Yep that's what I mean't but you said it so much more succinctly. chuckle Pam > Hopefully this make things clearer. > > In-Law > > In the censuses the term 'in-law' meant 'related by marriage' as it does > today, however the key difference is that in the 19th century it was > applied to children which is not the case now. A son whose mother > re-marries would today be called a 'step-son', however he may be recorded > on the census as 'son-in-law'. > > Brother/Sister > > To add further confusion to the above, often when the term 'in-law' would > have been applicable it was not used. Hence a wife whose true relationship > to the Head should be 'sister-in-law' may only be written as sister, next > to her husband. So watch out for random sisters you've never heard of > before, who suddenly crop up! (It is easy to spot the reverse of this > because the mysterious new brother will carry a different surname!) > > Cheers ..... Bryn (Mt Victoria in the Blue Mountains) > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "pam hillier" <pamhillier24@virginbroadband.com.au> > To: "KENT-ENG-L rootsweb" <KENT-ENG-L@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Saturday, February 06, 2010 10:20 AM > Subject: Re: [KENT-ENG] Brother or Sister in Law > > >> Hi Peter, >> In the traditional sense sister in Law (and son in Law etc) is as it is >> today.......but I have had children from the wifes first marriage listed >> in >> census data as son in law to the head of the household.....etc >> So in this case they may be half sister and brother........Might pay to >> check whether one of the parents was married twice, somewhere along the >> line. >> Cheers pam from Adelaide Australia >> >> >> Hi List >> Can someone remind me what the relationship is which would allow a 39 >> year >> old Male to call a 13 year old Female his "Sister in Law"? >> I am puzzled because, as far as I can see, neither the 39 year old nor >> his >> Wife seem to be related to the 13 year old in any way >> >> Thanks >> Peter Jones >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> KENT-ENG-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the >> quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> >> >