In a message dated 7/13/2006 1:06:20 PM Eastern Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: The further back you go the more likely cousins married cousins, narrowing the list of ancestors. I really don't have to go too far back. Maybe there just wasn't anyone else to marry? First cousins marrying first cousins among my Orange Co people of Lamoreaux and Davenports. They seemed to like to intermarry with about 3 different families. I have a few CT families that did the same. I descend from 5 different couples at least twice. When you read literature like Jane Austen's works, they even talk about characters marrying their first cousins and it being encouraged. Valerie