Avunculate marriage?

[Petomane]

Family legend has it that an ancestor (I will call him A) had a brother (I will call him B) and that A married B's daughter in 1905. I have heard that this was traditionally permitted under Jewish law, but clearly was not allowed under English law. In order to marry, according to the story, the couple had to go to France.

Having spent a little time researching whether this can be true (I mean whether a marriage ceremony ever took place - there's no doubt the couple lived as husband and wife and indeed they had one child together), and having so far failed to locate the marriage, several things have come to light which make me doubt the story can be entirely accurate:

1. Rebecca Probert's "Marriage Law for Genealogists" states (Page 65) that such a marriage would have been void in the UK in any case. Would they have bothered going to France if they knew that? Or was it more important, I wonder, to be married in the eyes of God than the State?

2. Despite what Wikipedia says about France here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avunculate_marriage, it seems clear that, in reality, marriage between an uncle and his niece has been forbidden under French law since 1803 (unless special dispensation has been obtained from the President): https://goo.gl/QhOOV

One added complication here is that A and B (although considered brothers) had different surnames, and I am wondering if they may only have been half brothers, though I know that it was common for Jews to take a different surname when they migrated to England, so the different names might be accounted for that way as well). I need to do further work on their lives before they migrated to England to determine their exact relationship.

My questions...

• Has anybody else come across other cases of avunculate marriage like this that might shed light on this one?
• Where might such a marriage have taken place (there is a suggestion it might have been possible in Germany)?
• Is it possible/likely that a Jewish marriage could have been conducted somewhere (France?) without a civil ceremony having taken place?
• Any possible sources I could check to try to locate where the marriage occurred? I had thought maybe one of the Channel ports but nothing came to light in the actes de mariage of Calais or Boulogne and nothing on www.genealogie.com

Thanks

Pete

[phillip]

Pete
Ancestry C

[phillip]

Pete
Not sure what happened to my previous message but Ancestry Com has a range of French marriage records and banns which cover the period and date you are researching. The records are in French and include Paris and vicinity; Marne; Marseilles and other areas.
Phillip

[phillip]

Pete and others
See Jewish Encyclopaedia 1906 copy on line which has reference to Jewish Marriage Laws including biblical citations to the laws. See also Chabad.org site - Jewish Prohibited Marriages- Maurice Lamm for more recent views.
Phillip

[phillip]

Pete and others
See JewishGen Family Finder - Germany data base for range of entries on births, marriages; deaths. See- Familysearch online data base for range of French and German genealogy records; French Genealogy Vital Records website which gives links to sources of data; Genealogy in Time website- records for European countries including Germany. There are a range of Church Records and addresses in "Finding your German Ancestors. A Beginners Guide" Kevan M Hansen, 1999 Pub Ancestry Com- my own copy of that date is going to be dated and links to internet addresses maybe no longer valid but maybe worth looking for updated copy.
You asked did anyone have the same family interrelationship marriage as the one you are seeking data for- in answer the closest I have is first cousin which was not uncommon among early Anglo Jewish families and elsewhere.
Phillip

[phillip]

Pete and others
For clarity on Jewish Marriage Laws see also " My Ancestors were Jewish" Dr Anthony Joseph, 2nd ed 1995, Society of Genealogists Enterprises Ltd - p12 " In Jewish Law, the prohibitions of consanguinity are not as rigid as those of England and , for example, a man could marry his niece. However Jewish Law does not permit a woman to marry her nephew... Furthermore, a widower could marry his deceased wife's sister, the so called Levirate marriage, but such unions were not legal in England before 1921. If such a marriage did take place, it would have to be overseas, although the couple could then live legally in this country. Another Jewish tradition is that an unmarried man was actually expected to marry the widow of his deceased brother if the former union had not produced any children."
Phillip