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4. Rudy Giuliani
Rudy had just graduated law school in 1968 when he married his third cousin, Regina Peruggi. Or so he thought. Accounts differ, but it seems that they figured out in 1982 that they were actually second cousins, which was just a little too close to home. Coincidentally enough, this discovery was made about the same time he met second wife Donna Hanover. Regina and Rudy divorced in 1982, the marriage was officially annulled by the Catholic church in 1983 and Rudy married Donna in 1984. Obviously, he’s now running for president. Regina is the president of Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn.
5. Charles Darwin
Yep, the Father of Evolution married his first cousin, Emma Wedgwood. They shared a grandfather, Josiah Wedgwood (who, incidentally, started the Wedgwood pottery empire). Darwin was decidedly unromantic – when torn over whether to propose or not, he made a list of pros and cons. The pros included the fact that marriage would provide companionship better than that of a dog. The cons revolved mostly around his career – marriage would provide less money for books and would take up a lot of his personal time. Ultimately, marriage won out. When he went to Emma to ask for her hand, though, he skipped the whole “endless love” mush and instead spent the evening discussing transmutation. The scientific talk must have really done it for Emma, though, because when they did eventually get married they had a prolific 10 children.
6. Franklin D. Roosevelt
One of America’s most beloved President/First Lady pairs were cousins. Distant cousins, though. 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. Eleanor was 17 and had just had her formal introduction into society with her debutante party. They were married on St. Patrick’s Day, 1905, and had six children in a span of 10 years.
7. Albert Einstein
Yes, our very own beloved Einstein. He was actually somewhat of a philanderer – he moved in with his second cousin, Elsa, in 1917…two years before his divorce from his first wife, Mileva. They were separated, though. He married Elsa in 1919, not too long after his divorce from Mileva was finalized. Letters in his own hand showed that he cheated on Elsa, though, and had at least half a dozen girlfriends while he was married to her. Elsa died in 1936 after coming down with heart and kidney problems and it would appear that his newfound bachelorhood suited Einstein just fine: he never married again and had plenty of girlfriends until his death in 1955.
A few other notables who married their cousins, distant or otherwise:
• Jesse James – first cousin Zerelda “Zee” Mimms
• Thomas Jefferson – third cousin Martha Wayles
• H.G. Wells – first cousin Isabel Mary Wells (he left her after just three years, though)
• Igor Stravinsky - first cousin Katerina Nossenko
• Carlo Gambino - first cousin Catherine Castellano
• Lots of Royals, including Queen Elizabeth II (third cousin Prince Philip); Marie Antoinette (second cousin King Louis XVI) and Catherine the Great (second cousin Peter III of Russia).
Shouldnt Jerry Lee Lewis have gone o jail for statutory rape?
posted by GTT on 12-10-2007 at 11:14 am
No, Jerry Lee Lewis should not have been arrested for statuatory rape.
It was a common for people to marry very young in rural areas in America at that time. It was also very common for cousins to marry.
Jerry Lee and Myra were married for 14 years and had two children. One of the best comments I ever saw on this situation was from Jerry and Myra’s daughter Phoebe when she was asked about their relationship and what she thought of the whole situation. She basically said that her parents were in love…that they LOVED each other and that she was a product of that love and she was proud of that fact.
posted by laf on 12-10-2007 at 1:20 pm
@ GTT
A lot of states will allow you to marry surprisingly young, as long as you have parental consent. And it’s actually legal for first cousins to marry in 18 states, including California and New York.
posted by gibson8tor on 12-10-2007 at 2:31 pm
Oh, wait, 19 states, I forgot Hawaii.
posted by gibson8tor on 12-10-2007 at 2:32 pm
Interesting that your rank Rudy more prominent that Thomas Jefferson. Agenda?
posted by Jeff on 12-11-2007 at 8:06 am
People today still marry there cousins. Case in point: Rudy Giuliani was once married to his 2nd cousin.
posted by Mel on 12-11-2007 at 8:15 am
Re: comment #5 — I can’t stand when people try to see a political agenda in EVERYTHING. Where does she say the list is in order of prominence?
posted by Tracy on 12-11-2007 at 8:34 am
Some other royals (British, my specialty) right off the top of my head:
William III and Mary II were first cousins.
Edward, the Black Prince (son of Edward III and father of Richard II) and Joan, the Fair Maid of Kent were first cousins, once removed.
Edward I (Hammer of the Scots) and Eleanor of Castile were second cousins, once removed.
Note the annulment of Guliani’s marriage was no doubt justified due to consanguinity, that is “too close to home,” as you say. It was the commonly used tactic for annulling royal marriages in medieval Europe. There were specialists employed by the courts (royal, not judicial) whose purpose it was to scour the genealogies of the principals seeking out potentially consanguine unions. It wasn’t easy. The intermarriages commonly engaged made for many long fingers of relations.
