One of my ancestors used to help slaves escape from the South. He'd bring them across the Ohio into Illinois, which was free territory. Then he'd take them across the Mississippi into Missouri, where he'd sell them back into slavery.

Not a nice occupation.

But then again, he'd been "missing" for five or six years when he turned up at his sister's house, had a sandwich and cup of coffee, to his sister that the sheriff was after him and what he'd been doing. He then vanished into the night and the family never saw him again.

Then there was the one who was a pro baseball player, contracted syphillis, and finally drowned in a boating accident (we think; it may have been suicide).

Mostly they have been ordinary working people: machinists, firefighters, cops, carpenters, draftspeople....