So, I was playing around in Relationship Finder…and found out my parents are cousins

Question

 So, I was playing around in Relationship Finder…

And for giggles, I chose to find out if my parents were related to each other.  I am not surprised that they are distant cousins; 10^th to be exact, but what does surprise me is how they related. 

Just to preface this, let me share with you that both my parents were raised by single mothers, and never knew their fathers. Also throw in the fact that my paternal great grandfather was an adopted child, and it is only recently that we were able to unwind that biological path. (This is one reason I became interested in genealogy.)

So, when comparing my parents on relationship finder, imagine my delight to see that both of my parents are related through 4 different families, all 11 generations ago, 3 families from Hartford, CT on both my father and mother’s paternal side, and one family match between my mother’s mother, and my father’s paternal grandmother, 11 generations ago in Watertown, Mass. 

Since finding this out, I’ve been teasing my father (who just turned 84) about marrying his cousin…ewww… and then surmising that perhaps this proves they were made for each other, and like quantum entanglement, were just meant to be.

Perhaps someone else here has a similar situation?  I would love to hear other members’ stories.  

Comments

This is not uncommon, especially if a couple has a number of ancestors from a small geographic area. Another aspect of this is a person having more than one descent from a single ancestor.

Answer 1

I have several sets of 3rd and 4th cousins some generations removed that married.

But my parents are not related except by marriage.

Answer 2

Yes, my parents are cousins, I think 14th.  And, I'm a 17th to my wife.

Working on profiles, I find many overlapping families- the closest I've found is 2nd cousins marrying, and there were 2 sets of them in the same generation.

If we had all the records, we would find we are all related!  DNA is showing it...

Answer 3

My paternal grandparents were 2nd cousins. Nothing "ewww" about it. I have found other incidences of cousin marriage in my family tree, as well. As George Fulton said, this is not at all uncommon.

Answer 4

I have similar situation, my grandparents are 2nd cousins.

Answer 5

I think it's fair to say that this is more than common  -- in fact, everybody on the planet has some inter-cousin marriages back there somewhere in his/her ancestry.  It's a mathematical necessity, as explained by 'pedigree collapse:'

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Pedigree_collapse

If you Google that term, there are a lot of different explanations, but if not for those cousin intermarriages, you would at some point have more direct ancestors than there were people in the world.

Answer 6

Both of my parents were half French Canadian and my ex-husband was all French Canadian so it was no surprize to find out that we are 8th cousins once removed at the closest. We have many common ancestors.

Answer 7

I made that same discovery with my biological parents.

It makes for one mess of a tree.

Answer 8

My wife and I found her parents were cousins!  After the laughing died down, my wife and I found WE ARE COUSINS!  (17th) Whew!

Answer 9

Not all uncommon.  My maternal great, great grandparents were first cousins; I think that make me my own fifth cousin.