The Family Tree That Became a Tangled Mess
A courtroom drama unfolds over a bizarre multi-generational marriage that left a family in civil war.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
A curious case was brought before the judge in court. The complainant was being sued by his mother-in-law, who was at the same time his stepdaughter, for the theft of money belonging to his father, who was also his son's father-in-law. The witness attempted to explain: The father, a widower, had a son, 22 years old, to whom he never gave any pocket money. He met a rich widow who had a marriageable daughter and proposed that they two should marry. The son was willing, so the old man said, 'If I marry the daughter, you must take the mother.' The double marriage took place, so that the father became his son's son-in-law, who was consequently the father's father-in-law, because the father had married the son's stepdaughter, who thus became his own mother's mother-in-law. Finally, a legal row broke out. The father took money from his mother-in-law—who was his stepdaughter—and she charged him with theft. The tribunal decided that the charge had not been proved and acquitted the defendant.
“I was only unravelling the skein to make you understand.”
While this reads like a classic comedic riddle, it highlights the messy reality of 19th-century probate and property disputes. Even today, complex blended family structures can trigger legal battles over inheritance, though hopefully with fewer circular relationships than this case.
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