Did you marry your cousin? If you live in the United States, it is extremely unlikely that you did. Many states have specific laws prohibiting it. However, if you go far enough back into your family tree, you may discover that one of your ancestors got married to a person who was his or her cousin. I imagine this discovery would alter the shape of your family tree.
Today, the very idea of marrying your cousin is distasteful to most Americans. Most of us grew up with our first cousins, and think of them like siblings, and not at all like potential spouses! Culturally, we are encouraged to look outside of our families, far outside, in order to find the person we want to marry. Genetically speaking, we avoid marrying our cousins, be they first, second, removed, or any other combination, so that we will not pass on genetically inherited diseases or conditions to our future children. Genes run in families, and if you are having a child with a closely related family member, well, then the potential of passing on a genetically inherited disease to an offspring is that much greater.
Today, there are laws regarding cousins and marriage. The specific details of these laws vary from one state to another. First cousins can legally get married in Alaska, Alabama, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, and also in Washington D. C.. The other states do not allow first cousins to marry. All fifty states allow second cousins to get married.
In the past, there have been many instances of cousins who got married. You see this a lot when you look at the family trees of royal families. Catherine the Great married Peter III of Russia, who was her second cousin. Mary, Queen of Scots, married her half-first cousin, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, who was her first cousin. Often, it was considered a good idea for a royal person to marry another royal person, instead of someone who was not of royal blood. Frequently, this meant marrying a cousin.
It doesn’t just happen in royal families, however. Charles Darwin married Emma Wedgwood, who was his first cousin. Thomas Jefferson married Martha Wayles, who was his third cousin. Albert Einstein married Elsa Lowenthal, who was his first cousin (on his mother’s side), and his second cousin (through his father’s side). Your genealogy research may reveal that you have ancestors who married a cousin. This is more prevalent if they lived in an isolated place with a low population, before the time when cars made it much easier to travel from place to place. If so, look closely at their marriage certificate! One of the cousins may have given false information about who his or her parents really were. This can cause confusions for genealogists.
Image by Ben Stephenson on Flickr