General Chat

I have had one case of this in my family. I also have something that is difficult to show - One of my great great aunts married and her spouses sister married my great great uncle so my aunt's sister was also her sister in law as well as her sister so that is really confusing! Lucia :-)

Hi My husbands Great/grand father and great/grand mother were first cousins. Don't think my husband quite beleived it when he first found out. They married in 1870. Margaret

My great-grandfather and great-grandmother were married. Scarily, he was 11 years her senior, and they had their first child pretty soon after the wedding. Eeek!

Hi Joy, can you tell me what Family Tree programme you have? As I've mentioned above, my grandparents were first cousins, and I am discovering even more complexities in my tree further back! Your programme might be just what I need! Sal

No idea why GR cannot sort it out. On our family tree programme, there is no problem adding them. Joy

nudge

Having actually dealt with someone who wanted to marry his first cousing in the last fifteen years it is actually legal to marry your first cousin, all that is suggested is that if they want to have children they have blood tests for any hereditary diseases. I also have an ex brother in law who is married tohis first cousin so there is actually no shame in this at all.

Well they weren't first cousins but my 2xgr grandmothers (Martha), 3xGrGrand-daughter married a 3x Grgrandson of Martha's brother Edward, if you understood that. They didn't like it when I told them.

My 4xgreat grandfather and his 2 brothers married 3 sisters in Suffolk in the 1810s.

A by-product of having married cousins in your direct line is that you will have a multiple relationship with your parent. For example, my gr-grandparents were 2nd cousins-once removed. This means that myself and my mother are also 5th cousins, and 4th cousins-twice removed. I'm also 5th cousin to my mother's 1st cousins in that branch. It takes a while to get your head round, but it can be possible for a mother and child to be related in many other additional ways, depending on what relation their ancestors were (If there were several instances of cousins marrying in a tree it can get particularly complicated !). Simon

Hi Tania, My grandparents were first cousins. Helps in one way cos it means less branches to research. However, as far as I know, GR have still not fixed this problem. I had to add some family members twice in order to make it work on the site. It's fine cos I know I've done it, but probably confuses people to whom I grant access to my tree!

I have several families that have intermarried, first cousins who married and siblings from two families who married. How can I deal with this on the GR site? Duplication makes it very confusing. Any tips anyone?

Me too! My gran and grandad were first cousins, making my Great gran also my Great Aunt! The fact that they shared grandparents has helped in some ways--less branches to follow, but also leads to problems--my family is huge, and it is not easy to make my tree make sense on paper, as everyone is inter-linked. Scary thing is that I think my great grandparents may have been cousins too! I have had to enter some rellies twice on the site because GR have never found a way to make marrying cousins fit into a tree, despite my being told AGES ago that GR would fix this problem soon.

hi andy my grandma and grandad were 1st cousins (both their dads were brothers) so my grandma's name never changed when she married him.

In my husbands family the son of Charles Gibson - Braithwaite - married the daughter of Elizabeth Gibson. - Betsy (first cousins) they had four sons, two of whom were Charles and John. Charles' son then married John's daughter. Work that relationship out !!!!

Didn't know until I started doing my family tree that my grandparents were first cousins. Did cause some confusion at first. GC (GR) keep telling us that they will soon find a way of letting us enter them properly in our trees, but as far as I know they haven't done yet. Maggy

My Grandmother married her first cousin, only problem being, that as they got into old age they looked so alike. WEIRD! Joanne.

Sorry, i maen that on the marriage certificate, it mentions that they are cousins. This marriage also took place in Scotland!

I've come across one instance so far in my research when i soon realised that the said couples grandparents where the same! On closer inspection , their marriage certificated did actually record this fact.

my cousin by marriage (ie step cousin) married her first cousin on her mothers side about 7 yrs ago