Genealogy

[culpeper]

What exactly does it mean when you have a "cousin X times removed"? Does the number X refer to generations?

[Sarabeth]

OK - Here goes.....

I have a first cousin (my aunt's daughter) let's call her Sally. Sally's daughter and I are first cousins - once removed. Try and visualize a set of stairs. Each stair is a generation. Sally's daughter and my daughter are second cousins. Make sense?

Let's say you have a second cousin (your mother and her mother are fisrt cousins). Let's call her Marge. Marge's daughter and you are second cousins - once removed. Marge's daughter and your daughter are third cousins.

Does that help? This drives my MIL crazy - she insists there is no such thing.

[blufford]

Originally Posted by Sarabeth

OK - Here goes.....

I have a first cousin (my aunt's daughter) let's call her Sally. Sally's daughter and I are first cousins - once removed. Try and visualize a set of stairs. Each stair is a generation. Sally's daughter and my daughter are second cousins. Make sense?

Let's say you have a second cousin (your mother and her mother are fisrt cousins). Let's call her Marge. Marge's daughter and you are second cousins - once removed. Marge's daughter and your daughter are third cousins.

Does that help? This drives my MIL crazy - she insists there is no such thing.

Actually I think that Sally's daughter and your daughter are first cousins twice removed.

[sheepish]

There is a good chart of the relationships at this site:

http://genealogy.about.com/library/n...nshipchart.htm

In the above relationship, Sally's daughter and "my" daughter share the same great grandparents (they are at the same generation) so they are indeed second cousins.

[HOTW]

It'saprocessof steps a little confusing at first but if you look at it as a pyramid of sorts you understand it betterAt the top are siblings and their descendents.If you are both on the same level of the pyramid you are straight up cousins of some distance it how mmany generations away from the original siblings that count as 1,2,3. If you are on different levels then there is a removal in the generational level

A B- siblings
AA BB-1st cousins
AAA BBB-2nd cousins
AAAA BBBB-3 rd cousins

Now AAA is a firts cousin once removved to BB BUT if BB has a child then that makes AAA & BBB second cousins because they are on the same line.

[foaly]

After preparing many membership applications for the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) and other lineage societies, I've figured out an "easy" way to explain it (well, easy for me at least )

FIRST COUSIN
Your cousin relationships are based on your common ancestors. Anyone who shares the same grandparents with you is your first cousin. So, a first cousin is the child of your parent's sibling. Your first cousin's children would be your first cousin once removed. Your first cousin's grandchildren would be your first cousin twice removed.

SECOND COUSIN
Anyone who shares the same great-grandparents with you is your second cousin. Your second cousin is a child of your grandparent's siblings. Your second cousin's children would be your second cousin once removed. Your second cousin's grandchildren would be your second cousin twice removed.

The word "removed" when speaking of cousin relationship refers to how many generations your cousin's child/grandchild is away from your cousin.

These "cousin" relationships can seem tricky to understand but just try to remember who the common ancestor is (which determines the "degree" of cousin) and then where the cousin's descendant fit in (the cousin's child/grandchild, etc.). That's always been the simplest way for me to understand it.