In some places, marriage to the first cousin is illegal – in others it is advised! Through history there have been many famous people who, for reasons known only to them, have married within the family. This is a list of 10 of the most famous people who have done this.
Jesse James married his first cousin Zerelda “Zee” Mimms, who was named after Jesse’s own mother. They had two children and remained married until Jesse’s death in 1882 at the age of 34.
Although they had met as children, they became reacquainted after a dinner at the White House in 1902 held by Eleanor’s uncle and Franklin’s fifth cousin, President Teddy Roosevelt. FDR was 20 at the time and was attending Harvard. They were married on St. Patrick’s Day, 1905, and had six children.
In 1707 Johann Sebastian Bach married his second cousin on his father’s side, Maria Barbara Bach. She died in 1720. Not much is known about their marriage, but he remarried less than two years after her death.
H.G. Wells first cousin Isabel Mary Wells, who he left after only three years. Wells was an English writer most famous today for the science fiction novels he published between 1895 and 1901: The Time Machine, The Island of Doctor Moreau, The Invisible Man, The War of the Worlds, When the Sleeper Wakes, and The First Men in the Moon.
Thomas Jefferson married his third cousin Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson in 1772. They had six children together. Martha died on September 6, 1782 and Jefferson never remarried.
Albert married his second cousin Elsa in 1919, not too long after his divorce from his first wife Mileva. Elsa died in 1936 due to various health problems, and though Albert never married again he had several girlfriends until his death in 1955.
All natural selection jokes aside, the man who popularized the theory of evolution married his first cousin Emma Wedgwood. They had a total of ten children. Darwin died in 1882.
At the age of 20 poet Edgar Allen Poe moved in with his aunt, uncle, and cousin after his father left and his mother had died. It was there in Baltimore that he met his seven year old cousin Virginia, who he fell in love with and married when she was only thirteen. She died eighteen years later in 1847, and Poe died only two years after Virginia’s death.
In 1957 famous rock and roll musician Jerry Lee Lewis married his cousin Myra, who was only 13 at the time. He lost an incredible amount of respect and credibility. The marriage almost ended his career and caused him to move from rock to a more country style. They had two children together, and ended up divorced in 1970. [Image: Jerry Lee Lewis and his Wife Myra]
Governor Rudy Giuliani married a woman who he thought to be his third cousin, Regina Peruggi, in 1968. It wasn’t until many years later that they realized that they were actually second cousins. Regina and Rudy divorced in 1982, and Rudy married his second wife Donna Hanover in 1984.
Contributor: DanielleR
@kalyan
What u have mentioned happens ONLY in south india.In north India marriage between cousins(1st,2nd,3rd,4th) is frownded upon.And marriages between uncles and niece is unthinkable !!!
Wow…this wouild shock eveyone who read this. Incest, I couldnt do it myself the bible is against it. America prides itself on its rich christian heritage and present beleifs yet one of its founding members broke a huge rule in the bible, how bizzare!!
It depends on the closeness of the “cousin”. If it isn’t a first cousin, it really doesn’t count. By the time you get to third cousins, or fifth cousins, it’s like marrying the guy from down the street, it’s *that* far removed.
Seriously.
I would marry my half-uncle. My grandmother remarried after having my father and my aunt, so my half-uncle is only three years older than me. We first met when I was six and he was nine, but had a five year gap in seeing each other. I saw him again when I was thirteen and he was sixteen. We didn’t grow up together, but we clicked when we were together. He’s always known what I’ve been thinking and always known exactly how to make me feel better.
Scientifically, this kind of thing would be explained by pheromone attraction. We’re attracted to people who are similar to us but just a little bit different. A half-uncle would have most of the same pheromones as you, but just a little bit different and thus perfect to strengthen the genetic stock.
A few years back my then 72 year old friend told me of reuniting with the cousin she had fallen in love with 55 years earlier…the cousin told his dad he wanted to marry her, and he was told it was a sin, and to put those thoughts from his mind. He disappeared from her life.
All those years later, he contacted her. They had each been married in the intervening years, had kids, partners now dead…and they were still in love. The last 3 years of her life were her happiest.
