I once made the mistake of getting into the genealogy of my family. My mother and father were from adjacent farms down in the Alabama River swamp of south Monroe/north Baldwin counties. It wasn't the first time somebody had walked down the road between them. There were about 6 or 7 families in that little area, and they had been intermarrying since the early 1800's. I went to a big family reunion once, and my mother introduced me to a second cousin on her side. A little while later, my father introduced me to the same person as a fifth cousin on his side. A couple of years ago I took my wife to visit a couple of the old cemeteries in the area. When she saw the tombstones of all the same families intermarrying she said it went a long way toward explaining some of my quirks.
