{"id":653,"date":"2024-12-08T04:46:59","date_gmt":"2024-12-08T04:46:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whogenealogydna.com\/?p=653"},"modified":"2024-12-08T04:46:59","modified_gmt":"2024-12-08T04:46:59","slug":"family-relationship-chart-for-genealogy-and-dna-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.whogenealogydna.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/08\/family-relationship-chart-for-genealogy-and-dna-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Family Relationship Chart for Genealogy and DNA Research"},"content":{"rendered":"

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3rd Cousin Twice Removed? This Chart Helps You Sort Out Confusing Cousin Relationships<\/h1>\n

Last Updated August 7, 2023<\/span><\/p>\n<\/header>\n

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If you\u2019ve been\u00a0looking through DNA matches recently, or connecting with distant cousins through traditional genealogy research, you\u2019ve likely found yourself wondering, \u201cIf I share a 2nd great grandparent with someone what kind of cousins are we?\u201d\u00a0\u201cWhat is a 3rd cousin twice removed anyway?\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

You\u2019re not the only one. Cousin relationships are complex and keeping all of them straight can be very confusing. Many of us have to look these relationships up when we encounter them just to make sure we\u2019ve got our facts straight. That\u2019s why we decided to create a simple family relationship chart to help you \u2013 along with instructions for using it. \u00a0The chart found below can be viewed here at any time, saved to your computer or printed off for easy reference.<\/p>\n

Family Relationship Chart for Genealogy<\/h3>\n

\"Genealogy<\/picture>

Viewing and Saving This Chart<\/strong><\/p>\n

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MyHeritage is offering 2 free weeks of access to their extensive collection of 20 billion historical records, as well as their matching technology that instantly connects you with new information about your ancestors<\/b>. Sign up using the link below to find out what you can uncover about your family. Discover New Genealogy Records Instantly<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

To view a larger version of the chart you can click on it.<\/p>\n

You can save the above image\u00a0just as you would any image online \u2013 such as by right-clicking and hitting \u201csave as\u201d or long pressing on mobile and selecting download.<\/p>\n

If you prefer to print the chart or save it in a PDF file we have included one here<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

How to Use the Family Relationship Chart<\/strong><\/p>\n

You can use the chart above in two ways. The first will be most useful when you already know<\/strong>\u00a0what your most recent common ancestor is with another person and you would like to discover what your relationship is with that person.<\/p>\n

The second method will be useful when you are doing DNA research and your match is listed as possibly having a certain relationship to you (as seen in the screenshot below) and you would like to understand what that means.<\/p>\n

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Method 1: Finding Your Cousin Relationship\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you know your most recent common ancestor<\/strong> with another person then you can use this relationship chart to figure out what your familial relationship is. Start by following your own line up the left side of the chart. Follow it from yourself to your parent to the generation you connect at with the other person.<\/p>\n

Next, follow the purple dots over from that ancestor to the right until you come to the generations listed at the end of\u00a0that purple dotted line. Now follow the generations\u00a0down (the yellow and purple people icons). When you do this you are moving forward in time one generation for each level.<\/p>\n

As an example, let\u2019s say you\u2019ve connected with a person through your genealogy research and you\u2019ve discovered that you have a 2nd great grand parent in common. You are both descended from this great great grandparent, but from different children of that person. The great great grandparent is your most recent common ancestor.<\/p>\n

To figure out how you are related you would travel up to great great grandparent on the chart (on the left side) and then follow the purple dots over to the corresponding area on the right. \u00a0You will now need to travel down through the people icons in this line until you reach the correct generation.<\/p>\n

Since your great great grandparent is also the great great grandparent of the person you are connected to, you would count the first person in this line (listed as great grand aunt\/uncle) as their<\/em> great grand parent. This is because your relation\u2019s<\/em> great grandparent was the sibling of your<\/em> great grandparent.<\/p>\n

Next you would move down<\/strong> one more generation on the chart (which is forward a generation in time) and get to your relation\u2019s grandparent (your 1st cousin twice removed) and then you move down one more to get to your relation\u2019s parent (your second cousin once removed) and then down one more to the person you have connected with. This makes them your third cousin.<\/p>\n