My grandmother’s 3rd cousin is Robert E. Lee!!!!!
if ever it were to happen to u it would not be digusting, given the context in which it occur, u c my 2nd cousin and i fell in love at a family gathering
facts: we live in different countries had never before known each other we both grew up with our mothers’side of the family and our fathers’relatives were basically unknown to us(we are related on our fathers side)so it was like meeting and falling in love with a stranger, even though we knew we were related there’s something about love, however what we choose to do about our love for each other is another story we r unhappily married to other people and have kids, i can safely say for that point in time in my life i felt gay(u know weird, outcast and oh so forbidden)
i wish i was living in the 18th cen. if only so that i could be with the love of my life…….by the way we r still crazy in love just without the physical aspect.when u meet someone who stimulates ur mind, soul and body in ways only known in movies or that a few people are blessed enough to know it wont seem gross……by the way although there are scientific facts that would allow for marriage between us, sometimes the societal factors outweighs them…as humans we want 2 b accepted,love by most n generally live in peace…….but at peace is the last thing i’m feeling as i’m fighting a battle within my self…….by the way i live in the caribbean were almost everything is *****ing taboo…..anyone ever saw “the Notebook”..that would be my story without the ending, how pityful
whats first second and third cousin?
a while back someone was talking about how they were related to king donald II of scotland….well, my grandad found out that I am descended from William the Conqueror’s sister!! (which means i’m somehow related to him) hehe awesome, and on my dad’s side we’re also descended from the normans when they came over for the battle of hastings in 1066. it’s kind of depressing though that my family has only moved a few miles across the channel in nearly a thousand years!
Also, apparently there’s an Indian princess in my family who came over to England during WWII…I bet someone else has a more interesting story but there you go!
well, goin bk 3 yrs ago, me n my nd cousin hit it off but was reaaly scared bout the family, is mother was my great antie, hes my mothers 1st cousin, anyway we got 2gether n really really happy n wouldnt change anything, hes 13 years older than me n works really well, ad bother at 1st but evey1 now knows n dont say anything, i think if u do fall 4 a cousin n u both feel the same way, then go 4 it, even tho im wiv my 2nd cousin i wouldnt dream on hittin it off wiv my 1st,
I looked up this entrique because of a book i read, to my astonishment i see H.G Wells on there another writer from the exact same period (Oscar Wilde, The Importance Of Being Earnest:Play Debuted ST Valentines Day 1895).My mind but cannot wonder was this inspiration or coincidence.
Mary, Queen of Scots married her cousin Darnley
yes – i am scottish
For those rather silly people grossed out even by the notion of second cousins marrying, I’ll give you another pair of individuals commonly believed to have been FIRST cousins: Mary and Joseph. In addition, even if they were not, Isaac and Rebekah were cousins, and their son Jacob not only married cousins (two of them, sisters to each other), but they were cousins on both sides.
The fact is, there is only a slight increase in the risk of birth defects even when first cousins marry. But what really matters is the family dynamic. That’s one reason why it may be worse for step-siblings — who may be totally unrelated from a biological standpoint — to marry, than it would be for cousins not raised as siblings.
Culture Class:
I’m from India, in some parts of my country this is pretty common even now. I myself married my mother’s brother’s daughter in 2005. i guess that’s first cousin.
Before marriage, i talked to a doctor, studied some researches about consanguinity.
I also learned that its NOT actually illegal to marry first cousins, in most of the states of USA. It’s legal in liberal California as well as conservative Texas.
The scare in western societies about marrying cousins is just a myth. The whole bad genes thing is just a theory. There is no proof about an bad effects. It was concluded in a study done on 10s of 1000s of Indians who married first cousins, that the birth defects in the children is caused by other reasons, like lack of medical awareness, facilities, treatment, preventie measures etc.
I am a hindu. in our culture, we don’t call them cousins. we don’t have an equalent word in our language for cousin. we only have brother/sister or brother-in-law/sister-in-law. no generic term cousin.
Here are our relations (literal translation):
Father’s Elder Brother – Big Father
Father’s Younger Brother – Small Father
Mother’s Elder Sister – Big Mother
Mother’s Younger Sister – Small Mother
we call the children of these as simply Brother or Sister, not cousin. when we introduce them to someone, we tell others that, they are my brothers/sisters. if other person asks me specifically if they are my ‘own brothers/sisters’, then i would tell them that they are my Big/Small Father/Mother ‘s kids.
