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FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS
You say we're second cousins twice removed?.. Most people know who their first cousins are - they're the children of your aunts and uncles. Technically, they are your 1st cousins. You and your 1st cousins share the same set of grandparents. In the case of your 2nd cousins, you would have to go back to your (and/or their) GREAT grandparents (2 generations back) before finding a common set of parental ancestors to either you or that cousin. For 3rd cousins, you would have to go back to your GREAT-GREAT grandparents (3 generations back), etc. Now what about that once removed, twice removed stuff? Well, the term "removed" when applied to one of your cousins, simply refers to the number of generations by which that person is separated from you...
You say we're second cousins twice removed?..
Most people know who their first cousins are - they're the children of your aunts and uncles. Technically, they are your 1st cousins. You and your 1st cousins share the same set of grandparents. In the case of your 2nd cousins, you would have to go back to your (and/or their) GREAT grandparents (2 generations back) before finding a common set of parental ancestors to either you or that cousin. For 3rd cousins, you would have to go back to your GREAT-GREAT grandparents (3 generations back), etc.
...For example, if the cousin is the child of one of your own cousins, they are still your 1st cousins, but they are your 1st cousins, once removed. Your grandparents are "once removed" from you although we don't refer to them that way. (That's because they're truly GRAND people!) The children of your 1st cousins, once removed, are your 1st cousins, twice removed, etc. But it also goes the other direction too! Your cousins who are the children of your GREAT aunts and uncles are still your first cousins because you only have to go back to their grandparents to find the first common set of parental ancestors. But because their grandparents are actually your GREAT grandparents, they are one generation separated from you (in this case older) and are thus your 1st cousins, once removed! The Relationship Chart which you can view by clicking on the link below will really help you to better visualize these relationships. To use the chart, enter it on the left side where your see "ME" and follow the linking lines on the chart either up or down or any combination of up and down, so long as you get there with a linking line. The very next person down from the one above which is connected by a linking line, is the CHILD of the one above THEM. Their relationship to you is what is printed on the chart. Just make sure that you always follow a linking line when moving from one individual to another in the chart. The diagonal linking row leading down from "ME" represents your direct descendants and does not connect to anything else in the chart. This row simply serves as a line of reference for the other descending generations in the lower half of the chart.
After looking at the chart, it should be obvious to you how you can expand the chart to add 5 X Great Grandparents and the descending diagonal row of linking relationships that would make up that next row, etc.
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