Hey everybody! In doing some research of ancestors in colonial Virginia I've run across a couple cases of people marrying first cousins or marrying people they were related to by marriage. I was wondering how common this was and what the purpose might have been (especially when marrying a blood relative). If I'm not mistaken, royalty did this to "keep the bloodline pure"; was this the same line of thinking for colonists who married their own relatives? Were they maybe trying to keep property im the family? Did people legitimately just fall in love with their cousins? Or was it simply just a thing that could happen back then without anyone batting an eye because it was simply a different time. Any info on this subject is greatly appreciated!