any family ties to the album, which only contained first names, she enlisted the help of her father, a professional genealogist.
Together, they found the family in a 1930s census – and discovered the people pictured in the photos are related to them.
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