This post will only contain the explanation of one familial relation. It is a strange one that I hadn't heard of before, and it took my brain quite some time to map it out, so I hope you enjoy. This is a true story about my own family.
I am the 19th of 21 grandchildren. While I'm in Lebanon I'm trying to figure out the complete and correct order of the births. I have this partially mapped out. As it stands, my sister is the youngest of 21 and she's now 24. The oldest is in his mid to late 50's. In fact he has a son my age, but HE is my first cousin and his son (my age) is a generation below me in the family tree (first cousin once-removed in American speak).
My oldest aunt has 7 children. The 5th in line is where the story gets peculiar. She has a situation such that she and her children share a set of first cousins...
How is this you might ask? Well I didn't understand it either, but allow to try and explain.
My dad is 5th of 6 children. He has two older brothers and they are quite a bit older (10+ years each). The middle brother is married to a woman to whom he is perhaps 10 years senior. They have two children (my first cousins) and ALSO first cousins with my first cousin from my oldest aunt (her mother and their father are siblings). The 5th child of the oldest child is married to a man who is the younger brother of my uncle's younger wife. This means, her childrens' first cousins on their FATHER's side are the same first cousins from her mother's side. Make sense? I didn't think so.
Couple A: My uncle and is younger wife
Couple B: The wife's younger brother and my first cousin
To note, this seems like terrible inbreeding, but in the end everything plays out cleanly. It's just another totally random and awkward circumstance that occurs within a huge family. I tried to figure out how to draw this part of the family tree and it just doesn't work... It's sort of like a pair of siblings marrying a different pair of siblings. The children will be double first cousins. In this case we have children who are on one side first cousins and on the other side first cousins once removed. Odd, I suppose, but no foul play has occured here I promise.
Trying to explain this story, however, makes me recognize my hillbilly (on both sides) heritage. Perhaps (as a friend once said) I'm really a khillbilly.
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Well thank God your mother met your father on that fateful day at Radio Shack or you might have ended up with a cone-shaped head and six fingers.
ReplyDeleteI've been trying to figure out if there is an official term for first cousins who are more closely related than normal... i.e., and this is true, Conrad's dad's brother married his mom's sister. So, Conrad and his brother and two of their first cousins are actually "double cousins" as you say.
ReplyDeleteNot surprisingly, I'm a bit confused...
ReplyDeleteOne thing will help me clarify the lack of foul play - "my first cousin" in couple B is not the child of couple A, it's a child of a different Aunt or Uncle, correct...?
Correct.
ReplyDeleteCouple A is my dad's brother and his wife.
Couple B is my dad's neice (from his sister) and her husband (who is wife A's younger brother).
Still confusing. I don't know exactly what to call that relation...