Do you know of any "double-cousins"?

[Renew Deal]

Someone posted this earlier. I never thought about the possibility. Do you know of any double cousins or are you one?

[NaturalHigh]

1. I didn't even know what it meant until I read that note.

No, I don't recall ever meeting any.

[Thinkingabout]

2. Yes, sisters of one family married brothers of another family. My father had double first cousins.

Two of my uncles married sisters of another family.

[CatWoman]

25. I have two (they are sisters)

my father and his brother married my mom and my aunt.

The two sisters are the results of that marriage.

[truegrit44]

46. That's correct.............

It isn't cousins marrying cousins. My husband's 2 sisters each married into unrelated family of 2 brothers. So both have the same last names and their children from these marriages are double cousins. I would guess that blood wise these children who are double cousins would be close to half siblings and that would be NOT good if they were to marry each other

[Angry Dragon]

3. is that like republican inbreeding??

Last edited Mon Jul 13, 2015, 04:24 PM - Edit history (1)

I will add this

[uppityperson]

10. No. It is getting together with the sibling of your sib's spouse,Your kids are cousins on both sides

mom's side and dad's side

[Thinkingabout]

55. It isn't inbreeding, it is siblings of one unrelated marrying siblings from another family.

[Xyzse]

4. Wait, what?

That happens?

<--Head currently exploded--

Chances are, people don't even know that it is legal in the state they are in.

[AngryAmish]

28. Cousin marriage is the norm in the middle east, africa, central asia and Indian subcontinent

We are the weirdos to much of the rest of the world. The cousin marriage ban is a 1500 year experiment by the Roman Catholic Church.

[Xyzse]

29. I meant in those states.

It shows MD, and other states that show it is legal.

I didn't even realize that it was legal.

[AngryAmish]

32. Western perspective.

[Xyzse]

35. I guess so...

[tblue37]

61. WWI was basically a family squabble, since the European royals kept marrying within the

family. The monarchs of the various European countries were cousins, nieces and nephews, grandparents and grandchildren, and every other kind of consanguinity. Kaiser Wilhelm was Queen Victoria's eldest grandson!

[Yo_Mama]

69. It's still bad news when your family tree does not branch

If double cousins married each other and had children:

First generation, unrelateds:
Parent A arent B -->Child E; Child F
Parent C arent D -->Child G; Child H

Child E:Child G --> Child 1; Child 2 (I'm running out of alphabet)
Child F:Child H --> Child 3; Child 4

Children 1,2 are now double first cousins to children 3, 4.

If
Child1:Child3 -- > Child I,
Then
Child I has only four great grand parents as well as four grand parents.

In groups where cousin marriage is common, there are higher rates of genetic disorders. In the end, the recessives win.

In much of the Arabic world, high rates of cousin marriage have produced higher rates of genetic disorders, and I think most of wealthy countries now require genetic testing before marriage.

[xmas74]

67. It's perfectly legal and it's not inbreeding.

My mother fell in love and married my father. She has a younger sister. My father has a younger brother. My mother's sister (my aunt) and my father's brother (my uncle) fell in love and married. They had two children. The two children are my double cousins.

It's not even gross when you think about it.

[sufrommich]

5. Not all double cousins are the product of cousins marrying

each other.I'm a double cousin,my mom and her cousin married brothers (my dad and my uncle) their kids (myself included) are 1st and second cousins.

[susanna]

20. I am one the same way you are, sufrommich.

Except it was my dad and his female cousin who married siblings (my mom, her brother).

It is kind of convoluted when I think about it, so I just try not to.

[sufrommich]

26. It's even harder to explain to outsiders.

[susanna]

54. Exactly! But it makes family reunions easier.

[Thinkingabout]

56. This is what is meant as double cousins, nothing nasty or bad about this.

[muriel_volestrangler]

57. The people in the OP aren't the product of cousins marrying, either

They are the product of two pairs of siblings marrying (which still doesn't involve anyone with known common ancestry marrying each other). The point is that NC then prohibits the children of those marriages from marrying each other. The people in the OP are 1st and 1st cousins.

[xmas74]

68. High five to another double cousin!

My mom's sister and my dad's brother married, two children.

My dad's sister and my mom's first cousin married, three children.

[uppityperson]

6. I know one set. Their fathers are brothers, moms sisters, from different families

I can see it happening. I dated a brother of my sister's boyfriend while in highschool. None of us married each other but I can see how you could get interested in the sibling of partner of your sibling.

[Renew Deal]

14. I guess the real question is does anyone know of double cousins marrying.

[SheilaT]

44. I'm slightly confused by your header.

Moms sisters, from different families? Are they sisters or are they from different families?

