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Lately, as I have been posting family pictures on my regular Facebook page, I have had some questions from people about the cousin numbering system. The charts and definitions don't help much and, I have found, usually just serve to confuse me further. After several years of constant, near-daily, genealogy work, I think I finally figured it out, and I am going to attempt to explain it <gulp>.

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The first number- 1st cousin, 2nd cousin, etc.- is based on how many generations the person is from your aunt/uncle. For example, the child of of your 23rd great aunt is your 1st cousin. The child of your 3rd great uncle is your 1st cousin. It doesn't matter, if the person's parent is an aunt or uncle, they are your first cousin, no matter how far back it is. The child of your 1st cousin is a 2nd cousin, and so on.

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The 2nd number- the "removed" part- refers to how many generations back is the cousin from your parents. For example, Lisa and Karl Stoll, are my 1st cousins, once removed. Their mother, Elizabeth Slusser, is my great aunt, so they are 1st cousins. However, their mother is my grandmother Nora's sister- that is one generation back from my mom, so that makes them once removed.

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Let's try one more.Through Nellie Ethel Potts-Slusser, Anne Boleyn (yes- the one who lost her head over Henry), is my 2nd cousin 16 times removed. Her father, Thomas Boleyn, was my 1st cousin because his father, William, was my 17th great uncle, so she is my 2nd cousin, but she is 16 generations back from my mother, so she is my 2nd cousin, 16 times removed.

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So, to summarize, the first number is how many generations the cousin is from your aunt or uncle, and the second number is how many generations the cousin is from your parents.

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I hope I didn't just confuse people further! If anyone is having difficulty figuring a particular relationship, just message me, and I will do my best to untangle it for you.