What Relationship am I to ... ?

I have often wondered, and then tried to figure out what relationship I am to certain people in this huge family - both sides. Ever since I started to dabble in the Family Tree, I couldn't figure out what was meant by '1st cousin - once removed', or 'great Vs. grand uncle', or even '2nd cousin'. I knew roughly what it meant, but wasn't 100% sure.


I stumbled across an excellent article on Wikipedia's site, called 'Cousin', and will try to summarise the main points, without getting too deep into genealogy. Please refer to the following chart...

Kinship

The terms Great Uncle/Aunt are interchangeable with Grand Uncle/Aunt, and mean the same. My grandfather/grandmother's brother, is my grand, or great uncle.
His children are my 1st cousins once removed, as I am to them.
Their children are 2nd cousins, and their children are 2nd cousins - once removed.
Their children are 2nd cousins - twice removed, etc.


Cousins

Basically, a cousin is a person with whom you share a common ancestor, such as a grandfather, or grandmother.

The term 'Degree', indicates 1st, 2nd, or 3rd cousin, and so forth, eg: -

Two people who share a grandparent, but not a mother or father, are first cousins.
Two people who share a great grandparent, but not a grandparent, are second cousins, and so on.


The term '(a) Remove' -(n.), indicates the number of generations, if any, separating the two cousins. eg:

My mother's sister's son, is my 1st cousin.
His daughter is my 1st cousin once removed, because there is an additional generation between us, as there is between the nearest common factor - my grandparents = her great grandparents. We are still first cousins, though, because we share that common factor - a grandparent/great grandparent.
Her children will be my 1st cousins - twice removed.


That's it for me, so good luck. Check the chart and you'll be OK.



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