Sorry Betty - Grace is a friend on another list with an e-mail address very similar to your B&G! Marj Legally, they probably could marry, and in the "Table of Kindred and Affinity" at the back of the Book of Common Prayer it doesn't appear to prohibit marriage by cousins - aunts and uncles are taboo, but not their children, it seems. I know it was definitely frowned upon in my own family when two first cousins wanted to marry - the family kept them apart, which was quite easy since one was RC and lived in Dundalk, Ireland, and the other was Protestant and lived in Bootle, Liverpool. They both married other people, although they were heartbroken at the time - I remember it all because it was about 1950. Marj Does anyone know what the situation was as regards first cousins marrying in mid 1800s? I have a pair who I am pretty sure were cousins who went on to have 10 children but I cannot find a marriage for them. From what I have been told the parents tried to discourage relationship. Betty