Blutsverwandtschaft

Photo by Marc A. Sporys on Unsplash

​If you were curious to discover what Blutsverwandtschaft means, it refers to the degree to which people are related by blood. While it was common for royalty to marry their cousins long ago, it was less common (and illegal) for our ancestors. Let’s look.

​In English, Blutsverwandtschaft is called Consanguinity - Wikipedia. You can read more about it as it encompasses more than family trees. According to Wikipedia: “Consanguinity refers to a kinship between persons by birth due to their biological descent from common ancestors”.
 
Within small rural villages, I would guess that the selection of marriageable spouses was limited. However, marrying a close relative was not encouraged and was not sanctioned by the Catholic Church. In fact, if you look at the old church records, you may see family trees outlined in the church book that show the degree of relationship. This was the priest’s way of proving that the marriage could lawfully occur.  Like today, they weren’t allowed to marry a first cousin or close relative, but they might marry people who shared an ancestor at the 3rd or 4th degree. If it was a 3rd degree which would be a shared great grandparent, it would require a special dispensation by the episcopal authority.
 
Have you found any of these in your research? This would be more commonly found in the old European records. I haven’t found anything like this in the United States or Canada but in researching German ancestors, I have found notations in the records. In the book “Karl Josef Tonner: Familienbuch Welcherath 1706-1899-Vorwort”, he has provided examples and information about couples who had to provide their family tree showing their blood relationship. He also mentioned that many times families were not sure about relationship ties. One couple married in 1806 and later had to marry again in 1809 because a blood relationship in the 4th degree had been found.  
 
While I haven’t found a specific listing for my family, there are plenty of common last names in the same or nearby villages that make me suspect that branches might “merge” unexpectedly. I am carefully navigating this because it is easy to have confusion when one person is a 3-G grandfather to the groom and a 4-great grandfather to the bride. You need to be meticulous as you view locations, dates, and events to ensure that your tree is reflecting your family correctly.
 
Here are other links that talk about relationships.
Consanguinity in Genealogy Research: How We're Related | Legacy Tree
Family Tree Relationships Explained | GenealogyBank
How Many Generations Until You Are No Longer Related? (genealogypals.com)
 
I thought this was an interesting topic. It definitely makes tracking relationships challenging when both sides of the family share a common ancestor—no matter how far back in history. Happy exploring!