Cousin Marriages

“Is it illegal to marry your cousin?” That was the question I put to Google today. Google tells me that the answer depends on where you live. In some cultures it is illegal to marry your first cousin and in others it is an accepted practice. In the USA it varies with the state you live in; in 26 states its legal and in the remaining states illegal and in some states a criminal offence. Here, in England, and all of Europe, it is perfectly legal to marry your cousin.

There are many famous people who married their cousin. This includes Charles Darwin who married Emma Wedgwood: Albert Einstein who married Elsa Loewnthal (nee Einstein) and Queen Victoria who married her cousin Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

So why was I so interested in this question? This is because we have two families where cousins marry. When looking through the marriage registers it is an unexpected find to see reference to someone with the unusual surname Titheridge marrying someone else called Titheridge. You know they must be related somehow, and in two cases investigation has shown the bride and groom to be cousins.
 

Audrey Dora Titheridge and George Harry Titheridge 

In 1919 distant cousins Audrey Dora Titheridge, daughter of Noah Titheridge, and George Harry Titheridge, son of William Henry Titheridge, married in the Droxford Area of Hampshire. Audrey’s father and George’s father were second cousins, so although Audrey and George shared the same surname they were quite distant cousins.
 

Richard Titheridge and Mary Ann Titheridge

There is one case we know of when first cousins married. This is Richard Titheridge and Mary Ann Titheridge who married in 1882 in the Portsmouth area. The couple shared common grandparents Richard Titheridge and Sarah Wheeler.

Richard Titheridge (the grandfather) was originally from Cheriton, Hampshire and then moved to  Winchester, where in 1803 he married Sarah Wheeler. In 1809 the couple moved to Alverstoke. Richard and Sarah had 8 children including William born 1810 and Henry born 1813.

William married twice and with second wife Jane Hewitt had 9 children including Richard Titheridge born in 1845.

William’s brother, Henry, married Agnes Taylor and they had 9 children including Mary Ann born in 1846.

Both families lived in Alverstoke and the censuses from 1851 to 1871 show the cousins, Richard and Mary Ann, were living near each other throughout their lives. On the 1881 census 36 year old Richard was living at Alver Road and working as a shipwright. 37 year old Mary Ann was living in Forton Road with Edward, her brother. Edward was widowed at the start of  1881 and was left with 6 children aged from 8 years to a few months. Mary Ann moved in to help Edward look after the children.

It was in June 1882 that the marriage of Mary Ann Titheridge and Richard Titheridge was registered in Portsmouth. I have been unable to find their marriage in any of the parish records. In the same quarter as the marriage Mary Ann and Richard’s first child, Ida, was born. Mary Ann and Richard had five children all born in Alverstoke, the family recorded at the baptisms as living at 21 Upper South Street. The children were
• Ida Titheridge born June 1882 and died August 1882. If you wish to read more about the death of this baby follow the link to a blog already written about Ida’s death .
• William Richard Titheridge born 6 Jun 1883 and baptised at Gosport Holy Trinity on 21 December 1883. He married Ada Covington in 1921and they had three boys
• Beatrice May Titheridge born 18 July 1885 and baptised at Gosport Holy Trinity 28 August 1885. Beatrice died March 1886 when less than a year old.
• Ernest Titheridge's birth was registered June 1887 and his death registered March 1889.
• Daisy Mary Titheridge baptised 25 February 1889 and  married Ventriss Holloway in 1918.

The censuses show Mary Ann and Richard and their two surviving children continued to live with Mary Ann’s brother Edward and his children. On the 1891 census they were all living at 126a Alver Road, Mahala Cottage. Edward with his children Henry, Philip, Edward, Agnes and Albert; Richard and Mary Ann with William and Daisy. The 1901 census saw them all living at 32 Alver Road, Edward with Agnes 23 and Bert 20; and Richard and Mary Ann with William 17 and Daisy 12.

In 1904 Mary Ann died aged 58. On the 1911 census Edward was still living in the same address with his cousin/brother in law, Richard, and Richard’s children William and Daisy.  The house was filled with another generation of children with Edward’s daughter Agnes now married to Frederick Stoddard and with two small children aged 1 and 6 months.

Richard died June 1912 aged 67 in Alverstoke.
 

Cousins

How strange it must have been when on Richard and Mary Ann’s marriage when their aunt and uncle become their mother in law and father in law!

Were these the only cousins who married in the family tree? We don’t know the answer because we only noticed these because the surname was the same. If it had been a maternal cousin with a different surname we wouldn’t have known.

Get in touch if you know any cousins in the family who married.