what does 'twice removed' mean?

[sweetnpetite]

when someone is your second cousin, twice removed- what the f#@% does 'twice removed' mean??

Thanks in advance.

 

[cloudy]

you know, that's a really good question..........

 

[minsue]

I think it has to do with generations, but I can't recall. You've got me curious now, though, so I'll go try to find out.

 

[minsue]

Praise Google, I've got it!

From Genealogy.com's Question area

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.

 

[sweetnpetite]

Praise Google, I've got it!

From Genealogy.com's Question area

So saying 'second cousin' is the same as saying 'once removed'?

 

[Zanzibar]

Can also relate to people of the same generation, but whose closest connection within the family is that they share the same great-grandparent.

 

[minsue]

no, no, no. Also from that link:

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.

*edit to add: the 'no, no, no' was to SnP, you're reply wasn't up yet when I started. I just didn't quote. Doh!

 

[sweetnpetite]

no, no, no. Also from that link:



*edit to add: the 'no, no, no' was to SnP, you're reply wasn't up yet when I started. I just didn't quote. Doh!

Ahh. see- I've been using 'second cousin' wrong all along then!!!

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

S & P,

Today, with the "average" nuclear family containing around four members, the removed term is seldom needed. However, in days of yore when large families were the rule, not the exception, and it wasn't uncommon for someone to outlive several spouses, it helped keep things straight.

And minsue, bless you for finding those definition. The term "removed" is so hard to explain.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[dee1124]

I don't see as it's so difficult. Why, just look at the Baggins Family. Mr. Drogo, he married Miss Primula Brandybuck. She was our Mr. Bilbo's first cousin on the mother's side (her mother being the youngest of the Old Took's daughters); and Mr. Drogo was his second cousin. So Mr. Frodo is his first and second cousin, once removed either way, as the saying is, if you follow me.

 

[Svenskaflicka]

Re-reading OotP, Sweet?

 

[oggbashan]

My understanding is different.

'Removed' meants a marriage link, not a blood link.

My first cousin shares one set of my grandparents.

My second cousin shares one set of my great=grandparents.

If my father has a brother and that brother marries, my aunt's relations are once 'removed'.
.
I have a first cousin once removed who is the same generation as me but only related to me through my aunt's marriage. She is my uncle and aunt's niece, but related to my uncle only because of his marriage. I have no 'blood' relationship to my aunt. I would have if she was my father's sister, or my mother's sister. In either of those cases my uncle would not be a blood relation.

I can marry my first cousin once removed according to the tables of affinities of the Church of Englnad. I cannot marry my first cousin because she is my father's brother's daughter and therefore we share a bloodline.

Og

 

[minsue]

My understanding is different.

'Removed' meants a marriage link, not a blood link.

My first cousin shares one set of my grandparents.

My second cousin shares one set of my great=grandparents.

If my father has a brother and that brother marries, my aunt's relations are once 'removed'.
.
I have a first cousin once removed who is the same generation as me but only related to me through my aunt's marriage. She is my uncle and aunt's niece, but related to my uncle only because of his marriage. I have no 'blood' relationship to my aunt. I would have if she was my father's sister, or my mother's sister. In either of those cases my uncle would not be a blood relation.

I can marry my first cousin once removed according to the tables of affinities of the Church of Englnad. I cannot marry my first cousin because she is my father's brother's daughter and therefore we share a bloodline.

Og

I've heard 'removed' used that way colloquially, but technically it referrs to generations. My mother's family has huge reunions every few years and as a child I never could keep straight the difference between cousins who were removed and cousins who were 2nd or 3rd cousins. Of course, I also had a hard time believing that I was somehow related to ALL of those people.

 

[Mhari]

I have double-first cousins, once removed!

Let's see if Min can figure that one out. No cheating, though! Only check that geneaology site if you have to!

 

[minsue]

I have double-first cousins, once removed!

Let's see if Min can figure that one out. No cheating, though! Only check that geneaology site if you have to!

LOL "Double-first" is a first for me! My only guess would be your mother or father has twin first cousins???

 

[Sshafer]

twice

You've been thrown out twice?

 

[Mhari]

LOL "Double-first" is a first for me! My only guess would be your mother or father has twin first cousins???

Hehe. It means that two siblings from one family married two siblings from another family. So the children produced by the marriages are more closely related than normal first cousins.

I'm not sure if I explained that well. Normally when I try, people look appalled and say that it sounds incestuous!

 

[Guest]

A friend is a double first cousin. She explained it to me once and I could only hold the concept in mind for about a minute.

Perdita

 

[minsue]

Hehe. It means that two siblings from one family married two siblings from another family. So the children produced by the marriages are more closely related than normal first cousins.

I'm not sure if I explained that well. Normally when I try, people look appalled and say that it sounds incestuous!

That makes sense to me! I get the same reaction from people when I try to explain the bizarre family connection my mother and her sister-in-law discovered.

My mom was talking about her 'crazy uncle Neb' and my aunt (completely unrelated to my mother: my mother's husband's brother's wife) said,'that's odd! I have a crazy uncle Neb' The man wasn't actually crazy, the family just called him that for some reason because he had been a widower multiple times over & just kept remarrying. The two of them sat down and compared family histories and figured out that one of them was related to Neb's 3rd wife and the other two his 4th or 5th (I can't recall).

 

[Guest]

Min, that sounds as if your mom and aunt are 'removed' in fractions, or percentages? Too heavy for me. P.

 

[Weird Harold]

Hehe. It means that two siblings from one family married two siblings from another family. So the children produced by the marriages are more closely related than normal first cousins.

I'm not sure if I explained that well. Normally when I try, people look appalled and say that it sounds incestuous!

First Cousins share one set of Grandparents -- Double First Cousins share two sets of Grandparents. It does sound slightly incestuous -- and can actully BE incestuous -- but it's not uncommon for groups of children from one family to marry children from another family; i.e. brothers, Bob and Ted, from one family marry sisters, Carol and Alice, from another family and their children would all be double first cousins.

 

[Mhari]

Ayup, Harold, that's just how it was in my family. Two brothers, Bill and Sam (yes, I had an Uncle Sam!) married two sisters, Mary and Kizzie (yes, that was her real name!). But there was no incest involved! (At least, as far as I know!)

I remain puzzled as to what to call the children of my mother's double-first cousin, though. Are they my double-first cousins, too? Just cousins? Double-second cousins? It makes my head hurt! (Normally, I just call all of them "cousins", thus bypassing the need to explain the whole "double-first" business.)

 

[Svenskaflicka]

As long as there's no siblings having sex togethe, I fail to see the incestous in the double-cousin thing.