Question about cousins.

[Bunny]

I should know this, but what exactly is a second or third cousin? And what are cousins that are "removed"? Ex: we're cousins, twice removed?

What do these things mean? Thanks for helping me tackle the weighty issues of the day.

On edit: let me also ask - what is a great-aunt as compared to a grand-aunt (or uncle)?

[sniffa]

1. easy

cousin - hands off.

2nd, 3rd, once/twice removed etc. cousin - pLay baLL!

[Bunny]

2. Well, that's helpful information, but not really what I was looking for!

:)

Did you know that recently they came out with a study that said that playing ball with first cousins was probably not as dangerous as previously thought? It still gives me the willies to think about it, tho!

[TXlib]

10. Good to know...

When I was 16, I had the hots for a cousin of mine... she was a beauty!

[DarkPhenyx]

5. I do think that depends on the state.

Consanguinity laws vary from state to state.

[Guy_Montag]

6. My Dad was looking up the family tree

he found that during the 18th C. we had two sets of cousins getting it on, & that side of the family came from London (not some village in Norfolk or anything) so there was no excuse.

[Bunny]

14. My mother's grandparents were first cousins.

To this day, she blames every problem in the extended family on this.

She believes that we're all inbred, and that has caused some instances of mental illness, poor physical health, and just hare-brained behavior that have occurred among my relatives!
:)

[no_hypocrisy]

3. Your first- cousin-once-removed is the son/daughter of your first cousin.

With me so far?

If you have a child, then your child and the son/daughter of your second cousin would be second cousins.

If you have a grandchild and your cousin has a grandchildren, those children would be third cousins to each other.

[TexasProgresive]

4. It's not so complicated.

First cousins are the children of you aunts and uncles, 2nd cousins are the children of your great aunts and uncles. 1st, 2nd and 3rd removed are the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren of the cousins.

The decendants of cousins are always the same as the original cousin but each new generation becmes futher removed. So the grandchildren of your Dad's sister are your 1st cousins once removed.

In our mobile society we tend to lose our relationships to our families. I have 1st cousins that I haven't seen in years and that is sad.

Edited to clarify, I hope.

[TexasProgresive]

7. stirring the mud to clarify.

try this site and see if you can figure it out. I may not have it completely right above. BTW state laws do not define relationships only what relations that can marry legally. No state allows sibling or parent child marriage but some allow mariage between 1st cousins. These laws are to prevent the reinforcement of genetic faults which are often recessive. However in livestock breeding Inbreeding (between parent and offspring) and line breeding (between cousins) is often done to reinforce beneficial traits.

http://statelibrary.dcr.state.nc.us/iss/gr/chart.htm

[trof]

15. Lemme see if I got this straight.

My uncle's daughter is my 1st cousin.
Her son is my 1st cousin once removed?

Also, My grandfather had a brother.
Their children would be 1st cousins.
Their grandchildren would be 2nd cousins?
And my 2nd cousin's kids would be my 2nd cousins once removed?
My head hurts.
;-)

[GOPisEvil]

16. We're lucky. We live in the south.

We just say, "We're kin" and get away with it.

[trof]

17. right. 'kinfolks' is a lot easier.

[Rowdyboy]

8. Just to complicate matters needlessly....

If you and your sister were to marry two brothers, your children and her children would be "double first cousins". I know because my grandma and her two brothers all three married into the same family and their were double first cousins everywhere!

[TexasProgresive]

9. In our community

A man married a woman with a sister-they had children. The woman died and he married the aunt of his children and they had children. He died and she married her brother-in-law and had more children. No genetic taboos were broken but talk about a complicated bunch of relationships.

[Bunny]

12. OMG! How would you keep them all straight!

That's so interesting! Did they all have successful, happy marriages?

[Rowdyboy]

18. I believe all three couple stayed married for life

They were all middle aged married couples when I was born.

[July]

11. Picture the generations in vertical lines.

Don't know if I can represent this, but I'll try.

John marries Sue.

John/Sue kids Bob, Ellie, and Frodo.

Bob kids Ellie kids Frodo kids
Wanda Norm Bert
Lucy Pete Hans

Wanda kid Pete kid Hans kid

As you already know, the children of Bob, Ellie, and Frodo are first cousins.

Second, third, etc. cousins, are cousins down a lower level -- that is, Wanda kid, Pete kid, and Hans kid are second cousins TO EACH OTHER. (They are less closely related than their parents are to each other, but they are still descendants of parallel lines in the same family.)

Once, twice, etc. removed refers to displacement out of your line of relationship. Example: Wanda and Pete are first cousins (same line across). BUT, Wanda and "Pete kid" are first cousins, once removed (connection is through first cousin relationship, but it is one generation down from that connection). Now, my bad chart doesn't show further generations down, but imagine that Wanda's kid and Pete's kid become grandparents. The grandchildren are TO EACH OTHER fourth cousins. Wanda's kid's grandchild TO PETE'S KID is a second cousin twice removed (Wanda's kid and Pete's kid are second cousins, and this is how they are connected, but their connection is not direct cousinship like Wanda's kid's connection and Pete's kid's connection, it's down two generations).

Basically, you find the same generation connection (first cousin, second cousin, etc.), then count down for the "removed" part.

Clear as mud, right?

[trof]

13. Miz t.'s maternal grandparents were first cousins.

Kind of funny to see the same last names on the parrish marriage certificate.
Big Cajun family WAY out in the bayous.
Anytime Miz t. does something kinda ditzy, I just smile and she KNOWS what I'm thinking.

[geniph]

19. I'm from a Catholic family

and I'm the youngest of 13, myself. Most of the family members, at least in previous generations, had obscenely large families. Because of that, I have approximately 800,000 cousins of various permutations of cousindom. I refer to them all as my "cousin" without trying to puzzle through the precise terminology. Luckily, none of them hold much erotic interest for me, so I don't need to trouble myself to figure out whether or not they're legal. They're just cousins.