Crazy Confusing COUSIN THING.

[annemehr]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "mstattersall" <cwood at t...> wrote:
> --- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Steve" <bboy_mn at y...> wrote:
> > Once again we are discussing Genealogy in the main group.
> > Personally, and I know I'm not alone in this, I find the whole 1st
> > cousin, 2nd cousin, once removed, twice removed thing very 
> confusing.
> > 
> (snip)

Ms Tattersall:
> To simplify (sort of), start with "me." 
> 
<snip>
> My granny/grandpa's siblings are my great-uncles and -aunts, and 
> their children (the same generation of my parents) are my second 
> cousins. However, to them, I am their first cousin, once removed, 
> because I am the child of one of their first cousins. My child would 
> be their first cousin, twice removed.

Annemehr:
Something's wrong here, because if you're someone's first cousing once
removed, they are also your first cousin once removed.  The name
doesn't change depending on which direction you're looking.

The way I learned it all was through a diagram.  I'll try to make one
here.  Okay, at the top you have a pair of siblings, and each
successive line below represents the next generation.  For simplicity,
all spouses are left out and everyone after the first generation is an
only child:

Sibling --------- Sibling
First cousin ---- First cousin
Second cousin --- Second cousin
Third cousin ---- Third cousin
Fourth cousin --- Fourth cousin
Fifth cousin ---- Fifth cousin

Sorry this is not formatted like a geneology, but on webview the
formatting gets messed up, so best to keep it simple as possible.

Think of the chart as a ladder.  If two people are in the same
generation, they are on the same rung and not "removed" at all.  So,
those are the First Cousins, Second Cousins, etc.

If two people are on different rungs, you name the relationship after
the rung of the highest cousin, and the number of rungs apart they are
is how many times removed they are.

So, here's a chart with names, so I can give examples:

Fred --------- George
Fiona -------- Geoff
Frank -------- Gwen
Felicity ----- Gerald
Festus ------- Gilda

Fred and George Weasley apparently have survived VWII and reproduced:
 Fred had a daughter Fiona who had a son Frank who had a daughter
Felicity, etc., and likewise for George.

Fiona and Geoff are first cousins, obviously.  Felicity and Gerald are
three generations from Fred and George and on the same "rung"
together, so they are third cousins.

Now let's look at uneven generations.  So what are Frank and Gilda to
each other?  First you count down the generations from Fred and George
to the highest of Frank and Gilda: that would be Frank, two
generations down, so Second Cousins.  But Frank and Gilda are on
separate generations, so, how many times removed?  Count the
generations to get from Frank to Gilda: two, so Twice Removed.  So
Frank and Gilda are Second Cousins Twice Removed.

In the same way, Festus and Geoff are First Cousins Thrice Removed. 
And the relationship works both ways, i.e. Festus is Geoff's first
cousin, thrice removed, and Geoff is Festus' first cousin thrice removed.

That's how I learned it, but the picture was better, with pen and paper!

By the way, I think bboy_mn got it right, but I'll admit I got a
little lost...

Annemehr