But what if the most recent common ancestor you share with a person\u00a0is your great great<\/strong> grandparent but is your relation\u2019s\u00a0great grandparent<\/strong>? Simply move back a generation (up<\/strong> through the people icons on the relationship chart) to discover that this person is your second cousin once removed. If your cousin\u00a0was related to your 2nd great grandparent by being their 3rd great grandchild you would move down through the icons until you reached a proper number of generations from the shared ancestor\u00a0\u2013 and you would find that you are 3rd cousins once removed.<\/p>\n

Now you try it. If you connect to a new relation and their 4th great grandparent<\/strong> is your 3rd great grandparent<\/strong> how would you be related? Use the chart above to figure this out. The answer is at the bottom of this post.<\/p>\n

Method 2: Determining\u00a0Your Shared Ancestor<\/strong><\/p>\n

This method can be used when you already know or suspect how you are related to someone<\/strong> and you want to see where your shared ancestor might be. To use this method simply find your relationship on the chart, follow the generations back in time until you get to the purple dots and then over to your generational line on the left.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s imagine, for instance, that you are looking at your DNA matches and you see a possible 2nd to 3rd cousin. While remembering that such genetic relationships are best guesses<\/strong>\u00a0of generational distance and are not exact \u2013 take a moment to find 2nd cousin<\/strong> on the chart. Follow the people icons up to the purple dots and then over to the left. This would show that you may<\/em> share a great grandparent with that person.<\/p>\n

Now take a look at the 3rd cousin area and do the same thing \u2013 up and then over. You will find that if you are 3rd cousins you may\u00a0share a great great grandparent in common. You will see that some relationships are shown more than once since there is more than one possibility for connection.<\/p>\n

The number of years between generations\u00a0can vary widely from family to family so, while you may share an ancestor with a person and be descended from that ancestor as their 3rd great grandchild, a person nearly your same age may be one or even two generations removed (meaning that your 3rd great might be their 2nd great \u2013 or their 4th). OR you may actually share a more recent or distant common ancestor.<\/p>\n

If a person is much older or younger than you this increases the possibility of generational removal even more. When using this chart for unproven DNA matches remember that the relationships provided by testing companies are guesses based on the amount of DNA you share with someone. There are many factors that come in to play that may alter the actual relationship you share. You can learn more about this in our online genealogy course<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

However\u00a0you choose to use this family relationship chart we hope it will help you make sense of this confusing topic.\u00a0Enjoy!<\/p>\n

Answer:<\/strong> 4th cousin once removed. You would select 3rd great grandparent from the left side of the chart, since that is how you are related\u00a0to your most recent common ancestor, then move over to the corresponding generations (people icons) and count down. Since your 3rd great grandparent is their 4th, your great great grand uncle is their 3rd<\/strong> great grandparent, your 1st cousin 3 times removed is their great great grandparent, your 2nd cousin twice removed is their great grandparent, your 3rd cousin once removed is their grandparent and your 4th cousin is their parent.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

By Melanie Mayo, Editor, and Kate Jackson, Associate Editor, Family History Daily<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

3rd Cousin Twice Removed? This Chart Helps You Sort Out Confusing Cousin Relationships Last Updated August 7, 2023 Ancestry 50% Off Gift Memberships for Black Friday (Gift to Anyone, Even Yourself!) If you\u2019ve been\u00a0looking through DNA matches recently, or connecting with distant cousins through traditional genealogy research, you\u2019ve likely found yourself wondering, \u201cIf I share […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":654,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2],"class_list":["post-653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-genealogy-guides","tag-db"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whogenealogydna.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whogenealogydna.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whogenealogydna.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whogenealogydna.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whogenealogydna.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=653"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.whogenealogydna.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":658,"href":"https:\/\/www.whogenealogydna.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653\/revisions\/658"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whogenealogydna.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whogenealogydna.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whogenealogydna.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whogenealogydna.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}