cousins

13 Stories

Descendant of Cousins Loses Bid to Block Marriage Change

Tennessee Rep. Gino Bulso brings Supreme Court's gay union ruling into debate

(Newser) - The Republican-led Tennessee Legislature has overwhelmingly voted to send GOP Gov. Bill Lee a proposal that would ban marriage between first cousins. The House cast a 75-2 vote Thursday on the bill after the Senate previously approved it without any opposition. But a particularly vocal opponent, Republican Rep. Gino Bulso,...

'One of Canada's Most Gruesome Killings' Ends in Surprise Verdict

Zhao Li escapes murder ruling, found guilty of manslaughter instead

(Newser) - A two-year-plus trial that drew much media attention has ended in Canada, with a verdict that's shocked many. On Tuesday, a judge on British Columbia's Supreme Court found 59-year-old Zhao Li guilty not of murder, but of manslaughter for killing and dismembering his millionaire cousin, 41-year-old Gang Yuan,...

Guess Who Tom Hanks Is Related To?
Guess Who Tom
Hanks Is Related To?

Guess Who Tom Hanks Is Related To?

Turns out Hanks, who plays Fred Rogers in new movie, is Rogers' 6th cousin, per Ancestry.com

(Newser) - It felt like a "no-brainer" that Tom Hanks was cast as Mister Rogers in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood , opening nationwide Friday. Some even say the 63-year-old actor "was born" to play the gentle children's show host. That turns out to be more true than any...

Girl, 9, Dies After 325-Pound Cousin Sat on Her: Cops

64-year-old arrested for homicide, child cruelty; child's parents also arrested

(Newser) - A 9-year-old girl was allegedly killed by her adult cousin, a 325-pound woman accused of sitting on the child to punish her for misbehaving, the AP reports. Per the Pensacola News Journal , Dericka Lindsay was pronounced dead Saturday after an incident at the home of her parents, Grace Smith, 69,...

Larry David Reveals Surprise Connection to Bernie Sanders

Sanders is a 'third cousin or something'

(Newser) - Larry David got some pretty ( pretty, pretty, pretty ) good genealogy news recently, NBC News reports. The Seinfeld creator already shared a strange resemblance with Sen. Bernie Sanders—playing him on Saturday Night Live to great acclaim—and now it turns out they have another connection as well. At...

4 Sisters, 4 Babies, 4 Days
 4 Sisters, 4 Babies, 4 Days 

4 Sisters, 4 Babies, 4 Days

Paging the Guinness Book of World Records...

(Newser) - On Friday, Saby Pazos gave birth to a son named Abel. A few hours later, her physician delivered baby Ashley to Saby's sister, Leslie. The next day, the physician was back at the Chicagoland hospital, as sister No. 3, Lilian, welcomed Emily into the world. It gets even more unusual...

Obama Is Not Only a Woman, He's My Cousin
Obama Is Not Only a Woman, He's My Cousin
Kathleen Parker

Obama Is Not Only a Woman, He's My Cousin

She defends her column—and reveals their family ties

(Newser) - Well. Kathleen Parker today defends her previous column about Barack Obama being our first female president but sees her critics' point that it's not easy for black man to get angry in public (he'll be seen as Angry Black Man). She then offers this twist: She doesn't see him "...

Scott Brown Is Obama's Cousin
 Scott Brown Is Obama's Cousin 

Scott Brown Is Obama's Cousin

Both their mothers descended from 17th-century Massachusetts man

(Newser) - A genealogy group has discovered that Barack Obama has an unlikely branch on the right wing of his family tree—Massachusetts senator-elect Scott Brown is his 10th cousin through a 17th-century Bay State ancestor from whom both men's mothers descended. The New England Historic Genealogical Society had previously found the...

Cousin Who Helped A-Rod Juice Identified

Yuri Sucart described as A-Rod's lap dog

(Newser) - The cousin who injected Alex Rodriguez with steroids has been identified as Yuri Sucart, a longtime friend and confidant of the disgraced Yankee, ESPN reports. The previously anonymous relative, whom A-Rod refused to identify during his mea-culpa news conference Tuesday, is too devoted to Rodriguez to have stopped him, friends...

Go Ahead, Marry Your Cousin
Go Ahead, Marry Your Cousin

Go Ahead, Marry Your Cousin

Relatively small chance of birth defects doesn't warrant the taboo, says new report

(Newser) - Laws against first cousins marrying are unnecessary and should be repealed, argue two scientists in a recent Public Science of Biology editorial. The risk of genetic defects in children born of cousin marriages is estimated at 2%-3% higher than in the general population, Wired reports, but no greater than that...

Meet Princess Di's Frontier Cuz
 Meet Princess Di's Frontier Cuz 

Meet Princess Di's Frontier Cuz

Connected through Brits who emigrated to America

(Newser) - In the "not-completely-shocking" category, the People's Princess and the Caribou Princess go back a way on the family tree, according to a genealogy organization, with Sarah Palin counting Princess Diana as her 10th cousin. Both women are descendants of Brits John Strong and Abigail Ford, who emigrated to America...

7 Celebs Who Married Cousins
7 Celebs Who Married Cousins

7 Celebs Who Married Cousins

Bach, Rudy, Einstein all kept it in the family

(Newser) - These seven celebrities looked no further than their own family tree for a bride, Mental Floss reports—they married their cousins:
  1. Johann Sebastian Bach: Had 7 of his 20 children with Maria.
  2. Edgar Allen Poe: Fell for Virginia when she was 7; they wed when she was 13.
  3. Jerry Lee
...

Dissing Cousins: Cheney & Obama Are Kin!

Lynne Cheney discovers common ancestor

(Newser) - Vice President Dick Cheney and Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama have an unlikely bond. They are eighth cousins, according to Cheney's wife, Lynne. She discovered the two share a common 17th Century ancestor in French Huguenot Mareen Duvall, whose son married the granddaughter of a Richard Cheney in Maryland...

13 Stories
Most Read on Newser