John L. in NH asked:
"Can some one explain what it means to have a 10 cousin once removed. I have
forgotten."
This explanation requires two parts: the first is to explain what a 10th
cousin is; the second is an explanation of a the "removed" indication.
Simply put, look at your first cousins. You and your first cousins are
descended from the same pair of grandparents. Your second cousins and you are
descended from the same pair of great-grandparents. Your third cousins and you are
descended from the same pair of great-great-grandparents. Continuing on back,
you add one "cousin number" for each "great" in the link, so that you
and your
10th cousins are descended from the same pair of
great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparents (nine greats).
Therefore, "cousin
number" = (number of greats) plus one. Got it?
Okay, let's go on. Suppose your first cousin has a child. You and that
child are "removed" by a generation. So you and your first cousin's child
are
"first cousins once removed" to each other. If that child has a child, i.e.,
your first cousin's grandchild, you and that grandchild are first cousins twice
removed. Et cetera.
Let's look at the original question. You have a 10th cousin once removed.
Two cases arise: you and that cousin's parent are 10th cousins (the cousin is
the child of your 10th cousin), or that cousin and your parent are 10th cousins
(you are the child of that cousin's 10th cousin). In either case, the "once
removed" occurs because you're displaced from each other by a generation.
Note that this is the genealogical definition of cousins and removals.
Anthropologists, for example don't use the "removed" at all and number the
cousin
relationships differently. (I've had some wonderful disputes with my brother,
an anthropologist, about this very issue.) Furthermore, in some cultures, no
matter how distant the cousinship is, a cousin is a cousin without all this
numeric stuff.
But we're talking genealogy here. So we'll use the genealogy definitions.
If you're still confused, I'm sure that Rootsweb has an excellent explanation
in its files.
Hope this helped.
Coralie J. Allen
ggggg granddaughter of Isaiah Carpenter of Shaftsbury, VT