"grandson by marriage"

[speleobat2]

Hi all,

I was looking at a death cert earlier today and the informant was shown as "grandson by marriage". He was the husband of the woman's grand daughter and so would also have been a grandson-in-law. Just curious if anyone has seen the "grandson by marriage" phrase before. It was a new one to me!

Carol

[paddyscar]

When people used to ask me if a certain individual with whom I share a surname was related to me, my answer always was no, he's related to my husband's family. It put a bit of distance between me and the individual in question. He may have felt the same, I'm not sure

Frances

[Currie]

Hello Carol,

I can’t remember hearing it before although if you Google Book or Google News Archive search it seems to crop up quite a lot over the years. Here a great one in the NY Times, January 9, 1981.

“It was given to Mr. Wiest by his great-uncle, who was the great-great-grandson by marriage of Governor Bradford's great-grandaughter.”

All the best,
Alan

[speleobat2]

Frances: I hadn't thought of it as a little disguise, but why not! Grandson-in-law is a little awkward too.

Alan: I wonder if that one came with a diagram?! I usually end up counting out greats on my fingers...

Carol

[StewL]

Hi all
In my former employment that phrase came up in relation to someone who looked after two children, he took on the role when his wife died.