I'm not even sure whether this was legal at the time, but would appreciate helpful strategies to investigate. The marriages were not simultaneous, of course. I'm looking at two ladies, a mother called Estelle/Stella Cooper Gay and her daughter Margaret Cooper Gay. Both were born in Kentucky in 1875 and 1900, respectively. Estelle was previously married to Stonewall Gay in Kentucky. He either died or the couple were divorced sometime after 1904. Both ladies appear to have married a German fellow called Horst Von Der Goltz (who was not Margaret's father) in New Jersey (the mother) and possibly New York (the daughter). I have a marriage date and place for Estelle via her 1923 US passport application (17 Mar 1923 in Weehawken NJ). No death date for Estelle seems readily available. Her passport application fibs about her true age and lists her daughter, the witness, as a sister; so does the 1920 federal census, by the way. No marriage date seems available for Margaret (or Peggy as she was sometimes known), though she and Horst are referred to as husband and wife in two New York Times news articles from 1932 and 1933. When Horst registered for WWII in 1943 Peggy is listed as the person who will always know his whereabouts, and lives at the same address as Horst. This is helpful but not conclusive for a marriage. I haven't been able to locate Horst and Margaret in the 1930 census, which would give the ages of the husband and wife when they first married, and would be better proof that a marriage took place. Horst didn't die until 1969. A divorce must have occurred (assuming there was a marriage) because Margaret died in 1957 as the wife of Francis Smulders in Connecticut. Any suggestions for pursuing viable leads to prove Margaret's marriage to Horst? Were there any laws in effect that might have precluded a marriage to one's stepdaughter? Many thanks for any suggestions. ---- saki@ucla.edu http://sakionline.net/familypage