One of the most confusing concepts for many genealogists is that of relationships between cousins. In Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind, I have a recollection of Aunt Pittypat Hamilton reciting the Hamilton family pedigree while preparing to pour the last of her father's fine madeira wine at Christmas dinner. This scene was not unfamiliar to me because, having grown up in the South myself, I witnessed such recitals at my Grandmother Morgan's home. When talking about this relative or that one, she would pepper her stories with asides such as, "And you'll recall, of course, that Cousin Maggie Parks was my first cousin once removed." What did this ominous pronouncement mean? Did it mean, perhaps, that Cousin Maggie had been kicked out of the family?
As I grew older and began researching the family tree, I learned that the designations of first, second, third cousins, etc., denoted familial relationships and the generational distance from a common ancestor. I also learned that the "removed" adjective described the generational level differences between me and my cousins' ancestors or descendants.
Is this just too confusing? Well, in "Along Those Lines . . ." this week, I want to try to describe cousin relationships. Don't think you're dense if you have to stop and reread a paragraph again and again. It can be a very confusing topic. Let me also suggest that you use one of your pedigree charts that includes several generations of descendants from a common ancestor, and be prepared to make a descendant chart diagram. A visual chart may help you as it does me to visualize somewhat complex relationships.
What Is a Cousin
Let's begin with a definition. The Random House Webster's College Dictionary defines cousin as "the son or daughter of an aunt or uncle; one related by descent in a diverging line from a known common ancestor." In other words, a cousin is really a descendant of a parallel family line and you both descend from a common ancestor.
Two people who are the same number of generations distant from a common ancestor are same level cousins. Consider the following rule of thumb:
- FIRST COUSINS share a grandparent in common.
- SECOND COUSINS share a great-grandparent in common.
- THIRD COUSINS share a great-great-grandparent in common.
- And so on.
In other words, the first, second, third, etc., cousin designation tells you how many generations you have to go back in order to get to the generational level which shares parents.
Let's use an example where G1, G2, G3 and G4 represent different generations, and (a) and (b) indicate siblings (the generational level at which you would then find a common ancestor).
G1 Your great-great grandparents were John McKnitt ALEXANDER and Jane BAIN.
G2 Two of their children were (a) William Bain ALEXANDER and (b) Joseph McKnitt ALEXANDER.
G2a William Bain ALEXANDER married Violet DAVIDSON. One of their children was Robert Davidson ALEXANDER.
G3a Robert Davidson ALEXANDER married Abigail Bain CALDWELL. One of their children was John Brevard ALEXANDER.
G4a John Brevard ALEXANDER married Annie Wall LOWRIE. One of their children was Annie Lowrie ALEXANDER.
G5a Annie Lowrie ALEXANDER
G2b Joseph McKnitt ALEXANDER married Nancy CATHY. One of their children was Moses Winslow ALEXANDER.
G3b Moses Winslow ALEXANDER married Violet Wilson GRAHAM. One of their children was Sydenham Henoni ALEXANDER.
G4b Sydenham Henoni ALEXANDER married Emma Pauline NICHOLSON. One of their children was Julia McGehee ALEXANDER.
G5b Julia McGehee ALEXANDER
Let's examine the relationships. The common ancestors are John McKnitt ALEXANDER and Jane BAIN. Their two sons William Bain ALEXANDER and Joseph McKnitt ALEXANDER, represented in G2, are brothers (siblings). These two brothers' lines diverge from here. William Bain ALEXANDER's line descends with generation numbers shown with suffix a, while that of his brother, Joseph McKnitt ALEXANDER, descends with generation numbers shown with suffix b.
Robert Davidson ALEXANDER's uncle and aunt are Joseph McKnitt ALEXANDER and Nancy CATHY. Their son, Moses Winslow ALEXANDER (G3b), is Robert's first cousin.
John Brevard ALEXANDER and Sydenham Henoni ALEXANDER are second cousins.
Annie Lowrie ALEXANDER and Julia McGehee ALEXANDER are third cousins. If they had had children, the children would have been fourth cousins to one another.
The next level, of course, is the dreaded "removed" designation. Let's define this. People who are descended through diverging lines from a common ancestor are still cousins. If they are not of the same number of generations away from their common ancestor, a number coupled with the adjective "removed" indicates how many generations difference there is between their levels of descent from the common ancestor. This may be either upward or downward. (This can cause some confusion too.) Looking again at the example above, let's determine some "removed" relationships.
