I'm my own 4th cousin??
kevin
While researching my family lines, I have discovered that my maternal
grandparents were actually second cousins. No big deal really,
everyone's closet has a few skeletons I'm sure. But here is my problem.
Recently received FTM for my birthday. I entered all the data that I
have on my "close" family and printed out a kinship chart for myself.
Now I can understand why my 2nd great-grandfather is also listed as my
2nd great-granduncle being that he was the brother of my other 2nd
great-grandfather/2nd great-granduncle.(Anyone else confused?) But now
half of my family now has 2 or 3 different relationships to me. I can
basically follow it pretty well, but now I have discovered that my
mother is also my 3rd cousin once removed and I am listed as Self and
also as my own 4th cousin.(My children are also my 4th cousin once
removed by the way) Can anyone PLEASE explain how I am my own 4th
cousin? Sorry this post is so long, but I thought a few of you might
actually enjoy trying to solve the riddle. If I need to explain family
relationship a little clearer, please just ask.
Thanks and looking forward to hearing from you!!!
Lynn
k...@pottsville.infi.net
Jim Gordon
kevin <k...@pottsville.infi.net> wrote in part:
. . .
>Subject: I'm my own 4th cousin??
>While researching my family lines, I have discovered that my maternal
>grandparents were actually second cousins.. . . Can anyone PLEASE explain how I am my own 4th
>cousin? Sorry this post is so long, but I thought a few of you might
>actually enjoy trying to solve the riddle. If I need to explain family
>relationship a little clearer, please just ask.
> Thanks and looking forward to hearing from you!!!
> Lynn
> k...@pottsville.infi.net
Lynn --
You are your own 4th cousin because that's the way realtionships work. If one of your maternal
grandparents had married someone other than their 2d cousin, his or her grandchild in your
generation would then be your 4th cousin. To illustrate, copy your Family File with a new name. Now
go into that file and change the name of one of your maternal grandparents (or further back, so they
aren't second cousins anymore). Then phony up a child for that marriage, phony up a marriage for
that child, and finally give that marriage a child. Now run your relationship chart again and you'll see
that last child as your 4th cousin. Hope this helps.
Jim Gordon
Ruisster
kevin <k...@pottsville.infi.net> wrote:
>While researching my family lines, I have discovered that my maternal
>grandparents were actually second cousins. No big deal really,
>everyone's closet has a few skeletons I'm sure. But here is my problem.
>Recently received FTM for my birthday. I entered all the data that I
>have on my "close" family and printed out a kinship chart for myself.
>Now I can understand why my 2nd great-grandfather is also listed as my
>2nd great-granduncle being that he was the brother of my other 2nd
>great-grandfather/2nd great-granduncle.(Anyone else confused?) But now
>half of my family now has 2 or 3 different relationships to me. I can
>basically follow it pretty well, but now I have discovered that my
>mother is also my 3rd cousin once removed and I am listed as Self and
>also as my own 4th cousin.(My children are also my 4th cousin once
>removed by the way) Can anyone PLEASE explain how I am my own 4th
>cousin? Sorry this post is so long, but I thought a few of you might
>actually enjoy trying to solve the riddle. If I need to explain family
>relationship a little clearer, please just ask.
> Thanks and looking forward to hearing from you!!!
> Lynn
> k...@pottsville.infi.net
I have some similar situations in my family, mother's side:
One of my aunts and her husband were half-second cousins. One of
those uncle's sons is married to my sister (they're half-second
cousings, once removed, I think). You should see my niece's kinship
chart.
Another one of my aunts is married to a third cousin. I've given up
on the FTM Kinship charts. They're too confusing to read. And I've
only found 4 or 5 generations of folks so far. Those durned
Europeans.
Ruisster
Maire Black
In article <321A56...@pottsville.infi.net>,
kevin <k...@pottsville.infi.net> wrote:
>While researching my family lines, I have discovered that my maternal
>grandparents were actually second cousins. No big deal really,
>everyone's closet has a few skeletons I'm sure. But here is my problem.
It's interesting about being your own fourth cousin, but this is not a
skeleton in the closet. It is not considered advisable for first cousins
to marry because the closeness of the relationship may increase any genetic
weaknesses in the family. I have always understood that second cousins
were far enough removed for this not to be too much of a problem. Is this
so?
I would love to see what my charting program would do with your chart. I
think I'll mock up one of my own to see. I bet it crashes.
Best wishes
Maire
Paul Burchfield
In article <4vgdc6$1...@tyger.inna.net>, ram...@webspan.net (Ruisster) wrote:
>I have some similar situations in my family, mother's side:
>
> One of my aunts and her husband were half-second cousins. One of
>those uncle's sons is married to my sister (they're half-second
>cousings, once removed, I think). You should see my niece's kinship
>chart.
> Another one of my aunts is married to a third cousin. I've given up
>on the FTM Kinship charts. They're too confusing to read. And I've
>only found 4 or 5 generations of folks so far. Those durned
>Europeans.
the multiple relationships can be confusing. Those darned computers are so
logical and can figure out those relationships ad infinitum. We allow you to
not display those secondary (and beyond) relationships beginning in Family
Tree Maker version 3 for Windows. You'll find this option from the Kinship
Report in Contents | # of generations to include.