These types of first cousins may be super hot, but i can honestly speak for our religion people and testify for myself (dont need to lie due to anonymity), i never think them in kinky way, not even the way western society think about their first cousins (kiss cousins, forbidden etc, as in the movie ‘Cruel Intentions’ ).
i feel about these cousin sisters exactly how i feel about my own sister. everything about them is like my own sister. u may not believe but i feel about them exactly like my sister. i guess the culture and how u are brought up plays a major role here. not even a second in my whole life, those kinda of thoughts cross my mind, like how naturally it doesnt happen regarding my own sister.
———– interesting stuff…..>>>
Now, coming to the other half of the first cousins, its completely opposite, to the extent western societies cant even imagine. we call them the equalent of Brother-In-Law and Sister-In-Law, the most eligible spouses
(respective opposite genders)
The relations:
Father’s Elder Sister – Big Aunt
Father’s Younger Sister – Small Aunt
Mother’s Elder Brother – Big Uncle
Mother’s Younger Brother – Smll Uncle
when i introduce these cousins to others, i would introduce them as my Brother-In-Law or Sister-In-Law.
The very thought of the daughters of these uncle/aunt make me think in a completely kinky way. parents also won’t even object if i try to do stuff to these girls. my father’s sister and my mother’s brother, will be more than happy if i try to marry their daughter. the whole society is setup like that.
for example, if i am already born, soon as my father’s sister gets married, my father would ask his sister, ‘when are you giving me my daughter-in-law’, meaning, the daughter of my father’s sister, is the most eligible bride for me
soon as my father’s sister give birth to a daughter, my father would go ‘my daughter-in-law looks so cute’. and everyone in the world tease me that, my future bride is just born. from then on everytime some one refers about my aunt’s daughter, they would refer as my future potential wife
soon as we reach teen years, the topic in my friends circle is, ‘did we do with’ or atleast kiss my aunts’ daughter.
but in this whole culture, none of them thinks the same way about Big/Small Father/Sister ‘s children. they are treated as pretty much as Brother’s and sisters.
here is some more, my grand father (father’s father) married his first cousin. my father married his first cousin. and i married first cousin. all three of them ( my wife, my mother, my father’s mother) have same last name before marriage
the children of my grand father are fine, children of my father are fine and i hope the same with my children. in my immediate friends circle 3/4 of them married their first cousins. their chidren are fine.
@ CRSN
where did you get ur 60% and 40%? can you point me to a scientific study with a logic or a study on actual people?
I love how all the disgrace about incest stems from religion.
Adam and Eve: only humans on Earth. Kids would have had to do it with their mum or amongst themselves or we wouldn’t be here. Same story with Noah and his family after the flood.
Anyway, society is waaaaay too sensitive about incest. There’s nothing inherently wrong with it as long as you don’t go having kids.
136.? – Little known fact: Eve was created after God told Adam to go f**k himself.
I’m not serious of course. Just “ribbing” you guys.
And you might want to rephrase your last sentence. Maybe: “There’s nothing inherently wrong with it as long as you don’t go having ***** with YOUR OWN kids.”
i too hve a doubt,my mother’s sis son is there.he is my cousin know,his name is joy. Now the problem is i loved a beautiful gal of my age only let her name be ‘ruth’,but to my shock she is cousin of joy. their relation is lke dis…joy’s father n ruth’s father r cousin brothers,so she is cousin sis of joy…now as joy is my cousin now ruth is also cousin 4me am i rit?…..but i love her soooooooo much n she also likes me,now can i propose n marry her? plzzzzzzzz tell me a solution
i love my first cousin… so much…. im willing to leave everything behind… there’s nothing wrong with us… we just fell in love… thats all… hope everyone else will let us be
i really2 love my 1st cousin so much… wish she would be the one that id b married to…. will you marry me someday alexandra villanueva?? i wanna spend my life with you ….. i love you so much
i never mt my cousin until a year ago, im 19 and hes 22….
hes my first cousin….
weve been seeing each other in secret for like 5 months and i am truly in love with him….
i feel that because we are cousins it makes us closer…
i would just like to hear all your views on this subject…
i know im probably lining myself up for some horrible messags but i can handle it so i would love to know the truth ….
