Cousins Marrying

stevemiller2011 · Post by **stevemiller2011** » 17 Oct 2012 14:30

How can I have person A as my 5x Gt Grandfather and his son person B as my 5x Gt Grandfather as well?
Is this caused by cousins marrying?

Thank You
Steve[confused]

ID:6535

Post by **tatewise** » 17 Oct 2012 15:23

That doesn't sound correct, and I don't think cousins marrying could cause it, although I am happy to be proved wrong.
Could you indicate where the cousins come into play.

Are A and B both in fact your Great (x?) grandfathers?
i.e. Do they appear in you direct ancestral lineage in an Ancestors Diagram?

Are you sure B isn't great (x5) grandfather's son but the trailing part is obscured?

Post by **tatewise** » 17 Oct 2012 15:36

Thinking about it further, is A your great (x5) grandfather through one of his other children, a sibling of B?
This sibling would be your great (x4) grandfather/mother.
The Ancestor Diagram should make this clear.

SteveMiller · Post by **SteveMiller** » 17 Oct 2012 17:35

Hi Thanks for the reply
Unfortunately not got time to give the details you require until Friday so will let you know

Thank you
Steve

SteveMiller · Post by **SteveMiller** » 17 Oct 2012 17:58

Just took a quick look and :
one of my Gt Grandmothers is descended on her Paternal side from a daughter of Person A and descended on her Maternal side from a son and a daughter of person A.
Person A appears in 2 different generation lines on the tree.
My 4x Gt Grandfather and Grand mother are cousins

[rolleyes]

Cheers
Steve

Post by **tatewise** » 17 Oct 2012 20:56

Sounds like you have answered your original question.

David_Lewis · Post by **David_Lewis** » 18 Oct 2012 08:01

This situation is quite common and the reason is very straight forward. Before the advent of the train many families lived in the same village for many generations. The number of potential partners was very limited so marriages between 2nd, 3rd and 4h cousins etc very common. In very small rural communities it was even more common and could occur many times through successive generations. Of course such inbreeding caused problems giving rise to the 'village idiot'.

stevemiller2011 · Post by **stevemiller2011** » 18 Oct 2012 08:34

Thanks for the replies
I presumed the cousins issue and descent of my Gt Grandmother but it looks odd on the tree diagrams with the same person appearing a few times and both him and his son are listed as 5x gt-grandfather.
I suppose I will have to live with it.
At first I thought I had made a monumental error which is why I posted the question here for a reassuring answer which I got thank you.

Mind you it's nice to think one of my ancestors might have been the village idiot!

[lol]

Cheers
Steve

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