Intermarrying. - Genealogists' Forum

Asa · #1 13-10-12, 16:07

Does anyone else ever get exhausted by the amount of intermarrying amongst families? I've been working on the Mutter family of Beer, Devon - Abraham and Mary Mutter and their son and eight daughters.

The eldest daughter marries a Woodgate, as did her maternal aunt. Mary Mutter's mother was also a Woodgate. The second daughter married Walter Woodgate Thorn and the third Thomas Loveridge Woodgate - are you spotting a pattern?

The son marries Patience Newton and the fifth daughter marries Robert Fox so they both made a nice change. Until the sixth daughter marries a John Newton and the seventh a Robert Fox Newton!

I know at some point I'm going to have to investigate these spouses' families because I won't be able to help myself but for the moment I'm going to shut that particular lot away.....

By the way, the eighth daughter bucked the trend, bless her, and married into the Bools family (as a maternal aunt had done), in her fifties. What's the betting Mr Bools' mother was a Woodgate or a Newton?

Phoenix · #2 13-10-12, 16:16

I think I have five Skillings/Codling marriages. And no, I cannot for the life of me remember who is who.

The most mind-numbing, though, is Peternel Adams: both grandfathers are called William Adams and they both married women called Adams. From time to time I think I have sorted out one or two of those lines, but it's like wrestling jelly.

Merry · #3 13-10-12, 16:16

Quote:

Does anyone else ever get exhausted by the amount of intermarrying amongst families?

lol Yes, but it does seem to be all or nothing in my tree! OH's lot are the most complex - you would think living in the busiest parts of London there would be loads of choice of partner, but even after OH's ancestor had abandoned his London wife and moved to Southampton with another woman, he still sent most of his children back to the original London genepool to claim a spouse!

Asa · #4 13-10-12, 16:23

Phoenix, I have a set of Sullivans like that but luckily the grandchildren of two John Sullivans vanished into the ether rather than marrying other Sullivans

Merry, I am always amazed at the intermarrying amongst Londoners lol - the whole of the city to choose from and some of mine keep going back to the same little group of families. I'm connected three times I think to a friend I met via GR. I met up with a second cousin some years ago and his brother married in the 1950s a fourth cousin - all this in Islington. Bizarre.

Phoenix · #5 13-10-12, 16:26

Most of my ancestors were landless, with only the tools of the trade to pass on, but there are some who do need to keep the wealth in the family, and use surnames as second Christian names as badges of identity. (Besides all my paupers who wish to be remembered by their richer cousins, lol!)

Asa · #6 13-10-12, 16:30

I seem to get a lot of surnames as second christian names in Devonshire but nowhere else. No idea why.

Phoenix · #7 13-10-12, 16:40

I get it in Devon - and Norfolk people just seem bored with ordinary names, so there are Fountain Brown and England Lake and Lee Jarvis, sometimes named after godparents, rather than family, I suspect.

Tom Tom · #8 13-10-12, 16:50

A relative of mine, Emma Oakey Grundy married Richard Grundy Oakey, becoming Emma Oakey Oakey.

Mary from Italy · #9 13-10-12, 17:12

Personally I don't find it exhausting, I think it's fascinating! I've spent ages tracing all the intermarriages between about 3 families in a small Australian outback village, because I was so interested in how they were all connected.

WendyPusey · #10 13-10-12, 17:25

My lot on the Isle of Wight all intermarried, so I have branches going in all directions. I think I must be related in some way to everyone on the Island!