thank you …
I think ya’all are making tooooo much of this cousin thing. Really look it up in the Bible if you are so inclined, incest stops before cousins. I have a particular cousin that I think is totally HOT and to our pleasant surprise we have very strong feelings for each other. We have done the deed a few times and it has just made us closer. And yes we can still look each other in the eye at family reunions.
hi my great grandad married his cousin and had 4 children one of which had serve mental health she went on to marry her cousin and had a child with serve mental health my parents are not related but i suffer serve mental health which is ditroying my life i feel resentful this could happen and dont feel alot for my family my life has been very hard and i struggle to cope with daily life this is so unfair
The US is the only country that has developed this strange stigma and opposition to cousin relationships and marriage. History is filled with examples of happy, healthy examples of married cousin couples – all the way back to biblical times. The incorrect belief that cousins will produce deformed babies has perpetuated this stigma and contradicts the actual truth. I find it amazing that the US accepts homo*****ual relationships and even homo*****ual marriage, but frowns upon the idea that cousins can love one another and desire to be married and spend their lives together. That makes absolutely no sense.
so what if your cousin was only related by marriage and you had just met that person about a year ago?
I am amazed at the bible thumpers that will swear that the story of Noah and the flood is the absolute truth but in the same breath will condem cousins who marry each other. If the only people on the ark were Noah and his wife, Noah’s sons and their wives—-well figure our the relationships of the flood survivors that carried on the human race. Are we ALL at least cousins?
It is sad that human beings misunderstand the subject of love and *****/*****uality very grossly, and that is what informs the taboos about cousin marriages! Accordingly, there is no probing why marriages are failing right, left and center…
Any thought of total strangers in gamble-like union with corresponding value differences, fear and hard-hearts as subtle factors in the picture??? Imagine, on the other hand, cousins who in being already familiar have similar values and soft-hearts for each other.
Thus, while conventional marriages are about forever learning to be familiar, and prove oneself, cousin union would be about building on an already established relationship. My marriage collapsed because of the former. Meanwhile, societal taboo blocked a golden opportunity for my maternal first cousin and I to get married though we silently loved each other and wished that we could.
The day humanity fully understands love, *****/*****uality and marriage, a whole lot of problems would be averted in our world – a type of paradise! Maybe that is why humanity looks for paradise beyond living because they lost it here. Every social issue starts from the home made by the union of two people.
This is gross. I think the population is large enough that we can all look outside our own families for a spouse. Even third, fourth or fifth cousins have enough of the same blood to make me say ewwwww.
I think it’s hot. I’d bang my cousin..sounds like a dirty little hobby. hahaa
what!!!!! ?????WOW!!!!
Edgar Allen Poe was a pedophile. Lovely.
Poe was messed up to start lookin at a 7 year old cousin but I was having ***** with my sister at 12 until my mother found out then I had to have ***** with her! wasnt bad though we still love each other just not at the same time
wao..biggin ur mest up i hope ur just kidding… but i love this topic im in love with my first cusin.. since we were 6 years old we had to hide our love from the rest of the world now 18 and we still do.. his mom even thinks his gay cuse he wont look at women and spends all his time with me. what kemo said touched my heart… if only this world so ingnorent x3x3x3x3
Im 15 and have had a thing for my cousin for a number of years… i see nothing wrong with it for we were raised seperately and havent spoken to eachother in 2 years… i saw her for christmas and was happy that i still liked her and were happily dating through distance… were not telling family until were old enough to move out of state to where we can marry… im happy to say that she has a bit of a thing for me to
i like the thomas jefferson is died.
It fascinates me, as a non-American, to read some of these comments, so here are a few thoughts to mull over:
Americans make up less than 5% of the global population: therefore, what you may see as “global” laws are actually only “local”, and happen to be much more restrictive, being based in 18th century British law with a particularly puritanical twist.
For most of the English-speaking world, ours are based in early 20th century British law.
The majority of us live in a world where the age of consent is 16, and where there is no prohibition on relationship or marriage with cousins of any degree.
You cannot have a legal *****ual or marital relationship with anyone closer than first cousin, and in most countries parental approval or a court order is required for marriage if you are 16 – 18 (no 13-year-olds need apply!), but otherwise, no problems. And we don’t start licking lascivious lips over a “scandal” involving 17-year-old cousins having a snog.
