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Consanguinity
Chart
(Blood relationships)
Understanding just how we are related is important. Kids
always want to know who their cousins are, and explaining their
blood relations to them can be complicated. We Cubans add to
this difficulty by adding into "the relative mix" all
kinds of tios, tias and cousins that are really distant relatives
or that aren't relatives at all. With a little bit of
attention, however, it's really not that difficult to explain to
them just how they are related. At least we can put a
manageable label on someone, like "She's your 3rd cousin"
or "He's your second cousin once removed".
The task is made easier by the use of a consanguinity chart, but
even that can get pretty complicated unless you have a familiar
frame of reference to hang labels on. That is why I have drawn
up the chart below, using myself and my second cousin, Teddy
Iturrioz, as an example to explain blood relations.
The chart below shows that Fermin Iturrioz and Juana Llaguno (our
common ancestors) had children, among whom were my grandmother,
Cuca Iturrioz, and Teddy's grandfather, Totolo. (Fermin and
Juana had a total of four children, but Im going to ignore the
other two, Josechu and Ramon, for the sake of simplicity).
(Also, Cuca and Totolo's real
names were Juana and Teodoro, but you know Cubans and nicnames).
Anyway, Cuca and Totolo were siblings: in other words, brother and sister to each
other. Cuca's daughter, Nena, and Totolo's son, Toto,
were First Cousins. Nena's son, Ernie (me), and Toto's son,
Teddy, are second cousins to each other. Teddy's daughter,
Cristina, and my son Peter are third cousins. Easy
enough. We can therefore see that when you have equal generational steps
on both sides
the number associated with the relationship is complete: 1st
cousins, 2nd cousins, 3rd cousins, and so on down the line.
The complication sets in when you're trying to figure out how it
is that someone is related to another person that is not of
the same
generation. That's where the "once removeds" and
"twice removeds," etc., come in. There you first
have to figure out how many steps down the generational ladder the
two people have in common, and then figure in the number of
additional steps you have to take on only one side of the
chart in order to reach down to the person of the later
generation. See the next chart: |
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For
example, Teddy is my second cousin. That makes his
daughter Cristina my "second cousin, once
removed" because we have equal generational steps down from
our common ancestors, Fermin and Juana, making us second cousins, plus one more
unequal step on her side making her "once
removed" from being my second cousin.
Cristina is my
son Peter's third cousin because Peter provides the additional
generational step on my side to give him the third cousin status
with Cristina. So then, what is my mother Nena's
relationship to Cristina? Nena and Crisitna are 1st
cousins, twice removed! Why? Because Nena is
Toto's first cousin and then there are two uneven generational
steps down to reach Cristina.
And what about my
grandmother Cuca and Cristina? Cuca is Cristina's Great
Grand Aunt and Cristina is Cuca's Great Grand Niece. Cuca
is Teddys grand aunt and, of course, Toto's aunt. This
is because the Aunt/Uncle-Niece/Nephew relationship is extended
through the generations just like "Great grandfather"
and "Great great grandfather." There are no
"removeds" that apply to the Aunt/Uncle-Niece/Nephew
relationship. Once an uncle, always an uncle to the
children and grandchildren of that niece or nephew, and so on
down the line. Just add another "Great" as you
go on down to each generation.
I
hope this has made things a little clearer. There is a
wonderful Consanguinity Chart located at http://www.john-sons.com/Genealogy/Consanguinity%20Chart.htm
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