Monday, January 8, 2024

COUSINS

       My son in law has become very interested in genealogy. He's a hard worker, meticulous and knows the rules. When his mother died he looked around and discovered that he knew or knew of very few family members. 

      There are websites that give you much information on your family. Be careful. Not all of it is correct. This is where my sil gets to work. He likes to show that information he finds is correct so it has to coincide with other information. I am interested in genealogy but am not dedicated enough to do the research.

    The sil put out a news letter and used the term second cousin and second cousin removed. I thought ah ha. I've heard these terms all my life but don't really know what they mean. What I did know is that there were many different definitions for "second cousin." People seemed to follow their own rules. The sil laughed and said that he got the labels off a genealogy site.

    Then my daughter, who was siting beside him, got her phone out and had information on any kind of cousin you imagine. There are charts that help you go through the cousin maze. 

    Cousin definitions and labels go in two directions. There's vertical which goes by age and horizontal which shows the distance from a common grandparent.

    I will go no further. You can get out of your depth in a hurry when it comes to labeling cousins. 

   Check the internet and you will easily find charts.

   Another snag with cousins is that various cultures have different labels for cousins. 

    I think some of you will take the bait here and try and label cousins.

    Have fun.