Elizabeth, daughter of David Zike and Catherine
Smith, married James Heifner 27 Mar 1831 in Shelby County, Indiana. They probably had twelve children, the first being Margaret Heifner who married George Crim, Sr. 18 Dec 1851. George Crim Sr. is my great great grandfather. He and Margaret apparently divorced because both remarried and had additional children. George Sr. married Nancy Catherine Bright 10 July 1859 and had three children, Mary Frances (Golding), John F. and George, Jr. George Jr. was born 30 May 1865 and his father died about the time George Jr. was born.

James and Elizabeth's 6th child, Emeline Heifner married Samuel Bright (Nancy Catherine Bright Crim's brother) 13 Oct 1864 and they had five children - three survived: Cordelia, Alpharetta, and Stephen. Cordelia Bright married George Crim Jr. 26 Oct 1886 and they had four children: Jessie Pearl (my grandmother), Lettie Catherine, George Samuel, and Dennis Nay.

So, if I can really sort this out, my great grandfather's mother in law, Emeline Heifner Bright, was the sister of his father's first wife. I'm not sure if there's a name for that connection, but looking at marraige records from Shelby and Rush County, Indiana, the Heifners, Zikes, Linvilles, Fairs (Phares?), Gunnings, and others married into each other's families for many generations. The acorn did not fall far from the tree for many of these families.

Are others researching these families and finding similar crossed family lines?

Catherine Heifner must have died between 1857, the birth year of Rosetta, the final child and 1867, when James Heifner's second wife, Sarah Jane Gunning, gave birth to the first child from James second marraige. Does anyone have birth/death information for Catherine or James? In the 1870 census, Rosetta Heifner age 12, is living with William and Mary (Phares) Zike. Other children in that family are:
William R. age 19
Robert - 15
Roscoe - 11
Hannibal - 9
Judilla -5
Charlie - 3
(Union Township, Shelby County, Post Office: Morristown)