Hi Wanda, That's what I've said on other Lists; when people first came to Canada, and certain parts of the U.S., especially when they settled in non-populated areas, there was no one else to marry ! My KERR / HENDERSON ancestors went to non-populated Argenteiul Co., Quebec, in 1820's, and cousins, Robert and Elizabeth, were born there in 1827. They married there in 1851. * And, my KIDDER / WILKINS ancestors lived in the sparsely populated area along the ME / NB border from 1800 on to present. When Joseph returned from fighting in the Civil War, seriously injured, he married his cousin, Clarissa. Betty (near Lowell, MA, USA) *Most of Robert and Elizabeth's family came down to Boston in 1870's/1880's. (My Nova Scotia connection is, one, that Calvin KIDDER from NH followed familis up to (then) Nova Scotia in 1783. And, two, my LEWIS / CORKILL ancestors were "home children," arriving in Nova Scotia in ~1875.) ----- Original Message ----- From: "Wanda Powell" <aligator@fairpoint.net> To: <nova-scotia@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, June 22, 2007 11:42 AM Subject: [NS-L] cousins I’ve been reading these on 2 web sites and have gotten a charge out of them, my mother use to sing “I’m my own grandpa” long before hearing about Ray! I’m related to my own mom 15 different ways. Besides being her daughter she is my 6th, 8th, 9th 10th and the list is rather endless. That is only one I’ve listed from the kinship report from family tree maker. When adding the Steeves line from New Brunswick and how often they intermarried bet one would not even wish to try. In the early years as people came to America and Canada it was understandable they had little to chose from. So what was the excuse as time goes by and more families landed in these countries?