Quote:
Originally Posted by 3894
2. Leave the world more beautiful than you found it.
3. Remember 3894's Shoe Fund in your will.
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Number three helps with number two.
Did I tell you guys that my great-grandmother Bertha married her own uncle? It was sometime in 1908 - she was 27 years old, and the uncle (Siegmund) was 41. Bertha's father passed away in Nov 1908 and by the time Bertha gave birth to my grandmother Florrie in June 1909, they had relocated to South Africa, where other family was already established.
The timing raises many more questions - perhaps her father was ailing and his unwed late-twenties daughter needed someone to take responsibility for her. According to the family tree I have, Siegmund was never married before. They only had two kids, which, even though she only started late in the game, is still weird for that generation (everyone else on the chart has many more). Who knows if that was by choice (due to lack of sexual attraction between uncle and niece, full knowledge of close relations, or Siegmund's older age) or by nature (due to close relations or Siegmund's older age). I can't help but think that Siegmund might have been gay.
It was quite a shock to find out that my maternal grandmother Florrie (who I didn't know well) was the product of such weirdness, and that my own mother didn't know about it. She says she was told that Bertha had an earlier husband who passed away so she married her husband's brother, per Jewish tradition. There's no mention of a prior marriage on the tree but it's possible too (though Siegmund was definitely her uncle). Who knows if things were purposefully confused or just muddled.