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My 2nd great grandfather James is also my 2nd great uncle -- is there a technical genealogical term for a person who is several things on your tree?
Inbred
I have the same thing, so all I can do is utter a rueful chuckle
Two sisters: Mary and Martha
Mary's son married Martha's granddaughter. The oldest offspring of those two was my father So, I guess that made my g-g-grandmother my g-g-aunt as well. I think ::scratches head::
And not only was this too close a breeding match, my grandfather was 20 years older than my grandmother. And they had 11 kids in all. There's just all sorts of FAIL going on there. BUT, I didn't even know about the close match until I started researching family history. Then it was a case of "oh, you gotta be kidding!" followed by laughter.
I have the same thing, so all I can do is utter a rueful chuckle
Two sisters: Mary and Martha
Mary's son married Martha's granddaughter. The oldest offspring of those two was my father So, I guess that made my g-g-grandmother my g-g-aunt as well. I think ::scratches head::
And not only was this too close a breeding match, my grandfather was 20 years older than my grandmother. And they had 11 kids in all. There's just all sorts of FAIL going on there. BUT, I didn't even know about the close match until I started researching family history. Then it was a case of "oh, you gotta be kidding!" followed by laughter.
Oh jeez -- that's funny. I did a bad edit.... he's a step great great grandfather.... I wrote out how he was the second husband to my great great grandma who was the mother of Anna (and whose father died), and the brother of my second great grandma who was the mother of Charles...
And Charles and Anna married. I'm sure that Anna thought of James as her father, since she was about 3 when her bio dad died...he may have even adopted the two girls (Anna had a sister).
My first cousin is married to a woman who is his (and mine) second cousin once removed. Our great-grandfather and her grandfather were brothers. So, his wife's grandfather was also his great uncle. And their kids...well, they are both around six-foot-six, handsome men, and if they ever get into genealogy, they might become very confused.
When they first started dating, they didn't realize they were related. Ours is a small town, but the families a couple of generations ago were very large and sometimes, as in this case, the brothers were 20 years apart and their subsequent families barely knew one another. Eventually my cousin learned his future mother-in-law's maiden name, and said, "Uh-oh". They spoke to a doctor, and this was before DNA testing and more advanced genetic counseling was available, and the doctor said that as long as there were no apparent genetic diseases or conditions in the family, they were far enough apart to safely reproduce.
I can't imagine this isn't uncommon, especially in smaller towns, where your choices for marriage aren't vast.
Until the advent of the better transportation by car, yeah.
I recently visited my Midwest birthplace, an area settled by ancestors back in the early 1800s; still farm-based. As I walked the cemeteries, trying to find graves not recorded on Findagrave, I kept thinking "all these surnames look familiar." Checking back over my family tree, I could see why - I was related to most of those people by blood or marriage.
Gleaning the newspaper archives, one finds coverage of the most banal events of peoples' lives. Someone returns from visiting relatives in a nearby town - it's noted. A birthday/reunion/celebration of anniversary - the event is transcribed along with names of those who attended and a florid description of the event. One undertaker had the monopoly on an area of about 500 square miles. If I couldn't find a record of death out of their business, it meant that whatever relative I was looking for most likely died at home and was buried from their parlor without having been embalmed, only washed and dressed by family, given a sendoff by a local preacher and carried off to in a quiet corner of their farm for burial.
Before WWII, the lives of small town, farm community people seemed to be quite insulated. With the lack of prospects for a wide social life, there were a lot of close marriages. It didn't exactly bode well for genetic diversity, but I guess there wasn't a lot of drama when it came to picking a mate. There wasn't much of a chance for skeletons in the closet, not the way everyone knew one another so well
Until the advent of the better transportation by car, yeah.
I recently visited my Midwest birthplace, an area settled by ancestors back in the early 1800s; still farm-based. As I walked the cemeteries, trying to find graves not recorded on Findagrave, I kept thinking "all these surnames look familiar." Checking back over my family tree, I could see why - I was related to most of those people by blood or marriage.
Gleaning the newspaper archives, one finds coverage of the most banal events of peoples' lives. Someone returns from visiting relatives in a nearby town - it's noted. A birthday/reunion/celebration of anniversary - the event is transcribed along with names of those who attended and a florid description of the event. One undertaker had the monopoly on an area of about 500 square miles. If I couldn't find a record of death out of their business, it meant that whatever relative I was looking for most likely died at home and was buried from their parlor without having been embalmed, only washed and dressed by family, given a sendoff by a local preacher and carried off to in a quiet corner of their farm for burial.
Before WWII, the lives of small town, farm community people seemed to be quite insulated. With the lack of prospects for a wide social life, there were a lot of close marriages. It didn't exactly bode well for genetic diversity, but I guess there wasn't a lot of drama when it came to picking a mate. There wasn't much of a chance for skeletons in the closet, not the way everyone knew one another so well
Very much the same thing when I went to the graveyard where my uncle is buried... the whole place can be found on my tree. But my newspaper searches are hampered by the fact the place didn't have papers for several years..... and those are the years I need.....
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So, I guess that made my g-g-grandmother my g-g-aunt as well. I think ::scratches head::
I did a bad edit.... he's a step great great grandfather.... I wrote out how he was the second husband to my great great grandma who was the mother of Anna (and whose father died), and the brother of my second great grandma who was the mother of Charles...
Checking back over my family tree, I could see why - I was related to most of those people by blood or marriage. 
