We often hear “She’s my fifth cousin, twice removed,” or “He’s my second cousin, nine times removed.” Sounds confusing, doesn’t it? Trying to state the relationship between two related persons, not in the same generation or not sharing the same relationship with a shared ancestor can be confusing. And then there’s the part about how to figure it out. Diane Haddad in a recent article for Family Tree Magazine outlined how to calculate that relationship and even created a downloadable chart to make the figuring a bit easier to understand.

What makes us a cousin? The fact that we share an ancestor with another person. But your ancestors are only the people in your direct line. To determine your cousinship, you need to identify your ancestor that you share with that cousin and how many generations separate each of you from that ancestor.

What is the relationship between your granddaughter and your sister’s grandson? They are second cousins since the shared ancestor is their great-grandparent, your parent. That one is pretty simple. But what happens when the number of generations separating the cousins and their common ancestor is different? This is when the term “removed” comes into play.

Compound this confusion by knowing that many of our ancestors married their cousins since mobility was limited, and their choice of possible mates was also limited. So, you can be related to your ancestor in more than one way. It just keeps getting better, doesn’t it? I’ve found that especially confusing as I research my Southern ancestors. (In my family, five families in the same area intermarried and often used the same family names!)

Are you confused yet? Perhaps looking at and using the relationship chart will be helpful. You can go to https://www.familytreemagazine.com/premium/how-to-calculate-cousinhood/ and view the chart. Simply by clicking on the chart, you can pull up a printable PDF that you can use to determine your own relationships with shared cousins.

[Source: Dianne Haddad, Family Tree Magazine, May 20, 2017]