Family Tree Terms: What Are Stepfathers, Half-sisters, First Cousins Twice Removed Etc?

I have re-visited the opening chapter of one of the premier books on British Ancestry and Genealogy lately. I'm talking about Mark Herber's book "Ancestral Trails".

This wonderful book, for genealogical researchers, includes a brilliant section on understanding family relationships. No, I certainly am not suggesting that it is a self-help publication aimed at men and women going through a bad patch in their relationships; its more about what the phrases stepfather/mother, half-brother/sister and so on refer to! It teaches us, in simple terms, the word step denotes that there's simply no blood connection connecting the parties and solely some sort of connection through marriage. Half is actually something different again and is where the actual people have just one mother or father in common.

Now, because I have a stepmother, a half-sister and I also once had a step-grandfather, until he passed away, on my mother's side, I am acutely aware of these terms. So, although all of these various relationships are correct in a factual way, I still get a shiver running down my spine when I see these somewhat cool impersonal terms used when identifying folk for whom I have love and respect. It seems to me that, when using these prefix, that I'm wanting to distance myself from these dear folk for some reason. Id like to take this opportunity to say that this is not really true. When we are noting down our Family history, however, we sometimes have to be very precise in explaining a relationship to someone and so detail exactly how and where a person fits into our family tree. None more difficult than when we are confronted with illegitimacy in our lines.

Maybe in the twentieth century, to be born to parents who are unmarried carries little stigma, in the past it was a very different story; so I urge you to handle it with sensitivity whenever you are talking to family members of an older generation.

Returning to this chapter, provided by Mark Herbers handbook, I was amused to realise that I had forgotten about defining cousins relationships. Whilst attending a family marriage, a few years back, I was introduced by my first-cousin-once-removed to one of her friends of her own age group. She said that I was her Mums cousin and in this she turned out to be wholly correct in this explanation of how we were related. As Herber pronounces: Relationships involving cousins are more complex. Cousins are usually people who share an actual common ancestor The offspring of a pair of siblings happen to be first cousins of each other. All the offspring of two first cousins are second cousins of each other and so on.

Okay so far, but then we move on to deal with completely different generations. The word we utilise to be able to denote this is removed hence my first cousins daughter is my cousin once removed. When she gives birth to a baby it will become my first cousin twice removed. We need to determine the number of intervening generations between ourselves and the particular common ancestor and utilize that number prior to the word removed. Now at this point comes the bit that I had forgotten!

The concept removed is generally only used to express relationships down a family tree. Therefore this had been precisely why Jenny, my first cousin once removed, as a child of my first cousin Julie is accurate as soon as she referred to me as her mums cousin

At this point closes the pedants lesson for today!

Mark Herbers book Ancestral Trails obtainable from most good bookstores.