Yesterday, we drove to Slater to attend a Tesdell family reunion. Met some folks that are related by blood, others that are only related by a long ago marriage between two (unrelated) Tesdell's. Nice group of folks - I've been "talking" to several of them on Facebook for a few years now, and it was nice to put faces with names.
On the way up, we drove through Ankeny - where I've got another "crop" of cousins - 2nd & 3rd, mostly.
There's a few 2nd cousins down here in Oskaloosa, another group in Norwalk (met some of them on July 4th - Spanky and the Meat Mafia is one killer BBQ!)
Some of my mom's ancestors are from just over the state line in Missouri - visited Kahoka a few weeks ago and took some headstone photos of ancestors.
I'm also discovering that, not only can we not swing a dead cat in Iowa without hitting a relation, the same holds true in Colorado, Minnesota, Missouri, Texas, California, Utah, Maine, ... - the list goes on - this family (in old times) bred like rabbits!
maybe you can explain to me first cousins and cousins once removed - that whole thing always confused me...
ReplyDeleteOK - I thought I answered this, but the post seems to have evaporated into cyber-space.
ReplyDeleteNumbered cousins refer to how many generations you have to go back to find a common ancestor. 1st cousins are children of siblings, so they have grandparents in common. 2nd cousins have great-grandparents in common, and so forth. Children of 1st cousins are 2nd cousins to each other. So, my cousin's kids and my kids are 2nd cousins.
"Removed" is a little more difficult to comprehend (and explain).
First, a for instance: IF you and I were 1st cousins 1 time removed, that would mean that one of my parents and one of your grandparents were siblings (or the other way around).
Now an example: My dad's dad had 8 siblings - each of those sibling's children are my dad's 1st cousins. Since I am one generation away from my dad, his 1st cousins are my 1st cousins 1 time removed. The children of my dad (me, my brother, my sister) and the children of his 1st cousins are second cousins.