[uppityperson]

45. Dads are brothers, sibs from 1 birth family. Moms are sisters, sibs from another birth family

2 brothers (Jones) marry 2 sisters (Smiths). Their kids are cousins on dad's side, since dads are brothers. Their kids are also cousins on mom's side since moms are sisters.

[SheilaT]

48. Okay. So more or less run-of-the-mill double cousins.

Thanks for clarifying. Sometimes I confuse easily.

[monmouth4]

7. My mother and her sister married my father and uncle. They had no children though so I had no

double cousins...

[Renew Deal]

13. Close

I guess this goes on...

[gollygee]

8. I'd never even heard of this. n/t

[jberryhill]

9. Liked that one didja?

Yeah the "double cousin" thing is interesting.

[Renew Deal]

16. Yes

Thanks

[closeupready]

11. That wasn't all that uncommon when families were large,

and the population was more rural. These days in the US, it's unheard of.

[shanti]

51. exactly

i have several examples of this in my family tree on both sides. if one lived in a small community of several families, you usually picked from that community, especially if they belonged to the same church.

[GummyBearz]

12. Yes

same as most previous posts... a set of brothers married a set of sisters and both had kids...

[MineralMan]

15. It's not that common for two brothers to marry two sisters,

but it happens from time to time. There were some double cousins in my high school. At least one set.

[Renew Deal]

21. It could also be a brother and sister from one family marry a brother and sister from another family

[MineralMan]

36. Yes, absolutely. Probably an equally common combination.

Life's interesting, isn't it?

[Renew Deal]

39. Yes, and it would make for simpler holiday plans.

[MineralMan]

40. Yes, I suppose so.

[No Vested Interest]

17. I think double cousins were more common in an earlier time,

when opportunities to meet eligible partners were more constricted.
I know of at least one family today that has double cousins, but in my and my spouses genealogy there are several instances.
Also, with smaller families today, there are fewer opportunities for those types of marriages.

[MineralMan]

22. I think it's also more common in small, rural communities.

Large families and few opportunities to meet eligible partners would encourage brothers to marry sisters and have kids. There are fewer such communities these days, and families are smaller.

There was one set of such marriages in my wife's family, a generation before her parents. Small farm town in South Dakota. So, there are double cousins around, in her mother's generation. None of them married another double cousin, though. That's been a taboo pairing for some time, I think.

I know some first cousins who married, though. Several, in fact. Again, they're from rural areas. No bad effects from it, though.

I had a brief relationship with a first cousin from another state as a teenager, but it never went very far. As I remember, it was a source of much amusement and teasing at the time from other family members.

[No Vested Interest]

31. I can understand how first cousins can be "interested" in one another,

especially in the teen years, when they are first noticing the opposite sex, and in each other's company frequently.

I would think older family members would discourage, if they saw it progressing, just because of society's taboos associated with marriage between cousins. Some relationships cannot be prevented though - they'll happen regardless.

And, yes, you're correct re double cousins in smaller communities.

[MineralMan]

38. First cousin relationships and marriages aren't that uncommon,

and there's no taboo involved in many places in the US. About half the states have no prohibition against it, and there's no appreciable genetic risk that's higher than random pairings really. It's really a regional and religion-based taboo.

What I remember was that nobody raised any issue with me and my first cousin being interested in each other. Lots of teasing about it at family gatherings and lots of "kissing cousins" jokes, but that was it. I suppose, if it continued, there wouldn't have been any objections raised had we decided to marry, either.

It's purely a social taboo, and not a universal one, apparently. It's always been a shrugging thing for me. I know married first cousins. They seem just like any other couple.

[1939]

42. It probably isn't bad for it too appear once in a while in a family tree

If it happens too often, you get into the problems of inbreeding.

"You know you are a redneck if your family tree doesn't fork."

[MineralMan]

43. I think it would be rather rare, really.

But, again, in isolated, rural communities, relationships in families are often hard to figure out, really. These days, it would be far less likely for first cousins to marry, and it would probably stop at that marriage and not extend any further within the family.

There's actually a discussion forum on the internet about cousin marriage, where people discuss this issue from a personal point of view. Here's the link, if you're interested:

http://www.cousincouples.com/forum/

I happened on it after another thread on DU on this subject.

[Bluenorthwest]

18. Absolutely

nt

[Skidmore]

19. I have double cousins, or at leas that is how we have been identifed.

My father's sister was married to my mother's brother. My parents were the younger siblings. However, the birth families of my mother and father and their respective siblings were not related. So, we do not fit quite this desciption of being the progeny of first cousins having married then reproducing.

