The clip that’s up now (which I linked to her name above) shows Henry Louis Gates Jr. presenting Michelle her Puerto Rican family tree which he says is a tangled web. Which is very true for most families somewhere down the line because of the inbred population that results from the small island.
The genealogist who helped trace the family back in Puerto Rico puts it best when he states, “a beautiful depiction of the consanguinity and the endogamy of 19th century Puerto Rican families”.
There are many reasons for stuff like this, keeping families “pure”, small rural towns where everyone is somehow related, etc. For example on my dad’s side of the family, we see a similar example where two first-cousins married. Here’s the tree:
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| Blasina Rivera y Rivera has a set of great grandparents twice |
We see here that Blasina’s Rivera y Rivera (my 1st cousin, 2x removed) maternal grandfather and paternal grandfather are brothers.
I can’t wait to see what they say on the show, and hopefully they include a detailed DNA portion of the show seeing as how the series is about to end (This might be the last episode?). Hopefully this episode can give me some insight to my own family tree!
Can’t wait until the new episode!!