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Beginners => Family History Beginners Board => Topic started by: Siely on Thursday 30 May 24 18:29 BST (UK)
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Can I ask about cousins getting married ? When did it stop being okay ?
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It is still legal for cousins to marry in the UK.
It may not be the best idea genetically though.
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It hasn't stopped being ok.
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According to this it's ok
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N512-GXN
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Thank you all. I was told (wrongly judging by your answers) that there were attempts to ban it because of inherited poor health and anatomical problems, obviously this was wrong.
In the US (according to Wikipedia - Cousin Marriage) some states allow it and some don't.
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There have been attempts, with mixed results, to discourage it particularly in communities which are small or where there is such a tradition.
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My grandfather told me that his grandfather may have married a cousin and he said there was a stigma about it. I'm trying to research this.
He was adamant that there is a still a social stigma about it that was used by people with superior attitudes.
Although marrying cousins is legal (see earlier contributions) it doesn't necessarily stop the social stigma
e.g. The working canal barge community or "bargees" with a history of intermarriages between the same group of families for decades.
After the industrial revolution and its advances in technology the mobility and opportunity of working people increased but they often found themselves in city "slum" areas with little social contact outside of it.
I raised the subject for two reasons because of the reality of social stigma and the modern DNA and health movement.
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there is a still a social stigma about it that was used by people with superior attitudes.
I wonder if anyone ever said that about Queen Victoria marrying her 1st cousin, Albert !
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I have several instances of siblings marrying siblings, which is fine genetically for their children.
But would those cousins be allowed to marry? They share only four grandparents (like brother snd sister).
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To AntonyMMM
There was a big political row about these issues between the social classes. The higher classes called it "breeding" (still do call it that I wonder ?).
Like many family history amateurs I have made some progress with names, dates, locations, occupations and now want to research the social history side of their tree.
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Didn't Einstein marry his cousin?
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To KGarrad
I didn't know that Einstein's second wife Elsa was his cousin
https://www.natgeotv.com/za/special/einsteins-valentines-elsa-einstein
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Endogamy
According to Oxford online dictionary this is the correct anthropological term for intermarriage in a closed community.
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See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cousin_marriage
Only a problem in certain US States, and parts of East Asia (China, Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Philipines).
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Thank you all. I was told (wrongly judging by your answers) that there were attempts to ban it because of inherited poor health and anatomical problems, obviously this was wrong.
In the US (according to Wikipedia - Cousin Marriage) some states allow it and some don't.
I guess you haven't heard about the Whitakers! Some only grunt because they can't speak.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11934633/The-19-states-marry-cousin-despite-inbreeding-risks.html
CD
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My grandparents were 1st cousins, married in 1923.
We're all normal,in fact some of us have even attended university!
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Marriages between the assorted Royal families of Europe is well documented leading to instances where related individuals would marry (known as consanguineous marriages).
The Habsburg family took things to the extreme with consecutive generations of marriages between cousins from within their own family lines. The cumulative effect of such a long standing series of marriages decreases the gene pool and the last of the Spanish line, Charles II, is said to have had a genome comparable to that of a child born to a brother and sister.
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Such marriages are contrary to canon law.
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Such marriages are contrary to canon law.
True of the Catholic Church but a Dispensation can be granted. Other denominations tend to be more permissive.
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Yes Canon Law is a very interesting point indeed !
The Church of England (CofE) has fully recognised the sainthood of Cardinal John Henry Newman and the Oxford Movement he founded.
Does this mean that the CofE is more Catholic than it was before St. John Henry Newman ?
What does this mean for the British monarchy which still declares itself to be Protestant and did so in the recent coronation of King Charles III ?
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I have found a few instances of cousinship marriages in the Saffron Walden areas of Essex, as some of mine married their first cousins.
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The Church of England (CofE) has fully recognised the sainthood of Cardinal John Henry Newman and the Oxford Movement he founded.
I know it's off-topic here, but I believe this statement is incorrect. The C of E "commemorates" John Henry Newman, but doesn't recognise him as a saint. (Individual members or congregations might choose to do so, but unofficially.) See, for example:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calendar_of_saints_(Church_of_England)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commemoration_(Anglicanism)
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Okay. "Commemorates" but still seems like an increase in Catholicism
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The C of E has included many shades of colour for a long time. Initially it was at pains to distance itself from the RC church but at least since the 19th cent there have been "Low Church" parishes which tend towards simpler ceremony and "High Church" parishes which tend towards RC-style pomp. However they will bury their differences to defend their position as C of E, definitely not RC nor Nonconformist. Some people will attend a church other than their own parish depending on personal preference.