Purcell Family of America

An association to help those trace the Purcell family line

Twice Removed?

If someone walked up to you and said "Howdy, I'm your third cousin,
twice removed," would you have any idea what they meant? Most people
have a good understanding of basic relationship words such
as "mother," "father," "aunt," "uncle," "brother," and "sister." But
what about the relationship terms that we don't use in everyday
speech? Terms like "second cousin" and "first cousin, once removed"?
We don't tend to speak about our relationships in such exact terms
("cousin" seems good enough when you are introducing one person to
another), so most of us aren't familiar with what these words mean.
Relationship Terms

Sometimes, especially when working on your family history, it's handy
to know how to describe your family relationships more exactly. The
definitions below should help you out.

Cousin (a.k.a "first cousin")

Your first cousins are the people in your family who have two of
the same grandparents as you. In other words, they are the children
of your aunts and uncles.
Second Cousin

Your second cousins are the people in your family who have the
same great-grandparents as you., but not the same grandparents.
Third, Fourth, and Fifth Cousins

Your third cousins have the same great-great-grandparents, fourth
cousins have the same great-great-great-grandparents, and so on.
Removed

When the word "removed" is used to describe a relationship, it
indicates that the two people are from different generations. You and
your first cousins are in the same generation (two generations
younger than your grandparents), so the word "removed" is not used to
describe your relationship.

The words "once removed" mean that there is a difference of one
generation. For example, your mother's first cousin is your first
cousin, once removed. This is because your mother's first cousin is
one generation younger than your grandparents and you are two
generations younger than your grandparents. This one-generation
difference equals "once removed."

Twice removed means that there is a two-generation difference.
You are two generations younger than a first cousin of your
grandmother, so you and your grandmother's first cousin are first
cousins, twice removed.

Relationship Charts Simplify Everything

Now that you have an idea of what these different words mean, take a look at the chart below. It's called a relationship chart, and it can help you figure out how different people in your family are related. It's much simpler than it looks, just follow the instructions.

Instructions for Using a Relationship Chart

1. Pick two people in your family and figure out which ancestor they have in common. For example, if you chose yourself and a cousin, you would have a grandparent in common.
2. Look at the top row of the chart and find the first person's relationship to the common ancestor.
3. Look at the far left column of the chart and find the second person's relationship to the common ancestor.
4. Determine where the row and column containing those two relationships meet.

Common Ancestor	Child	Grandchild	G-grandchild	G-g-grandchild
Child	Sister or Brother	Nephew or Niece	Grand-nephew or niece	G-grand-nephew or niece
Grandchild	Nephew or Niece	First cousin	First cousin, once removed	First cousin, twice removed
G-grandchild	Grand-nephew or niece	First cousin, once removed	Second cousin	Second cousin, once removed
G-g-grandchild	G-grand-nephew or niece	First cousin, twice removed	Second cousin, once removed	Third cousin

 

(taken from  http://www.genealogy.com/16_cousn.html)

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