Marrying your step-nephew

[Richard Smith]

I've just come across a marriage in 1767 between a woman and her older
sister's stepson. They're not blood relatives, nonetheless this is not
something I've encountered before. Would such a marriage have been
considered acceptable at this time? I suppose it's not so different to
a woman marrying her sister's brother-in-law which I've seen on several
occasions.

Richard

[Ian Goddard]

Post by Richard Smith
I've just come across a marriage in 1767 between a woman and her older
sister's stepson.  They're not blood relatives, nonetheless this is not
something I've encountered before.  Would such a marriage have been
considered acceptable at this time?  I suppose it's not so different to
a woman marrying her sister's brother-in-law which I've seen on several
occasions.

The latter I've seen in my own family in that two of my father's sisters
married two brothers.

I have one example which is roughly comparable with yours and even
earlier. A Mary Wilson married 1st a William Wordsworth (3rd cousins
BTW) and had a daughter Lydia. She then married, as his 3rd wife, John
Newton. John Newton's son William by his first wife married Lydia in 1717.

It may well be a consequence of a fairly limited circle. The Wilsons
and the Newtons were two of the better off families in the area as were
the Rich and Turton families (William and Mary's common ancestors) and
the Wordsworths in theirs.

Ian