House of my Father - Kissing Cousins

[kkersey_austin]

No: HPFGUIDX 148684

Steve:
> I don't recall this ever being discussed after the latest Black 
> Family Tree information was released- 
> 
> http://www.hp-lexicon.org/wizards/blackfamilytree.html
> 
> In OotP, Mrs. Black in one of her hysterical rants uses the term
> '...house of my father...'. Well that seems odd since Mrs. Black
> married into the Black family, so really, the Black house shouldn't
> be the House of her father, it should be the house of her husbands
> father. In the past, I have simply considered it a figure of speech
> indicating that by marriage she now considered herself a Black.
> 
> But, she was a Black in name before her marriage. 

Not just in name, she was a Black, period. As were Bellatrix and her
sisters. Her marriage simply united a couple of branches of the family
tree. It's the house of her father, and the house of her husband's
father too.

Have you ever read Jane Austen's Persuasion? The heroine, Anne Eliot,
has a riduculous snob of a father who is obsessed with the family name
and title, and a sister who shares that snobbishness. The sister,
Elizabeth, persues the cousin (can't remember the degree) who will
inherit the estate, not because there is any money left, but because
she wants to retain her status as an Eliot. Unfortunately for her (or
not) he has other ideas. There is a similar thing going on in Pride
and Prejudice, where Mr. Collins does the honorable thing in proposing
to a daughter of the man whose estate he will inherit - the squick
factor in that storyline has everything to do with his personality,
and nothing to do with his being a cousin - in fact marrying him would
have been the "right" thing to do by way of her sisters and mother,
who would then be provided for upon Mr. Bennet's death. The romance in
Mansfield Park is between first cousins, as well. I bring up these
examples just for perspective; in a society where family connections
and bloodlines are highly valued, marriages between relatives are
going to be encouraged, and if one's social circle is limited to those
whose bloodlines are equal to your own, the pool of potential suitors
is going to be limited anyway.

Steve:
> Perhaps someone who understands all this 'second cousing twice 
> removed' stuff can glace at the family tree and determine exactly
> what Mrs. Black relationship was to her husband before marriage.
> (fourth cousins?)

Elisabet rolls up her sleeves:
They are second cousins. First cousins share grandparents, second
cousins share great-grandparents, and so on. "Once removed" is added
on to designate a difference in generation - e.g. Draco is Sirius's
first cousin, once removed because his parent is Sirius's first cousin. 

Steve:
> Both Mr and Mrs Black have a common ancestor at Phineas Nigellus. That
> would be Sirius's Great Great Grandfather. I supose that makes them
> both genetically and legally distant enough cousins that their
> marriage wouldn't be a problem. 

Elisabet:
I seriously doubt that even being first cousins would be a problem
legally; is there anywhere where second cousins couldn't marry? 

Steve: 
> So, Sirius and Regulus are the product of the marriage of Orion
> Black and Walburga Black.
> All I can say is - odd but strange.

Elisabet:
I'm sure that if you look at geneological charts of, say upper-class
British families in the nineteenth century you'll see plenty of
cousins (both first cousins and in the general sense) marrying. For an
extreme example, look at European Royalty - e.g. Marie Antoinette. 


Elisabet, one side of whose family is from an area where "claiming
kin" is practically a blood sport