Cousins by marriage ?

[ms_tamany]

No: HPFGUIDX 106395

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "delwynmarch" 
<delwynmarch at y...> wrote:
> Sirius says he and Molly are cousins by marriage. What does that 
mean
> ? To me, that would mean that one of the two married the other's
> cousin. But that's obviously impossible. So what does it mean ?
> 
> Del

Hmmm.  There are several ways to become cousins by marriage.  I 
could marry your cousin and thence become your cousin-in-law, though 
my brother would not be related to you at all.  My father could 
marry your father's sister, and make us all cousins that way, 
including my brother and your sister.  For that matter, my uncle 
could marry your aunt and we'd also end up cousins that way.  My 
grandfather could marry your grandmother and we'd become cousins.  
My grandmother could marry your grandfather's brother and we'd 
become either second cousins or first cousins once removed.  I never 
have been able to make sense of the degrees of cousinness or the 
removes or what have you.  But basically, somewhere along the family 
trees, someone in Molly's or Arthur's family married someone in 
Sirius' family, making them all cousins in some way or form, through 
marriage.  Does that help?

--
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Tammy Rizzo
ms-tamany at rcn.com