I didn't mean for it to be surprising. I'm a professional and know that cousin marriages are a lot more common than modern people realize, even in the northern states.
I read articles saying that two important people are 10th to 15th cousins, and people go on about "bloodlines." I know that relationships like that are as common as dirt. In fact, in most instances, I'm more closely related to some of the elites than they are to each other.
Considering people have ~600,000 8th cousins, it's not as surprising to me as I think you wanted it to be.
I didn't mean for it to be surprising. I'm a professional and know that cousin marriages are a lot more common than modern people realize, even in the northern states.
I read articles saying that two important people are 10th to 15th cousins, and people go on about "bloodlines." I know that relationships like that are as common as dirt. In fact, in most instances, I'm more closely related to some of the elites than they are to each other.