William Bain ALEXANDER is uncle to his brother's children and Joseph McKnitt ALEXANDER is uncle to his brother's children. They become great-uncles to each other's children's children, etc.
When we get to Generation # 3 (a & b), Robert Davidson ALEXANDER and Moses Winslow ALEXANDER are first cousins.
Moses' son, Sydenham Henoni ALEXANDER, is Robert Davidson ALEXANDER's first cousin once removed. Why? Robert and Moses are still first cousins, but Moses' son is a generational level removed. Robert Davidson ALEXANDER is also considered Sydenham Henoni ALEXANDER's first cousin once removed. Why? As I said before, the number coupled with the adjective "removed" indicates how many generations difference there is between their levels of descent from the common ancestor, and this may be either upward or downward.
Robert Davidson ALEXANDER and Julia McGehee ALEXANDER's relationship to one another is "first cousin twice removed" because they are of the same level cousinship but are two generational levels apart.
Julia McGehee ALEXANDER and John Brevard ALEXANDER are "first cousins once removed."
There is an excellent Web site to which you may want to refer for further illustration. It is the Family Relationships Chart at the State Library of North Carolina. Its URL is:
http://netserver.dcr.state.nc.us/iss/gr/chart.htm
The chart is presented in the form of a table. Here you determine the relationship of one person to a common ancestor across the top of the table and that of another person down. Using this table much like a mileage chart on a road map, where the two lines intersect across and down in the table, you will find the cousin number and the degree of removal.
Other Cousin Terminology
There are other terms used to describe cousins that you may encounter.
- Double first cousins occur when a set of brothers marries a set of sisters, or a brother and a sister marry another sister and brother, and they produce children. These children end up sharing all lineal and collateral relatives.
- A cross-cousin is the child of your mother's brother or of your father's sister.
- A parallel cousin, sometimes also called an ortho-cousin, is the child of your mother's sister or your father's brother.
In some societies, particularly in Arab cultures, these relationships take on a special significance based on the right of the elder son of one brother having certain marital rights to the female children of another brother. In some cultures, too, sisters are considered to have exceedingly close relationships, often taking over the care of one another's children and becoming something of a surrogate mother. Brothers are likewise closely tied or allied, and may assume familial responsibility for one another's children. It may therefore be considered taboo for children of sisters to marry or for children of brothers to marry.
Cousins Who Aren't Really Cousins
Sometimes in our research we'll encounter mysterious cousins who do not fit anywhere into the puzzle. Don't be surprised to find people affiliated with your family who may not have been family after all. These people are referred to as fictive kin. A close childhood friend of my great-grandmother WILSON became a close "cousin" and was a frequent, long-term houseguest. So close was the relationship that "Cousin" Maggie, who never married, bequeathed most of her estate to our family. (I inherited her mother's white ante bellum bone china, now over 150 years old.) Don't be surprised if some of these "cousins" are listed in family Bibles, included in wills, and buried in family plots. (These are the ones who came to visit and literally stayed forever.)
How Does All This Relate?
If you still don't quite get this cousin relationship business, please go to the Web site I cited before, print the page, and try to fit yourself and some of your family into the pattern. Also, reread this column and draw the chart I suggested earlier. Take your time and work through it. I'll admit that it has taken me years to understand all these cousin relationships, and I still have to refer to the chart.
For more reading, let me suggest Jackie Smith Arnold's book, Kinship: It's All Relative (2nd edition, 1996), published by Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, MD.
Once you understand how to determine and calculate these cousin relationships, you'll be rattling them off at family gatherings better than Aunt Pittypat and amazing your family at the depth of your family knowledge.
Happy hunting!
George
P.S. - Since this is a periodical too, let me know if you're researching
HOLDER (SC & GA), SWORDS (SC, GA, & AL), WEATHERLY (AL, GA & TN),
WHITFIELD/WHITEFIELD (NC), CORRY (GA), MONFORT (GA), WILSON (NC) and
ALEXANDER (NC). Maybe we can make contact through this periodical.
Copyright 1999 George G. Morgan. All Rights reserved.
"Along Those Lines . . ." is a weekly feature of the Genealogy Forum on
America Online (Keyword: ROOTS).
The article originally appeared in the Genealogy Forum on America Online.
You may send E-mail to alonglines@aol.com. George Morgan would like to hear
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"Along Those Lines"
