Genealogical Curiosities

[Peter Cornwell]

My great-grandfather married his niece which was strictly non-U at the time & probably still is. And him a Baptist Minister - shocking !

[The Geneal Geologist]

I have a couple -

1. The attached image shows that the mother was deliberately given as the father on a marriage certificate (the child was illegitimate, even though the father was known and accepted both ways). Any other cases like this?

2. A niece was acting as housekeeper for her unmarried uncle, i.e. her father's brother. She fell pregnant, they married and went on to have 4 more children. The age gap was about 30 years. This was the mid 1800's.

[JACK GEE]

I have a couple of double cousin.
My biggest issue was with Fred Herweg. A German immigrant who married Elizabeth Bond an Aussie born girl from Norfolk folk. They had 13 children with 8 boys  and within a generation no male  children. The Herweg name was bred out of existence.

Cheers
Jack Gee

[Caw1]

My great grandparents were 1stcousins - I didn't realise it at first until I tried putting it on my family tree and realised that was the case!

One if my great uncles FiL married two sisters and then one of their cousins.he had children with all three women so it's quite confusing to work out their relationships!

[Josephine]

2. A niece was acting as housekeeper for her unmarried uncle, i.e. her father's brother. She fell pregnant, they married and went on to have 4 more children. The age gap was about 30 years. This was the mid 1800's.

Wouldn't this have fallen under the category of incest and therefore have been illegal?

Regards,
Josephine

[The Geneal Geologist]

I am not fully aware of the laws of the time. The family obviously decided to deal with it the way they did. One never knows the reason for the relationship originally. The uncle was living some distance away from the family, so it was probably able to be kept quiet in the area the family were living. One could imagine the family felt there was nothing to be gained for trying to prosecute a close family member (laws depending) and having a pregnant daughter who may not find another husband.


Quote from: masgrace on Yesterday at 12:07
2. A niece was acting as housekeeper for her unmarried uncle, i.e. her father's brother. She fell pregnant, they married and went on to have 4 more children. The age gap was about 30 years. This was the mid 1800's.

Posted by: Josephine
Wouldn't this have fallen under the category of incest and therefore have been illegal?