Hello All, I've read several messages concerning cousins marrying cousins on the list and just wanted to make a comment on the subject. In some societies, 1st cousin marriages are the preferred marriage, especially in Africa and South America. You may ask why this is so, simply the preferred marriage for a male is his mother's sister's daughter. In these societies, the male did not inherit his father's property but rather his wife inherited her mother's brother's property. Males did not inherit anything but titles, only daughters inherited property. Simply put, you always know who the mother is, but not always who was the father. This maternal lineage system insured that the property stayed within the clan and the inheritor was positively related. Another effect was if there were any defective genes in the family line, after several generations, the defective lines would die out. (loosely taken from South American Indians 302, UM) Frankly, I'm not ashamed of the 1st cousin marriages within my family, it is part of my heritage and if it had not happened, I wouldn't exist. To the best of my knowledge, there are no genetic recessives in my family line either, maybe the 1st cousin marriages were a blessing after all.......... Sincerely, Jim Harmon -- Jim Harmon mailto:jharmon@earthlink.net BROWN-Rowan & Mecklinburg Co. NC>Cobb Co. GA>Calhoun Co. AL COSTNER-Germany>Lincoln Co. NC>Union Dist. SC, Calhoun Co. MS>West>TX, OK, CA DOUGHERTY-Wythe Co. VA, Johnson Co. AL HARMON-Hampshire Co. MA>Bennington Co. VT>Lincoln Co. TN>Monroe Co. MS HARRIS-Surry Co. VA> Rockingham Co. NC HAYLES-Alabama MIZE-Patrick Co. VA POWELL-Tallapoosa Co. AL SLEMP/SLIMP-Wythe Co. VA>Johnson Co. TN UPCHURCH-Greene Co. AL>MS