The Paducah evening sun. [volume] (Paducah, Ky.) 1906-1929, 1907-02-16
Was His own Grandfather.

urlal marriage ever could create such
domestic complications as some real
marriages that have occurred in this
country.
William Hartman of Titusville,
Penn. is said to have committed
suicide in March 1898. leaving be-
hind him letter which showed how
much the matter OF his relationship
to himself had preyed upon his mind.
Wrote Mr.. Hartman:
81 married a widow who had Il
grown-up daughter. My father visit
ed our house often, fell in love with
my stepdaughter and married ner
So my father became my son-in-law
and my stepdaughter my mother, for
she was my fathers wife. Some time
|afterward my wife had a son. He
was my fathers brotner-ln-law and
my uncle, for he was the brother Of
my stepmother. My fathers wife
namely: my stepdaughter. had a son.
He was, of course, my brother, and
in the meantime my grandchi1d, for
he was the son OF my daughter. MY
wife was my gran imother. because
she was my mothers mother. was
my wife's husband and grandchlld at
the same time, and as the husband Of
my grandmother, was my own
grandfather"
There is a family of brothers In
Utah that nave practiced rotation in
marriage with the most unique re-
suit. It is declared that five brothers
have married one woman successive
by during the last five years. Though
they live in Utah, they are not Nor
mons, but Gentiles. The brothers
were Arthur, Harper, Harry. Chester
and Billy B. Damn. They are said
to be the men about whom the joke
of ''the whole Damn family" was
Originated. The woman was married
five times without changing her name
as she successfully became the wife
of Arthur Harry, Chester, Harper
and William B. Damn.
Each man thus became a brother
in-law to all his brothers, and not
only that, but each one was mis- own
brother-in-law. Three children were
born during this family epidemic
of marriages, and It would be quite
hopeless to try to figure out the re-
lation of the children to each other
and to their different fathers and
uncles.
The last husband would be step
father to his nephews and nieces, a
quadruple brother-in-law to his wife.
and-but 1t is hopeless.
In Philadelphia the other day Mrs.
Sarah Burns Elkins was led to the
altar by John H. Cotney, and John
was the third of the Cotney boys to
marry sisters of the Burns family.
In 1887 Louis cotney married Mary
Burns, and they now live at 2124
Ellsworth street. Philadelphia. Two
years ago Joseph Cotney married
Margaret Burns. and they live at
1921 South Capital street in the
Quaker City.
The Cotney children inevitably
will be double cousins-or is it triple
cousins? And each husband un-
doubleday is mis- own wife's brother
in law.
A man in Minnesota married the
sister of his grandson's wife. The
latter came to Chicago, and her sis
ter Grandmother came to visit her.
"How is it that your sisters name is
the same as your when you both are
married?" asked friend. and then
the grandson's wife told the Joke OF
the relationship under pledge of Sc
crecy. The two women tried to figure
out their kinship, but had to give It
up because it threatened to drive them
TO the point reached by the Pennsyl-
vania mar
They followed the case far enough
to know that the grandson was the
brother-in-law of his grandfather
and the uncle of mis- fathers brother,
who also was his uncle. He was also
his own uncle and his own nephew,
as well as the brother of mis- grand
moher and consequently his own
granduncle. He didn't know whether
to call his sister-in-law grandmother
or merely Elizabeth" as she was a
stately woman, and he dared not ad-
dress her as isis" The relationship
between tt children of the two mar
riages would puzzle the man that per-
fected logarithms. Chicago Trl-
bune.