History of the Reed family in Europe and America

8 i INTRODUCTION.
Having gone thus far, I hope to be indulged in noting
one custom which has to some extent prevailed among the
Reeds : I mean that of their marrying relatives. This
practice grew out of the exclusiveness of society in Puritan
times, and perhaps, in some cases, to save property in the
family : but its consequences have been injurious ; many
of the offspring of such marriages dying in infancy, early
youth, or middle age, and but few of them living to ad-
vanced years ; to say nothing of cases where the effect has
been still more melancholy.