Charles Darwin, author of Origin of Species, wrote a pros and cons list for getting married, and eventually decided to propose to his first cousin Emma Wedgwood. The couple had a happy marriage, producing 10 children. Charles wrote this note to Emma just a few days before their wedding in 1839:
“How I do hope you shall be happy as I know I shall be. My own dearest Emma, I earnestly pray, you may never regret the great and I will add very good, deed you are to perform on the Tuesday: my own dear future wife, God bless you…”