Unless you are in a secluded area or live in a ten x ten mile section of our county where the relatives of ten families came over from Germany in about 1840. When I arrived in 1970 they were still speaking German and teaching their children in one room classrooms They have intermarried so much they MUST keep the trees branches straight. Sisters married brothers repeatedly. Cousins married cousins (I know ). ITs kind of like the Amish. No one moved out of the area and few outsiders were accepted past the porch
Doesn’t sound healthy.
Absolutely fascinating. Did you finally move past the porch level of relationships?
In my research, I frequently see personal relationships (friendships, not marriage) between 2nd cousins. Rarely see 3rd cousin relationships.
In Dutch NY, 1700s, they dealt with the inbreeding problem systematically. Children were grouped into separate sets and the sets couldn’t include close relationships. The sets would berry pick together, have competitions, etc. Marriages usually took place WITHIN a set, so they had preselected who the children hung around with. The stories were told by a girl who was brought into the area by her father and left with the families while he went awarring. Told as an outsider not part of the sets.