First cousin marriages are rare (I have known of one in 40+ years), and while America has the highest young teen pregnancy rate in the world while trying to defend the nation’s chastity, perhaps the idea of doing something “banned” invites the rules to be broken.
To a hormonal 13-year-old, 18 is vastly more time to wait (38% of the lifetime you have experienced) than 16 (23%). And if your first available experimental partners are literally kissing cousins, . . . . . (insert violins here).
And to introduce another dimension: Stoccareddo is an isolated village in the Italian Alps where everyone is related, everyone is a “Bau” and 90+ longevity is the norm (lots of fatty foods; no high cholesterol; no heart disease). The theory is that the “bad” genes have died out during their 800 year residency. Maybe Darwin knew something that couldn’t go into book form.
“Incest” is a term which is defined entirely by what your country’s legislation says is incestuous, not by actual relationship.
Siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and similar are “incestuous”, and in New Zealand we also have proscriptions against certain non-sanguinous relations, such as step-relations, adopting parents and their offspring, and brothers/sisters in-law.
I will be marriying my first cousin. he is my half aunts son. i don’t care what people think. u can’t help who u fall in love with
@cowgirl (158): i want to marry jennifer my first cousin. and i wish everyone knew
Very cool, but disturbing list. I’m not going to judge anyone of their choice for marital partner…
My husband likes to bring up one of the morality statements made by some Ayatollah or other. It basically says:
It is moral to take a goat or sheep as a lover, but it is immoral to have ***** with that goat/sheep’s offspring, as that would be incestuous.
I don’t think I can add anything constructive to THAT kind of reasoning.
Let’s be fair here folks: most people back in the 1800s or so couldn’t look up romances via Facebook and MySpace. They didn’t have scantily clad bars or places to meet members of the opposite *****. So cut some slack …
Now the others … (ahem Mr. Lewis and Rudy) don’t exactly have that as an excuse … I mean Jerry Lee Lewis could have had a lot of broads who weren’t blood. :-/
nothing says it better than, you can’t help with whom you fall in love. and i love my cousin with all my heart. we haven’t been raised together.. we only would see each other every few years for family get togethers. and only in the past few years did our feelings for each other come out. and now, we never want to be apart. but, even if we had been raised together, if i had feelings for him that were returned it wouldn’t make me feel any different. it shouldn’t matter the circumstances, if you love someone.. love them, with all of your heart and soul. just be happy with each other, and if others want to judge forget them, because they can never understand your relationship as you do.
You have to realize that for much of the world, first cousin marriages, especially “cross cousin” marriages, are the norm. By marrying a close relative, not only are successful marriages more likely but family wealth and property is better maintained. Marriage costs are lower and more amiable, and the children grow up with parents who have more ties to each other than non-familial marriages.
This is not just in backwards countries, either. Up until the turn of the last century, no one would have batted an eye in Britain over this- in fact, it’s half the plot of Wuthering Heights!
@Tempyra [1]: I think you should be allowed to marry whit your cousin if she’s an adult but i’m against marrying midle life man whit children, if someone chooses to marry whit someone that is not very mature it got problems.
I’m really very disgusted & dissapionted with people who agree to family incest! Anyone that I’m related to by blood, I certainly would not want to have a romantical involvement with… Most of these comments are truly revolting & it assures me why the world Is in such a degragatingly bad state as it is now! People just do not possess or utilize much comon dignity or deccentcy anymore… Anything goes, & the more people to support the cause no matter how wrong the better… Just so that they don’t look & feel like the pervert they are, shocking!! All I can say is, those people better pray their supporters are with them on Judgement day, so that when they bust hell wide open they can be in “good company”… You kno that part where God says “depart from me I know you not”, right then & there I would love to ask all of you supporters, how’s having relations & marrying your family working for ya?
Lisa – Are you god? Do you think you have the right to condemn people to hell? I am more shocked by your comment than anyone elses. I think the world is in this state because of people like you who feel that they are better and more pure than anyone else because of your belief. Your opinion reminds me of that of a death eater in Harry Potter. You know, they are the bad guys…and to you I am a mudblood. I dont condone having *****ual relations with immediate family who you have very close ties with, but I would never feel the need to condemn anyone to hell who might have fallen inlove with a cousin. Jesus Christ woman you have made my blood boil! People like you make people like me fear becoming a Christian cuz it might turn me into a raging lunatic! I am going out with my first cousin who lived in another country for most of our lives. We fell in love and you know what my wonderful Christian parents accepted it and loved me all the same…never once was an opinion thrown at me like yours. I hope one day something similar might happen to you or your children and then see how you feel about it.
