Cousin Marriages

[Corryn]

My wife and I are distant cousins, we share 5x ggrandparents.
In my tree there are another 4 cousin marriages  ranging from first cousins to more distant, all are in Shropshire in the 1800's.
How common is this?
Do other RC'ers have as many or maybe more?

Corryn

[KGarrad]

It's very common!
Especially in more rural areas -where the availability of eligible people to marry was much smaller.

[carol8353]

My grandparents were 1st cousins,their dad's were brothers,the two nearest in age.

Back then it was an easy way to introduce men to women and the parents were already quite happy with their choice as they knew the family.

[Corryn]

I suppose that makes sense and it's nice to know it wasn't a rare occurrence
My wife and I didn't know we were related. It was only after doing family research and talking to  her grandfather we discovered this.

Corryn

[Creasegirl]

My great grandparents were 1st cousins.  His first wife died so I think in some cases unmarried women in their 30s might think it better to get married than stay being an old maid as was the case then.

[Top-of-the-hill]

  Marrying distant cousins must have been quite common, as beyond second cousins, most people would not have been aware of it, especially when the name was different. I found from doing the research that I had been at school with 2 separate 3rd/4th cousins. My grandfather said the Pays in the next village were not related, but of course they were!

[coombs]

Very common, several of my Essex ancestors married first cousins. It can also be handy at finding previous generations. Allen Taylor wed Ann Stock in 1811 in Essex, and they were first cousins. Ann's parents were also first cousins.

[Jeuel]

Very common.  In my tree I have several instances of sets of siblings marrying cousins and then their children marrying eachother.  In many cases it was a way of keeping assets in the family.

I also discovered a distant cousin marriage but I don't know if the couple concerned knew they were related.

The royal families of Europe, especially the Habsburgs, made cousin marriages a policy.

[phenolphthalein]

The legality of marrying first cousins changes with jurisdiction and time.  It was legal then illegal and now legal in parts of Australia.  Interestingly the Church of England common prayer book used to list who one could marry.  While marrying close blood relatives was allowed, you were not allowed to marry a dead partners' sibling.  So if a man wished to marry his dead wife's sister it was illegal.  So a marriage well out of parish of bride and groom may indicate a man marrying his dead wife's widowed sister.  Also not meant to marry your nephew by marriage. Neither of these genetically risky, where cousin marriage is. However, a marriage of convenience between cousins with no kids would do no harm  == and keep the money in the family and provide a cheap housekeeper.