Hello Folks, Horrified at finding a notable first-cousin marriage in Wirksworth in 1872, I looked up the matter in Wikipedia to find the following: "England maintained a small but stable proportion of cousin marriages for centuries, with proportions in 1875 estimated by George Darwin at 3.5 percent for the middle classes and 4.5 percent for the nobility, though this had declined to under 1 percent in the 20th century. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were a preeminent example". The United States has the only bans on cousin marriage in the Western world. Regards, John Palmer, Dorset, England Author of Wirksworth website www.wirksworth.org.uk

I'm afraid I have an example of a first cousin marriage which is even closer than normal - the cousins were children of two brothers and two sisters. My grandmother was their daughter. We have pread the genes about a bit since then to include Scottish, French and US strains. -----Original Message----- From: John Palmer <johnpalmer@wirksworth.org.uk> To: DERBYSGEN-L <DERBYSGEN-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sun, 28 Apr 2013 10:54 Subject: [DBY] First cousin marriage in 1872 Hello Folks,Horrified at finding a notable first-cousin marriagein Wirksworth in 1872, I looked up the matter in Wikipediato find the following: "England maintained a small but stable proportion ofcousin marriages for centuries, with proportions in 1875estimated by George Darwin at 3.5 percent for the middle classesand 4.5 percent for the nobility, though this had declined to under1 percent in the 20th century.Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were a preeminent example".The United States has the only bans on cousin marriage in the Western world.Regards,John Palmer, Dorset, EnglandAuthor of Wirksworth websitewww.wirksworth.org.uk -------------------------------To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to DERBYSGEN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

I believe, off the top of my head, that I read there is only a 6% chance of birth defects when first cousins marry, hence it is only the United States that bans this. They have blood tests though, before marriage, so maybe it is just dependent on the results. I had a personal interest, since I had first cousins who married in my own family. Not found anyone 2-headed yet. Royals increasingly interbred, since there are a limited number of royals to choose from! :) Sue Researching GRUNDY in Derbyshire ---------------------------------------- > From: johnpalmer@wirksworth.org.uk > To: DERBYSGEN-L@rootsweb.com > Date: Sun, 28 Apr 2013 10:53:18 +0100 > Subject: [DBY] First cousin marriage in 1872 > > Hello Folks, > Horrified at finding a notable first-cousin marriage > in Wirksworth in 1872, I looked up the matter in Wikipedia > to find the following: > "England maintained a small but stable proportion of > cousin marriages for centuries, with proportions in 1875 > estimated by George Darwin at 3.5 percent for the middle classes > and 4.5 percent for the nobility, though this had declined to under > 1 percent in the 20th century. > Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were a preeminent example". > The United States has the only bans on cousin marriage in the Western world. > Regards, > John Palmer, Dorset, England > Author of Wirksworth website > www.wirksworth.org.uk > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to DERBYSGEN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message