Why the F would you do that I would never do that lmfao lol lol
i know a girl who was one of 12 her parents were 1st cousins who fell in love and married none of her bro’s and sisters are deformed but 3 of the girls are lesbian. 3 of the girls [including her] are bi. . 1 of the boys is gay. 2 of the boys are bi.the rest [2 girls & 1 boy] are straight. both her parents are bi aswell and her maternal grandmother is bi. and her maternal auntie is a lesbian anything in that you wonder
lisa!!!!!!
you are closed minded and well basicly an idiot..
if it happend to you, you would think diffferently trust me!!!
i find it pathetic that people are so horrified and disgusted by the thought of cousins being together..
you CANT help who you fall in love with..
ive been with my FIRST cousin for a year and 5 months now and it is honestly the best relationship weve both ever had,
theres a closness there that wouldnt be there if he wasnt my cousin…
although we never met untill we got together,
imagin going out meeting someone getting to know them falling in love with them then finding out its your cousin.. put urself in that position and tell me u would be able to shut off all your feelings for them… because you wouldnt!!!!
as for you CRSN where the hell did you get ur information from.. 60% risk….
i can tell you now that although we are using protection, i fell pregnant and yes with my first cousin…
i spent a lot of time finding out risks and birth defects.. and it goes from a non related couple having a child and it being a 3% risk to a first cousin couple having a child and it being a 6% risk whick in theory isnt a lot but although i was happy to be pregnant i new it wasnt the rite thing to do… but only because a baby would be born in to such a narrow minded world were they would be bullied if people found out, and i just couldnt put a child through that….. sooo as were on the subject of the bible… does the bible agree with abortion???? no!!!
so thanks to the small minded, idiotic, bubble wraped people out there im no longer pregnant…..
life is about living and if your lucky enough to find someone who u want to be with and u truley love them go for it no matter what the situation…
its better to liv a life being judged than live a lie and loose the one you love…..
lisa!!!!!
thinking you know so much about the bible… why dont you try reading it and seeing what the bible has to say!!!
and how dare u use the word pervert, your the sick one….
you need to stick your nose in to a bible sweetheart, coz i doubt its me thats going to hell…
you should wait till judgment day, id love to see how you got along!!!!!
Sweety,
I feel you and that's too bad and sad what you have experienced with the closed minded persons. In the bible the said first parents Eve and Adams kids, they have lived together. Noah's sons kids were cousins and had to get married.
I think the time has come to overcome our problems of view and start tolerating the others with their difference and this is why Jesus Christ said not to judge your brother and 2pac, only God can judge, only God. Let's not do God's job.
Whatever the name you give it, we all are from the same source and in every culture that Source is considered to be all Love everytime and everywhere.
Let's be more ready to tand for Life, for a better future, for our kids a green planet where war, always due to differences, is killing every species here.
Is it good or not to be in love with your cousin? I do not know, it is up to you make a choice and whatever it is, I will tolerate you with your difference.
Just plain sick!
Just the thought of marrying any of my cousins (1st, 2nd or 3rd etc) would want me to puck in my mouth. Coincidence, bearing in mind Darwin's theory of evolution would have been much better served if he did not interbreed!!
Oh *****! Giuliani! He’s such! A *****ing jerk!
***** you too *****!
i have a crush in my cousin
The Roosevelt One isn't that unusual. I've known people who have gotten married and they were third, fourth, or fifth cousins. It seems a bit gross, but I guess they don't mind. Fifth cousins isn't all that close.
The Jerry Lee Lewis and Edgar Allen Poe ones are just wrong, though. You have to be a special kind of person to marry a thirteen-year-old, cousin or not.
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What about queen Elizabeth II!
Philip and her are second cousins
i dont see anything wrong with it. I know all of my first cousins very well so idk if i could marry one. but i also had an affair with my 3rd cousin that lasted for years and would have married him had i not met somebody else.