[KamaAina]

23. No, but I know some identical cousins

[MineralMan]

27. LOL! Indeed.

[DawgHouse]

24. I have a few in my family, two that I can think of off-hand.

I figured it out when doing some genealogy research. A couple of brothers married sisters.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

30. Yes, I do. Though I've never heard the term "double cousins" before.

My mother and one of sisters both married brothers from a different family.

[MineralMan]

33. I do know a step-brother and sister who married.

No genetic relationship at all. Their parents married each other while their kids were dating in high school. In fact that's how the two divorced parents met, through their children dating. The teenagers were good friends of mine.

The kids graduated and got married. I saw them at my 50th HS reunion. Still happy and with two adult children. I remember they had some serious restrictions after their parents married and they were all living in the same house. They could date each other, but no displays of affection in the house. It was interesting, and a bit awkward, too.

[Sherman A1]

34. Yes,

some in my Mother's Maternal Family from back in the mid 1930's I believe and it was in Illinois.

[LeftinOH]

37. My two (paternal) uncles married a pair of sisters.

Not sure if that's the same thing.. but their kids (who are my cousins, and also cousins to each other) all look very much alike - like siblings.

[Renew Deal]

41. Your cousins could not marry in NC,

Last edited Mon Jul 13, 2015, 09:40 PM - Edit history (1)

but they could in many other places.

[SheilaT]

47. My question about the map is

what is the exact distinction between cousin marriage legal and first-cousin marriage prohibited. I bet all of the states in green have different degrees of prohibition of cousin marriage.

[MineralMan]

49. Here's a link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cousin_marriage_law_in_the_United_States_by_state

Wikipedia has an article that spells it all out, state by state. Wikipedia has everything. As far as I know, the information on that page is accurate and up-to-date.

21 states allow first cousin marriage with no restrictions.

[SheilaT]

50. Thank you.

[City Lights]

52. Yes!

Two of my cousins (male brothers) married two sisters. The sisters they married grew up down the street from where I grew up. One couple has three children - twin girls and a boy, and the other couple has a girl and a boy.

[MANative]

53. Definitely have that in my family.

My maternal grandfather and his brother married two sisters. Subsequently, that great-uncle and great-aunt had five daughters and two sons. Three of the daughters married three brothers. The daughter and son of one of those marriages then wed a brother and sister.

[angryvet]

58. My great grandparents

they lived in Ohio but had to go to Pennsylvania to marry. We've suffered no bad results. Lots of Democrats.

[Squinch]

59. My father's brother married my mother's sister. No genetic relatives married, but I have 5

double cousins.

It's something that happens in almost every other generation in my mother's family.

[Retrograde]

60. my grandmother and her sister married brothers (n/t)

[Solly Mack]

62. Yes. My Aunt and my first cousin (blood Aunt and blood niece) married brothers.

My first cousin's kid was both a first and second cousin to my Aunt's kids. First cousins through the Fathers and second cousins through my first cousin - blood Aunt. My Aunt was an aunt to my first cousin and a great-aunt to her kid, as well as aunt to the first cousin's kid by marriage - through her husband.

My Aunt and my first cousin were sister-in-laws. My first cousin was both aunt (by marriage) and first cousin (by blood) to my Aunt's children.The brothers they married were also brother-in-laws to each other, as well as Uncles to each other's kids. My aunt's husband was also a great-uncle to his brother's kid.


People try to make it convoluted when it really isn't. Same rules of relation apply, and if you can understand Aunt/Uncle - first cousins/subsequent cousins, then it's easy to follow.

Never had a cousin marry a cousin though.

The example in the "Note": are double first cousins...double cousins come in other forms as well.

[MiniMe]

63. My grandparents on my mom's side

Two brothers married 2 sisters. The 2 families were not related in any way. So I guess my Mom was a double cousin. Mom and her cousin had the exact set of grandparents. Now I hate figuring things like this out. I can her my cousin, she is the daughter of my Mother's cousin and I have the exact set of great grandparents on one side. I think she is my first cousin once removed?

[Recursion]

64. Sure, though it has nothing to do with your map

Double cousins aren't produced by people marrying someone they are related to.

I even know one better: a pair of identical twin brothers married two (non-twin) sisters. Genetically their kids are "three quarters" siblings.

[xmas74]

65. I have one.

My mom's sister married my dad's brother. I actually have two double cousins but one is no longer with us. The three of us (me, my brother and my cousin) have made comments about how if any of us needed a kidney or marrow we'd be the closest to a match.

Also, my dad's sister married one of my mom's cousins so my three cousins from that marriage would be a stronger bloodline than a regular cousin. Not as close as my double cousin but closer than most cousins, since she married my mother's first cousin.

[greatauntoftriplets]

66. Two of my greataunts on my father's side married brothers.

My maternal grandmother's niece married my grandfather's brother.