Dad’s Cousin married Mom’s Cousin

Today my dear cousin Kate Keller brought to my attention the fact that my father’s cousin, Leroy Stieben had married my mother’s cousin, Juanita Grace Strait. Such a relationship has occurred many times in families, but I find it so fascinating simply because of the relationship between my father’s and mother’s families. I’m sure the relationship was congenial from 1942-1949. But late in 1949 my father and mother divorced, when my twin brother and I were 2 years old. The families became very estranged and from the time I have childhood memories, in 1950-1, there was no communication between the families at all, other than our 10 years of childhood court-ordered visits with our mother. The ancestry was quite different in my mother’s and father’s families, too. My dad’s grandparents were both immigrants from Russia, with German origin. My mother’s grandparents were of German ancestry and early New England residents who had immigrated from Belgium. There seemed to me to be quite a difference in ethnicity and background. And yet here we see that Dad’s cousin married my mother’s cousin.

Thank you, Kate, for bringing this to my attention. I’ve probably noticed this in years past, but the connection had escaped my mind! I think this is cool!