I hope this helps.
Sincerely,
Paul Burchfield Visit our Web site:
Broderbund Software, http://www.familytreemaker.com/
Banner Blue division
Dave Ballard
> > One of my aunts and her husband were half-second cousins. One of
> >those uncle's sons is married to my sister (they're half-second
> >cousings, once removed, I think). You should see my niece's kinship
> >chart.
You think that's confusing!!??......I knew a woman a while back who had
married and divorced 4 brothers, then married their Dad!!?? She had kids
by two of the brothers and the father........that's when you hear people
called 'Uncle daddy' at family reunions!!! I'm not sure I could imaging
what the family tree looked like for these guys and gals! Just thought
I'd share!
Opinions expressed herein are my own and may not represent those of my employer.
Constance Bailey
It seems that all the families that arrived in our corner of the county
by 1819 liked it so much, that they all stayed. My husband (LS) and I
are 4th and 5th cousins. My first cousin (also my LS's 4th and 5th
cousin) married my husband's first cousin once removed (also my 4th
cousin once removed, and 5th cousin once removed.
Their oldest daughter got married to one of her dad's (and mine) third
cousins, once removed, and had a daughter last year. I think that baby
is related to EVERYONE in an 8-mile radius. She's her own cousin so
many times over, it's funny. I told her mommy not to let that child
even date anyone from around here!!!
John T. Cunningham
kevin wrote:
>
> While researching my family lines, I have discovered that my maternal
> grandparents were actually second cousins. No big deal really,
> everyone's closet has a few skeletons I'm sure. But here is my problem.
> have on my "close" family and printed out a kinship chart for myself.
> Now I can understand why my 2nd great-grandfather is also listed as my
> 2nd great-granduncle being that he was the brother of my other 2nd
> great-grandfather/2nd great-granduncle.(Anyone else confused?) But now
> half of my family now has 2 or 3 different relationships to me. I can
> mother is also my 3rd cousin once removed and I am listed as Self and
> also as my own 4th cousin.(My children are also my 4th cousin once
> removed by the way) Can anyone PLEASE explain how I am my own 4th
> cousin? Sorry this post is so long, but I thought a few of you might
> actually enjoy trying to solve the riddle. If I need to explain family
> relationship a little clearer, please just ask.
> Thanks and looking forward to hearing from you!!!
> Lynn
> k...@pottsville.infi.net
Lynn
You pretty much said it yourself. The children of second cousins are
third cousins; the children of third cousins are fourth cousins; and so
on. If the second cousins are the parents, then the child is his/her
own third cousin; and the child's child will be his/her own fourth
cousin; etc. It's all a matter of how relationships are defined, and
also shown in a standard relationship chart.
The phenomenon is called pedigree collapse and occurs when ancestral
lines are duplicated, which happens when relatives marry and produce
children.
In my case, Mary Mills and Felix Mills were sister and brother. She
married John Louis Benner and had John Frederick Benner. Felix married
Rachel Owens and had Felix Mills Jr. John Frederick and Felix Jr. were
first cousins. Their children, John Frederick Benner Jr. and Minnie Ola
Mills, were second cousins. They married and produced Ollie Benner, who
was my grandmother and her own third cousin. This makes me my own fifth
cousin. Another way of saying this: Instead of having 64 distinct
great-great-great-great-grandparents (4ggp) as one would expect, I have
only 62, since Mary and Felix Mills had the same parents. If one goes
back, say, four generations before my 4ggp's, to the 8ggp's (and I
certainly wish I COULD go back that far), I have 992 8ggp's instead of
the standard 1024. Thus the "collapse" - 32 8ggp's are missing because
two of my ancestors have the same parents.
Regards
John
near Venice, Italy
Constance Bailey
It seems that all the families that arrived in our corner of the county
by 1819 liked it so much, that they all stayed. My husband (LS) and I
Linda K. Coram
>>While researching my family lines, I have discovered that my maternal
>>grandparents were actually second cousins. No big deal really,
>>everyone's closet has a few skeletons I'm sure. But here is my problem.
>
>It's interesting about being your own fourth cousin, but this is not a
>skeleton in the closet. It is not considered advisable for first cousins
>to marry because the closeness of the relationship may increase any genetic
>weaknesses in the family. I have always understood that second cousins
>were far enough removed for this not to be too much of a problem. Is this
>so?
>
>I would love to see what my charting program would do with your chart. I
>think I'll mock up one of my own to see. I bet it crashes.
>
>Best wishes
>Maire
>
I'm my own third cousin, two of my great-grandmothers were sisters,
and the original Family Tree Maker DID freak out over "cousins
marrying cousins". In addition , my paternal grandfather was married
twice--to two cousins. This means my first half-cousins are also my
3rd through 14th cousins on two different lines... YEE-haw!
On the serious side, I have tracked a number of a number of of
chronic familial diseases through several of my lines, and I've
managed to collect 'em all in my own personal gene pool. (STRICTLY a
bummer.....) If you are your own third or fourth cousin, it might
behoove you to do a little medical tracking--it might prove invaluable
later.
Kay