LRod
posted by LRod on 12-11-2007 at 9:57 am
Of course there is an agenda here. I bet the only reason this list idea was conceived was to bring light to the fact that Rudy had been once married to a second cousin.
posted by Michelle on 12-11-2007 at 10:15 am
Ha! I just had a consanguinity lecture last night… what a weird coincidence. If you’re looking for more squicky info check out www.cousincouples.com and play their ‘Who Wants to be a Kissing Cousin?’ game, a Millionaire-type romp through the annals of inbred populations.
Oh and genetically speaking, breeding with your cousin isn’t that big of a deal unless you’ve got something running in your family. The very fact that I can say that and back it up with facts
makes me throw up in my mouth a little.
posted by Lisa on 12-11-2007 at 10:26 am
Its just wrong Nothing may be bad in your family but thats family how are you extending your family if your staying within it? its just plain scarey and wrong.
posted by Chris on 12-11-2007 at 1:47 pm
well, I’ll confess to having the world’s biggest crush on my totally cute 1st cousin- I managed to get over it sometime in my early teens, though.
posted by ann on 12-11-2007 at 4:26 pm
We recently discovered a shocking fact about our family that my great great grandfather married his first cousin one step removed. They had 12 children.
posted by Ed Wrather on 12-11-2007 at 5:23 pm
Ha I went to kingsborough college. That story explains a lot.
posted by mike on 12-11-2007 at 6:24 pm
You forgot Mozart.
lol and I love Darwin, but it is very ironic he married his cousin.
posted by Amelia on 12-11-2007 at 6:45 pm
Marrying cousins is common in many parts of the world, one of the main advantages being that divorce rates are lower, since family intervention and cooperation is more likely, as well as the fact that the money on both sides stays in the family no matter what happens, whereas if you marry out of the family, if a divorce ensues, the ex-wife tends to take a considerable amount OUT of the family and/or vice vesa via the financial court settlement and alimony.
The original idea of making cousin marriages “immoral” was the idea of the state breaking up clans, so as to have better control of the population.
In Iraq, for example, where around 76% of marriages are to first or second cousins, the power of the clan tends to undermine the authority of the state. Clans tend to reject government intervention in the form of courts. They usually take care of their “problems” themselves, and consider police, and judges to be interference with the clan.
In America, the Hatfield and McCoys are a good example of the type of inbred family unit that the state does NOT want.
Breaking up clans, by making cousin marriages immoral was a great way for our society to seek out societal laws, rather than defer to clan law, which made administrating justice much easier.
So to those of you who “throw up in your mouths a little” when thinking of marrying a cousin, you should be throwing up in your mouth a little at the idea that your morals are not your own. Your brain has been stamped by the state.
There is little more chance of birth defects amongst cousins than complete strangers, btw.
To the guy who had a crush on his cousin, and got over it… you should have fucked her.
posted by Allen on 12-11-2007 at 6:59 pm
My grandparents are related (very distantly, and by marriage, but still). I discovered this rather unsettling fact one day when I was looking at an old family photo. I assumed that the photo was of my grandfather’s side of the family, since he was sitting in the first row, but no, my grandmother informed me that it was, in fact, her side of the family. At least they’re not related by blood. That would be weird.
posted by greenstrawberries on 12-11-2007 at 10:14 pm
Did you know that in good ol’ Egypt, when King Tut died, his wife then had to marry his vizer, who was the poor girl’s granddad?
posted by batmanftw on 12-12-2007 at 1:15 am
Aren’t all married couple related by marriage??
posted by meathole on 12-12-2007 at 4:35 am
How about Queen Victoria, that upholder of morals who married her cousin and spread hemophilia around to the royal houses throughout Europe, and in particular contributing to the downfall of the Romanovs in Russia?
posted by Nancy Toby on 12-12-2007 at 11:57 am
You forgot Prince Charles and Princess Diana. They were either 7th cousins once removed or 11th cousins once removed, depending on your research.
posted by Peggy on 12-12-2007 at 1:57 pm
Well, I would never think of marrying one of my cousins, and having kids with a cousin would be totally out of the question. They’re all guys…
posted by Tdave on 12-13-2007 at 4:16 am
Poe’s cousin was adopted.
posted by Brian on 12-14-2007 at 1:50 pm
if you look deep enough into anyones history you’ll find there related somehow by blood to their partner because in the end we are all descendents of the same one or two people (depending on thought of creation).
posted by tlad on 12-15-2007 at 4:35 pm
I am thoroughly enjoying this discussion. What an interesting topic. I am close enough to my first and second cousins to consider them as brothers, but I can see it is my culture to view them in the “brother” light as opposed to eligible bachelors, etc. I would argue with the genetics point, however, especially with regard to first cousins. Given the skipping of generations and possible carriers, the probability of passage of genetic diseases is higher than with genetic disassociates. :)
posted by Paula on 1-31-2008 at 12:43 am
What about George H.W. and Barbara Bush? Aren’t they 1st cousins? That would help to explain George Jr.
posted by Rocky on 2-19-2008 at 4:18 am
Personally, I’ve only met 2 sets of married couples who were first cousins. Both couples had mentally challenged offspring.
posted by Skadiddle on 6-30-2008 at 10:47 am