The subject of first cousin marriage has come up here lately, prompting me to think about a few questions.
First of all, which are the states that permit first-cousin marriage?
Next, let me ilustrate the case of my dad. He grew up with one brother and one sister. The sister married a nice young man, and they had several kids, including my cousin Bec:smack:ky. The brother married a lovely young lady, and they raised several children, including my cousin Dorothy. My father admired his brother’s taste in young ladies so highly that he married his sister-in-law’s sister. The two of them raised several kids, including me.
Now, I married a lovely young lady who isn’t from any of those pairings. Together we had a child who has eight great-grandparents.
Let us imagine, however, a pair of alternate timelines, in one of which I fall in love with and marry Becky, and in the other of which I marry Dorothy.
My offspring with Becky would be descended from six great-grandparents; my offspring with Dorothy would be descended from four grea
A list of cousin marriage laws by state can be found here.
It’s hard to guess where the second question was going but FWIW you are “double cousins” with Becky et. al not ‘first cousins’ if that helps to research whatever the question is. (and whatever it is, it’s illegal in Kentucky)
You and Becky and you and Dorothy are each first cousins. You and Dorothy are “double” cousins, but the relationship is still one of “first cousin.” Laws that address “first cousins” will affect all of you equally.
(The “number” of a cousin represents one fewer than the number of generations from a common ancestor. One generation = siblings; two generations = First (two minus 1) cousins. (The “removed” number to which you have not alluded, but which generally shows up in such discussions, eventually, represents the number of generations that are not common. So, being the second generation from the grandparents, you, Becky, and Dorothy are first cousins, (two generations minus 1), while your child is the first cousin once removed of Dorothy or Becky, since there is an additional generation from the common ancestor between your child and your cousins.)
You’re right about Becky and Dorothy - my brain starts to scramble when I try to visualize a complicated family tree. But the ‘double cousin’ being treated the same as first cousins legally is not so in all states. At a glance North Carolina allows first cousin marriages except double cousins which is illegal. Some states allow it but only if one or both partners are beyond child bearing years. And some seem to be pretty much anything goes… (but it is all still illegal in Kentucky)
We had a set of six double-cousins come through the high school where I taught: two brothers married two sisters, and each had three kids in the same 3 year period, so at one point there were two seniors, two juniors, and two sophomores. By the time they got to high school, one set of parents were divorced and the other divorced during that period. I am sure the family dynamics were interesting. They all looked like a set: there was no missing that all six were related.
I have a cousin with this name. Her birth name is Rebecca, but after a series of astounding life choices, she is Bec:smack:ky.
To her face, we just call her Becky, without the gesture. She is also known as Bec:confused:ky, Bec :rolleyes:ky, and occasionally Bec :eek:ky.
