Are Your Cousins Removed

This article appeared in the FamilySearch.org website: https://familysearch.org/blog/en/cousins-removed/

In the English language, there are specific terms to describe the relationships between people of the same generation, meaning people who are the same number of generations from a common ancestor.

• Siblings share a common parent
• Cousins share a common grandparent
• Second cousins share a common great grandparent
• Third cousins share a common second great grandparent
• Fourth cousins share a common third great grandparent
• Fifth cousins share a common fourth great grandparent

What happens when you share a common ancestor but are not in the same generation? You define your relationship by determining the total number of generations that you are removed from your cousin and then combine it with your cousin relationship. Sound confusing? Let’s see it in action.

Henry and Charlotte share a common ancestor, Eleanor. Eleanor is Charlotte’s 6th great grandmother (or great great great great great great grandmother) and is Henry’s 2nd great grandmother. How are they related? Let’s look at in the form of a table.

To put it a different way:

• Charlotte’s 6th great grandmother is Henry’s 2nd great grandmother
• Charlotte’s 5th great grandparent is the sibling of Henry’s great grandparent
• Charlotte’s 4th great grandparent is the cousin of Henry’s grandparent
• Charlotte’s 3rd great grandparent is the 2nd cousin of Henry’s parent
• Charlotte’s 2nd great grandparent is Henry’s 3rd cousin
• Charlotte’s great grandparent is the 4th cousin of Henry’s children
• Charlotte’s grandparent is the 5th cousin of Henry’s grandchildren
• Charlotte’s parent is the 6th cousin of Henry’s great grandchildren
• Charlotte is the 7th cousin of Henry’s 2nd great grandchildren

Now that we see it visually, we can quickly determine the relationship between Henry and Charlotte. First, figure out the cousin relationship between Henry and Charlotte’s ancestor of the same generation. In this case Henry is the 3rd cousin of Charlotte’s 2nd great grandmother. Next, count the number of generations between Charlotte and her 2nd great grandmother (or between Charlotte and Henry) which is four. This is the number of generations one cousin is removed from the other cousin. Finally, combine the two numbers. This means that Henry and Charlotte are third cousins four times removed.

Try it on your own.

• William and Catherine are related through a common ancestor, Stewart. Stewart is Catherine’s 3rd great grandfather. Stewart is also William’s 8th great grandfather. How are William and Catherine related?
• Myrtle is also related to Stewart. She is Stewart’s 5th great granddaughter. How are Myrtle and William related? How are Myrtle and Catherine related?
• John is also related but through Stewart’s grandfather, James. How is John related to Stewart, William, Catherine, Myrtle?
• Try it with someone in your own family.

Remember my work friend who everyone though I looked like? She and I sat down, diagrammed our ancestors, and came to the conclusion that we were fourth cousins once removed.