I had a client spooked by their family tree.
Why?
It was rumored that the great grandparents were first cousins. This truly horrified this individual. Well, you can’t look at this fact from this day and age. You must look at the past.
What do we know about the past?
Transportation wasn’t as it is now. Communities were smaller. Families were tighter and living close by each other. It was a different world.
So, don’t be too spooked if there is a first cousin marriage within your family. It happened.
I haven’t discovered this within my own family but boy did they push the limits. My family members just grazed by this rule multiple times.
This was proven to be a fact and not just a rumor. I discovered that the great grandmother was sent to live with her uncle and aunt as a teen with her younger brother after her mother and father passed away. Very sad news indeed but did explain an unknown tragedy within the family. From there, you can gather that her uncle’s eldest son and her fell in love and married.
I think the client was still spooked by this fact but the unearthed tragedy lessened the blow.
Do you have a first cousin marriage in your family tree?
Colleen M. Johnson, CMJ Office
