Does the actions of one's ancestors pass down?

I want to know whether the action of ancestors will be pass down to their children in the form of karma?.. A father's decision can affect his children like father quitting his job and staying at home can affect his children...but What i want to know is, if someone has a very crual father does atleast some of his bad karma gets pass down to his later generations not just to his childrens but maybe to great grand children...like for example a person's great grand father may have killed someone...and due to that this person is having a major disease... Does karma works in this way?