Kissing (and Marrying) Cousins in Our Ancestry

Since eligible partners were not as plentiful in the limited gene pool in colonial New England, a few of our ancestors married cousins--either first cousins (different parents but same grandparents) or second cousins (different grandparents but same great-grandparents). (We know of some ancestors who were third cousins--having different great-grandparents but the same great-great-grandparents--and even seventh cousins, with the same great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparents--but there are probably many instances of this, even in contemporary marriages.)

To put this fact into context, here are some famous first-cousin married couples: Old Testament Jacob and Leah, and then Jacob and Rachel, Charles and Emma Darwin, Albert and Elsa Einstein, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. In Saudi Arabia, nearly 40% of all marriages are between first cousins.

In today's United States, however, first-cousin marriages are outlawed altogether in 24 states, and in an additional 5 states such a marriage is allowed only if the couple is unable to bear children. Doctors have routinely recommended sterilization or, in the event of a pregnancy, abortion.

Behind these laws is the notion that children of first-cousin marriages are especially susceptible to congenital diseases. Yet, according to a study in the Journal of Genetic Counseling, these children have only a slightly higher risk of such genetic disorders as congenital heart defects or cystic fibrosis, and the study's author, Robin Bennett, has stated that there is no need for genetic testing solely on the basis of consanguinity.

Information in the preceding three paragraphs was distilled from Richard Corliss, "Cousins: A New Theory of Relativity," Time, 15 April 2002, p. 60.

First Cousins

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