A lot of people, even some genealogy enthusiasts, can get confused about how they’re related to extended relatives. Last week, the popular website Lifehacker posted an article called “Second Cousins” “Once Removed”, and more Explained in Chart.
My husband, Barry, and I were discussing that article at dinner and he said he didn’t understand why such a complicated chart and long article was necessary. “It’s very simple to figure out,” he said.
“Show me,” I replied. (I live in Missouri, after all.)
So he did. And it was simple.
Herewith, Barry’s method for figuring out how you’re related to someone. There are four steps.
- Figure out the ancestor you have in common with the person in question.
- Count the number of times you say “great” and “grand” in describing that person. (For example, my great great great grandmother would be four, one for each great and grand.)
- Do the same with the person you’re trying to figure out your relationship to. (For example, if the common ancestor is that person’s great great grandmother, their number is three.)
- Look at the numbers. Whichever is lower, that’s the degree of cousins, and the difference between the the two numbers is the removal. So in this example, that relative is my third cousin, once removed.
Try it. It’s really easy! And I think it’s a lot simpler than trying to follow the chart on Lifehacker.
That does make it so much easier . . . thank you, Janine and Barry!
You’re welcome, Gini! It was fun to share that.
Of course it takes an ‘outsider’ per se to Keep It Simple Stupid!
I’m not completely out yet, but I probably won’t be going to Root’s Tech this year. Other irons in the fire. Any trips to KC in your future?
Lori, I’m sorry to hear you can’t make RootsTech this year! I’m almost positive I’ll make to the Midwest Genealogy Center this year and, of course, if I do I’ll let you know. Also, maybe you would consider attending the NGS conference in May. It’ll be in St. Charles, right outside St. Louis. I’ll definitely be there!
The NGS conference sounds good, just as long as it’s not the weekend I’m moving our daughter home from college. I still may make it to RootsTech, but we’ve got trips planned in January and March, so I’m thinking one in February may be too much. 😉
Keep me posted, okay?
Janine,
I want to let you know that your blog post is listed in today’s Fab Finds post at http://janasgenealogyandfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/2014/12/follow-friday-fab-finds-for-december-5.html
Have a great weekend!
Thanks so much, Jana!!
Good grief! Now I have no excuse for not knowing the exact relationship of “cousins”! It will still be a shortcut name to lump them all together as “cousin” but at least I can now know exactly what the relationship is. Project for today= go through the tree and figure out the exact relationship we share.
So glad you found it helpful, Toni!!