So far my family is limited to a neighbor hood in Piedade, Lajes do Pico, on Pico... On Jul 14, 2012 8:11 PM, "Bill Boyd" <[email protected]> wrote:
> Hmm, wonder if it is a Vasconcellos thing? My grandparents are first > cousins from Graciosa. Their mothers are sisters. We always said they had > to "pay off" the church to get married.... Oh, and my grandfather went > back to Graciosa from the USA to get married after his first wife died. > Small island not the factor in this case. > > Well, the topic of offspring intelligence is interesting, but I'll reserve > judgement as I would not be impartial ;-) > > Bill > > On Jul 14, 2012, at 3:35 PM, John Vasconcelos <[email protected]> wrote: > > *I'll second what Cheri said. Cousin marriages are probably more common > on the smaller islands where you can run out of possible marriage > candidates faster. I'm thinking specifically of Flores where my parents > were born but the same might also apply to Corvo and Graciosa as well as > isolated parts of some of the larger islands such as Norteste on S. Miguel. > > Even so, there was always a certain amount of genetic screening going on. > There were certain families that were to be avoided. I remember my father > "forbidding" my sister to date a particular fellow whose parents were from > Flores but whom they didn't approve of because of a perceived personality > defect. > > When cousins marry the children can come out idiots or geniuses or > anything in between depending on genetics There were quite a few cousin > marriages on my paternal side. I can cite a specific case of a cousin of > mine (first cousin twice removed) who is now an associate professor at a > major east coast university. The parents were second cousins. The paternal > grandmother was my first cousin and a first cousin of the maternal > grandfather who was also my first cousin. The parents and grandparents were > all born in the same village on Flores where my father was born. > John Vasconcelos > * > On Sat, Jul 14, 2012 at 12:11 PM, Cheri Mello <[email protected]> wrote: > >> That's OK. When I posted it a month ago, you were hot on the trail of >> finding your freguesia, so you probably didn't pay particular attention to >> the consanguinity thing because it didn't yet apply to you. >> >> There's lots of intermarriage. They were trapped on an island, went to >> church with their cousins, went to festas with their cousins, and went to >> work with their cousins. So they marry their cousins! We had to do >> something to keep the brains and beauty in our families! LOL >> >> Cheri Mello >> Listowner, Azores-Gen >> Researching: Vila Franca, Ponta Garca, Ribeira Quente, Ribeira das >> Tainhas, Achada >> >> -- >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> [email protected]. Follow the confirmation directions >> when they arrive. >> For more options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail >> (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the >> right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my >> membership." >> > > -- > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. Follow the confirmation directions > when they arrive. > For more options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail > (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the > right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my > membership." > > -- > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. Follow the confirmation directions > when they arrive. > For more options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail > (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the > right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my > membership." -- To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. Follow the confirmation directions when they arrive. For more options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership."
