Recent News Articles

Woman Learns She Unknowingly Married Her Cousin

24 Jan 2023 8:01 AM | Anonymous

Here is a bit of advice to anyone thinking of getting married: first research your genealogy as well as that of your partner. Just ask Marcella Hill.

Marcella recently shared a video detailing how the horrific revelation came about in her video captioned “I accidentally married my cousin.”

Marcella starts by telling viewers that she has never revealed this secret to anyone. She says she and her husband were relaxing on the couch, searching for names for the baby they were having.

The couple decided to go through FamilySearch to see if either one of them has a name that stood out in their bloodline. As Marcella and her spouse browsed through grandparents, mentioning their names, her husband said, “Oh, that’s funny. We have the same grandma and grandpa’s names.”

Doubtful, Marcella looked over her husband’s family and told him that she believed he was mistakenly logged into her account. After taking a closer look, the pair realized that he was logged in correctly and that Hill’s grandfather and her husband’s grandmother were first cousins.

The couple decided to get both grandparents on the phone and ask if they knew each other.

“Sure enough, they sure do. They lived together when they were growing up as children,” she says.

Marcella tells viewers that she and her husband are third cousins. 

“And, when I go to my family reunion, he gets to go to his, too… at the same time!” as the video ends.

In a follow-up video, Marcella defended her situation further when a viewer asked how she hadn't realized she was related to her husband at her wedding.

"Wedding? What wedding?" Hill asked before explaining, "We got married in a courthouse after work on a Wednesday." She shared photos of the event and noted that no extended family members — or cousins — were there.

You can read more in an article by NyRee Ausler published in the yourtango.com web site at: https://tinyurl.com/msrsfpc3.

Have you and your spouse researched BOTH of your family trees?

“A cousin is a ready-made friend for life.”

Comments

  • 25 Jan 2023 7:33 AM | Anonymous
    Sounds like my family: grandparents end up being 3rd cousins - BLOSS married to BLOSE. Neither side seemed to realize they were related until genealogy intervened years later (Blose just eing the Anglicized version of the German Bloss (Blöß). CHBloss
    Link  •  Reply
  • 25 Jan 2023 7:47 AM | Anonymous
    Third Cousins is no big deal. They share a minimum of DNA. The couple have nothing to "defend".
    Link  •  Reply
    • 25 Jan 2023 8:09 AM | Anonymous
      I agree, third cousins marriage is no big deal. My paternal grandparents were second cousins. I'm pretty sure second cousins can legally get married anywhere or about anywhere in the U. S.
      Link  •  Reply
  • 3 Feb 2023 9:38 AM | Anonymous
    I have just found a third cousin I didn't know. Only 33 cm <1% DNA. I know that Catholic Church asks then for a dispense, 4th to 4th degree of consanguinity. Marrying between first cousins was discouraged, 2nd to 2nd degree, but occurred from time to time.
    Link  •  Reply

Blog posts

Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter









































Powered by Wild Apricot Membership Software