The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-02-18
HIS OWN GRANDFATHER.
Some Queer Domestic Complications
Caused by Freak Marriages.
Chicago Tribune.l

Nothing in the way of the proposed tria
marriages ever could create such dohes
tic complications as some real marriag el
that have occurred In this country.
William Hartman of Titusvilie, Pa, il
said to have committed suicide in March
1898, leaving behind him a letter which
showed how much the matter of his re.
lationship to himself had preyed upon hi.
mind Wrote Mr. Hartman:
II married a widow who had a grown.
up daughter. My father visited our house
often. fell in love with my step-daughter
and married her So my father became
mother, for she was my fathers wife
Some time afterward my wife had son.
He was my fathers brother-in-iaw and
my uncle, for he was the brother Of my
step-mother. My fathers wife-namely,
my step-daughter, had son. He was. OF
course, my brother, and in the mean
time my grandchild. for he was The son
mother, because she was my mother S
mother. l was my wife's husband and
grandchild at the same time, and as the
husband OF my grandmother / was my
own grandfather"
There is family sf brothers in Utah
that have practiced rotation In marriage
with the most unique result. 1t is de-
clared that five brothers have married one
years. Though they live in Uaah, they
are not Mormons. but Gentifes. 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 origi-
mated The woman was married five
times without changing her name. as she
successfully became the wife of Arthur,
Harry, Chester, Harper and William 3.
Damn
Each man thus became a brother-in-law
to all his brothers, and not only that,
but each one was his own brother-in-law.
81 1r.v~ Ri
family epidemic of marriages. and il
would be quite hopeless to try to fig
ure out the relation of the children TO
each other and to their different fathers
The last husband would be step-father
to his nephews and nieces, a quadrupie
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 II. Cotney, and John was the
third of the Cotney boys to marry sis
tiers Of the Burns family. In 1887 Louis
Cotney married Mary Burns, and they
now live at 2l2l Ellsworth street, Phila-
deIphia. Two years ago Joseph Cofney
married Margaret Burns, and they live
At 1521 South Capital street IN the Quaker
city.
The Cotney children inevitably will be
1ouble cousins-or is il triple couzins2
And each husband undoubtedly is his
own wife's brether-in-law.
A man in Minnesota married the sister
II his grandson's wife. The latter came
o Chicago, and her sister grandmother
'ecently came 10 visit her. How is 1t
hat your sisters name is the same as
fours when you both are married.?
ssked a friend. and then the grandson q |
wife told the joke % the relationship I'M
Ter pledge of secrecy The two women |
ried TO figure out their kinsbip, but had |
o give II up because II threatened 10 |
rive them to the point reached by the i
man.
They followed the case far enough to 4
.noHn that the grandson was the broth |
r-in-faw of his grandfather ana the un-
lie OF his fathers brother. who also was
lis uncle He was also his own uncle /
nd his Own nephew. as well as the broth
r OF hiss grandmother and consequently
is own granduncle. He did not know
rhether to call his sister-in-law grand
Mother OF merely Elizabeth, as she
Tas a stately woman. aud he dared not
ddress he. as sis. The relationship
etween the children Of the two mar
lagos would puzzle the man that per-
scted iogarithms.