We are all cousins, of course. The study of genealogy is simply a way to prove it.
My husband and I are 8th cousins, once removed. So not close enough to worry about if you're concerned about our children. But it's an interesting story, one I would almost certainly never have learned if I had not discovered the genealogy database that is WikiTree.
Here is our common ancestor: Mehitable Gunn (1644-1720) - (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gunn-15 on WikiTree). She was born in 1644 in Hartford, Connecticut Colony, daughter of Thomas Gunn and his unknown wife (possibly Elizabeth Brown).
She was married twice. Her first husband was David Ensign (1644-1727). They were married in 1663 and had five children, the youngest born in 1675. My ancestor was their son Thomas Ensign (1668-1738). David was a miller, and many of his descendants were mill owners or millwrights as well. But in the late 1670's and early 1680's, David ran into some legal troubles, and complaints were made against him:
David Ensigne is complained of in court - first for bringing and spreading false reports concerning the death of the King, the flight of the Duke of York, and the Duke of Monmouth being made Protector. This prisoner returns and said he heard so at New York. Second, for contempt of authority and that after so much means used that he hath continually and unlawfully accompanied the wife of Thomas Long to the great dishonor of God, scandal of religion, and breach of the laws of the colony whereby he hath forfeited his bond made to Hartford County Sept. 18, 1679. Third that he hath committed adultery with Thomas Long's wife, or at least is suspiciously guilty thereof.
Mehitable was granted a divorce in 1682. The colony governors agreed she should be given the house and David was not to molest her in it.
A few years later in 1886, she married again, to Isaac Sheldon (1629-1708), a widower with several children. They had one child, Jonathan Sheldon (1687-1769). Jonathan is the ancestor of my husband.
Fascinating to me is the fact that the Puritan magistrates were so... pragmatic and civilized about the whole affair. No public stocks or scarlet A's are recorded, just a divorce granted after the facts were investigated, a 50/50 division of assets, and people went on with their industrious and pious lives. There certainly was no misogynistic prejudice against Mehitable in any records found, and David seems to have gotten off, if anything, better than he deserved. He remarried also, and had one more child.
I would imagine the court fees were probably much lower that is standard in family law today, too, as a percentage of income.
Next thing to explore: My parents were 10th cousins, twice removed.
