What is a Pedigree Collapse and Endogamy?
The Meadows Cousins
A family tree has pedigree collapse when one of your
ancestors married a cousin. When cousins marry, there are only two grandparents
instead of four. In my family line on the Meadows line William Meadows (a 3rd
great grandfather) married his first cousin Jane Jean “Jincy” Meadows. William’s
father was Isham Meadows, (Jr.). Jane Jean “Jincy’s” father was John Meadows
brother of William.
I first learned of William Meadows marrying his first
cousin through Michal M. Farmer’s book The
Daniel and Isham Meadows Family a revised edition of her 1976 book Daniel Meadows and His Descendants.
Do you have colonial roots as I do? Then somewhere in
your family tree you probably have pedigree collapse. According to Wikipedia
in genealogy,
pedigree collapse describes how reproduction between two individuals who share
an ancestor causes the number of distinct ancestors in the family tree of their offspring to
be smaller than it could otherwise be. The offspring of two first cousins
has at the most six great grandparents instead of the usual eight.
What is endogamy? Endogamy
is the practice of marrying within the limits of a certain community, culture,
clan, or tribe. Sometimes, this is the result of tradition or religion, and
other times it is a result of necessity. You can read about
pedigree collapse here on
the ISOGG website.
How many couples in your family tree are cousins? This
would be something that you will need to pay closer attention to as you
research your ancestors, and it is beneficial to know this as you look at your DNA matches.
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