Reading through the responses to familysearch's "new" cousin charts
(actually just newly re-emailed - they emailed about the same ones about
a year ago [not that they aren't useful]), I got to idly wondering:
If there's a second marriage somewhere, so you are still related to the person but only by one parent at some point in the chain, we say they're
your half whatever (uncle, nepling, xth cousin y removed)*. You still
share DNA, though only half as much as would otherwise be the case -
though I'm sure the "half" terminology well predates DNA.
If there's another second marriage somewhere - so that you still share ancestry, but only half as much DNA again - what is the term - do we say
a "half half" whatever, or a "quarter"?
(Of course, if the second marriage was _of_ a second spouse, you might
have _no_ common ancestry; I wasn't thinking of that case!)
Just an idle wonder, of the sort that might suggest I have too much time
on my hands (which I don't!). I just don't _think_ I've ever heard
anyone refer to either a half half something or a quarter something!
(* The "half" terminology doesn't clarify _where_ the second marriage
took place - for a half third cousin, for example, you don't know if it
was a grandparent, GGP, or GGGP who married twice - or on which side.)
Reading through the responses to familysearch's "new" cousin charts
(actually just newly re-emailed - they emailed about the same ones about
a year ago [not that they aren't useful]), I got to idly wondering:
If there's a second marriage somewhere, so you are still related to the person but only by one parent at some point in the chain, we say they're
your half whatever (uncle, nepling, xth cousin y removed)*. You still
share DNA, though only half as much as would otherwise be the case -
though I'm sure the "half" terminology well predates DNA.
If there's another second marriage somewhere - so that you still share ancestry, but only half as much DNA again - what is the term - do we say
a "half half" whatever, or a "quarter"?
(Of course, if the second marriage was _of_ a second spouse, you might
have _no_ common ancestry; I wasn't thinking of that case!)
Just an idle wonder, of the sort that might suggest I have too much time
on my hands (which I don't!). I just don't _think_ I've ever heard
anyone refer to either a half half something or a quarter something!
(* The "half" terminology doesn't clarify _where_ the second marriage
took place - for a half third cousin, for example, you don't know if it
was a grandparent, GGP, or GGGP who married twice - or on which side.)
On 10/10/21 4:00 PM, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
Reading through the responses to familysearch's "new" cousin charts >>(actually just newly re-emailed - they emailed about the same ones
about a year ago [not that they aren't useful]), I got to idly wondering:
If there's a second marriage somewhere, so you are still related to
the person but only by one parent at some point in the chain, we say >>they're your half whatever (uncle, nepling, xth cousin y removed)*.
You still share DNA, though only half as much as would otherwise be
the case - though I'm sure the "half" terminology well predates DNA.
If there's another second marriage somewhere - so that you still
share ancestry, but only half as much DNA again - what is the term -
do we say a "half half" whatever, or a "quarter"?
(Of course, if the second marriage was _of_ a second spouse, you
might have _no_ common ancestry; I wasn't thinking of that case!)
Just an idle wonder, of the sort that might suggest I have too much
time on my hands (which I don't!). I just don't _think_ I've ever
heard anyone refer to either a half half something or a quarter
something!
(* The "half" terminology doesn't clarify _where_ the second
marriage took place - for a half third cousin, for example, you don't
know if it was a grandparent, GGP, or GGGP who married twice - or on
which side.)
The 'Half' term, as I understand it, only applies at the common
ancestor point, because elsewhere on the chain, only one parent is part
of the chain anyway in the path of either you or them to the common >parent(s).
The only way to get 2-halves, would be to start with a double
relationship, sharing two sets of 'common ancestors', where, for
example if two brothers marry two sisters, there children are >double-1st-cousins having all 4 grand parents in common. In that case
you could have one or two 'half' relationships for the two common sets
of ancestors.
(I've often thought things are going to get more difficult for
genealogists in future, with the increase in divorce and/or multiple
partners these days - though in fact it's not as common as it looked
like it was going to be, in say the 1960s-'80s. A more recent phenomenon that_would_ complicate things is changing surnames - double-barrelled,
wives not changing, husbands changing, and many others - but that's
probably countered by much better record-keeping nowadays.)
(I've often thought things are going to get more difficult for
genealogists in future, with the increase in divorce and/or multiple
partners these days - though in fact it's not as common as it looked
like it was going to be, in say the 1960s-'80s. A more recent phenomenon
that _would_ complicate things is changing surnames - double-barrelled,
wives not changing, husbands changing, and many others - but that's
probably countered by much better record-keeping nowadays.)
The thing I've found most difficult with modern registrations is
middle names only being recorded by initials. People with very common
first names and no middle names are even worse (although I'm one of
those).
Sysop: | Keyop |
---|---|
Location: | Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, UK |
Users: | 296 |
Nodes: | 16 (2 / 14) |
Uptime: | 74:23:59 |
Calls: | 6,657 |
Calls today: | 3 |
Files: | 12,203 |
Messages: | 5,332,516 |
Posted today: | 1 |