Current research, announced last year, indicates that marrying relatives isn't as bad as we were previously led to believe UNLESS the family is known to carry disease, defective genes, etc. which would be made worse by doubling up on the gene pool. They aren't saying marry your brother but your cousin probably isn't a problem. Certainly in my family tree there are plenty of cousin marriages and no known horrid results. In my husband's family, however, it caused major problems. I would say it helps to know your genealogy in detail before marrying your relative. Cheryl Rothwell [email protected] Logan County ILGenWeb www.rootsweb.com/~illogan Central IL Regional Coordinator, ILGenWeb Clark, Downing, Harding, Lucas, et al