The Kintyre Forum

Some rather interesting posts on genealogy recently and none so more than the one about the McKinvens. Never knew you were so old Mack and belated birthday wishes!

Getting interested in tracing my own family tree and was looking for an explanation of how first cousins, second cousins,"once removed etc" works?

I was always under the impression that second cousins are the children of cousins and third cousins are the children of second cousins - is this correct? Where does "first removed" fit in?

Let the lesson begin..

Hi there,
The different terms for cousins, second cousins ,cousins removed etc is as follows.
Your 1st.cousins are the children of your uncles or aunts, [your parents brothers or sisters]their children are your second cousins and so on.
Ist cousins once removed are the children of a sister or brother of your grandparents [your grand uncle or aunt]
as in the case with Mack, he is a descendant of my grand aunt so he is a cousin "removed"
Hope this helps,
Cheerio the noo,
Joe McMillan,
South Australia

JOEMAC wrote:Hi there,
The different terms for cousins, second cousins ,cousins removed etc is as follows.
Your 1st.cousins are the children of your uncles or aunts, [your parents brothers or sisters]their children are your second cousins and so on.
Ist cousins once removed are the children of a sister or brother of your grandparents [your grand uncle or aunt]
as in the case with Mack, he is a descendant of my grand aunt so he is a cousin "removed"
Hope this helps,
Cheerio the noo,
Joe McMillan,
South Australia

Thanks Joe,

So the children of my first cousin are my second cousins? What relation are children of first cousinsto each other? I tended to think it all went in teirs and the children of first cousins were second cousins but you are saying otherwise?

I assume it becomes removed when it is grand parents and beyond?

Where is the best place to start tracing your family? Still concerned it will lead me to Carradale!

Cousins are from the same generation as each other.
2nd cousins are from the same generation as each other (but a generation younger than first cousins)
3nd cousins are from the same generation as each other (but 2 generations younger than first cousins)

The removed bit comes into play when mixing generations.
The child of your cousin is your cousin once removed.
The child of your second cousin is your second cousin once removed.
The grand child of your cousin is your cousin twice removed.

Tosh wrote:Cousins are from the same generation as each other.
2nd cousins are from the same generation as each other (but a generation younger than first cousins)
3nd cousins are from the same generation as each other (but 2 generations younger than first cousins)

The removed bit comes into play when mixing generations.
The child of your cousin is your cousin once removed.
The child of your second cousin is your second cousin once removed.
The grand child of your cousin is your cousin twice removed.

Thanks Tosh, much appreciated. This was my understanding of it but Joe thinks otherwise.

So who is right?

Hi Ship called Destiny,
My explanation of cousins and removed cousins is what i was taught, but ,of course ,it depends on who is teaching you.
If you are just starting out in your research into your family tree then i would suggest that you "buy" a copy of the family tree software "FAMILY TREE MAKER" which has a facility on it to tell you just how everyone is related to everyone else.
This should put you straight.
Regards,
Joe McMillan,
South Australia.

Here's a couple of interesting links regarding family relationships cousins etc.:

http://genealogy.about.com/od/relations ... nships.htm

http://genealogy.about.com/library/nrel ... pchart.htm

JOEMAC wrote:Hi Ship called Destiny,
My explanation of cousins and removed cousins is what i was taught, but ,of course ,it depends on who is teaching you.
If you are just starting out in your research into your family tree then i would suggest that you "buy" a copy of the family tree software "FAMILY TREE MAKER" which has a facility on it to tell you just how everyone is related to everyone else.
This should put you straight.
Regards,
Joe McMillan,
South Australia.

Joe, your explanation is actually the same but from a different angle.