Dr. Joel L. Flanegan is an ancestor that makes genealogical research worth it, though for the wrong reasons. Besides being locally prominent as a physician and prosperous landowner, Dr. Flanegan made it into the records of his church, and indeed, even the minutes of the Supreme Court of Georgia. In both cases, it was for things out of the ordinary -- entertaining to a point, but also tragic and instructive.

The records of the church -- Van Wert Baptist Church in Polk Co., Georgia -- are available in transcript at the Rome / Floyd Co. [Georgia] Public Library and seem to paint a picture of a man at odds with others often. He joined the fellowship with at least one of his slaves on Sunday evening, May 20, 1854, and within two months was an alternate for a district meeting. Then inexplicably, several months later, in January 1855, he sent a letter to the church asking that his name be removed from the rolls; investigation led to a charge that he had whipped his wife. By the following May, he returned to the church and acknowledged his sin and was restored to fellowship. Some of the records following are unclear, though it appears that he and his family asked for and were granted letters of dismission in the following November [of 1855], but remained or quickly rejoined. Almost immediately, in March 1856, he got involved in another dispute, this time with an R. W. Whitehead, and the church appointed a committee to investigate, which a month later made its report:

"We, your committee, recommend that the Church charge Brother Flanegan with unbrotherly conduct in trying to obtain a warrant against Brother Whitehead's negroes without first going to see Brother Whitehead. And Brother Whitehead charges Brother Flanegan (from the report of his family) with coming to his house during his absence from home, and shooting his dog, and very much frightening his family. We also recommend that the Church charge Brother Flanegan with falsehood in denying the accompanying charge of Sister Whitehead, when we suppose it can be proven: 'I charge Brother Flanegan with circulating reports derogatory to my Christian character and of using language unbecoming a lady, much less a Christian.'"

Dr. Flanegan, not to be outdone, wrote this classic response, which was read at the May 1856 meeting of the Church:

"Brethren, you don't wish me to live with you, neither do I desire to do so. Excommunicate me and I will be as much delighted as some of you will be gratified. Hoping that the Lord will smile upon you and me, and that we may at last meet where strife, envying, malice, hatred, and ungodly combination will never come. I am respectfully,
Joel L. Flanegan"

The church complied with his request, some members no doubt being very pleased to do it!

What may or may not have been known within the Van Wert community as a whole was a particularly shameful liason that had occurred a little over ten years before. Though married in 1840 to Mary Caroline Sansing, Dr. Flanegan had had an illegitimate child, Joel Sansing Flanegan, born September 20, 1845, by his wife's sister Dorcas -- and who had been only fourteen at the time of the forbidden affair! This had been the family rumor for over a century, but the rumor was finally confirmed as fact when the Reports of the Supreme Court of Georgia, Vol. 28 (1859), pp. 136-139 were examined and found to have made public Dr. Flanegan's private shame. It started as a financial dispute in Polk Co. Superior Court in 1858, and went from there to Atlanta on appeal. Without going into the legal technicalities of the case heard by the Court in March 1859, it was made clear that Dorcas was the mother of the child, Joel, who was conceived while Dorcas was a ward under Dr. Flanegan's guardianship, and that Dr. Flanegan was -- by his own admission -- Joel's father.

We do not know for sure what effect this behavior had had on his family, though taken together with the wife-beating incident recounted above, it is probably safe to say that his was not a happy home. The son, Joel Sansing Flanegan, would grow up to have his own destructive defects of character, due no doubt in large measure to his father's example. Dr. Flanegan's case is so interesting, perhaps, because sin makes for interesting, "juicy" stories, even if for ultimately tragic ones. Perhaps it is interesting because people weren't supposed to be like that back in the "good ole' days." Of course, there never were "good ole' days," and human beings -- ever since our first parents hid under the cover of a garden in shame -- have struggled with those things which would destroy their souls and lives if given the chance. His life is an earnest reminder of the power and gravity of our choices. Perhaps the greatest lesson of all is that life is a series of choices, and what you choose -- in whatever arena of it, no matter how seemingly insignificant -- determine what and who you will be, and ultimately, whose you will be in the end. All of life, I suppose, is a choice between life and death.

• Married: 27 NOV 1840 in Polk/Paulding Co., Georgia

1. Juliet Flanegan b: 22 JUL 1843 in Polk Co., Georgia
2. Mary Elizabeth Flanegan b: 23 MAY 1847 in Polk Co., Georgia
3. Sarah S. Flanegan b: 16 FEB 1849 in Polk Co., Georgia
4. Benjamin S. L. Flanegan b: 1 JUN 1850 in Polk Co., Georgia
5. Alexander S. Flanegan b: 24 AUG 1852 in Polk Co., Georgia
6. Martha Ann Cordelia Flanegan b: 4 MAR 1855 in Polk Co., Georgia
7. George A. L. Flanegan b: 25 JAN 1857 in Polk Co., Georgia
8. [Infant] Flanegan b: 31 JAN 1859 in Polk Co., Georgia

• Married: BET 1844 AND 1845 in Polk Co., Georgia
• Marriage Beginning Status: Partners

1. Joel Sansing Flanegan b: 20 SEP 1845 in Polk Co., Georgia

• Married: 6 JUN 1860 in Polk Co., Georgia