How Many Cousins Do You Know You Have?

Randy from Genea-Musings says:

1)  Take both sets of your grandparents and figure out how many first cousins you have, and how many first cousins removed (a child or grandchild of a first cousin) you have.

2)  Extra Credit:  Take all four sets of your great-grandparents and figure out how many second cousins you have, and how many second cousins removed you have.

HINT:  Make a Descendants Chart with your genealogy software program!

3)  Tell us the grandparents and great-grandparents names, but don't give the name of living cousins unless you want to.  

4)  Are there any of those lines that you don't know all of the cousins names?  Do you care?  

5)  Tell us about them in your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post, or in a Facebook or Google+ post of your own.  Be sure to drop a comment to this post to link to your work. 


Well, if this isn't a good way of checking your family tree is up to date, I don't know what is.

I'm always upgrading my Family Tree Maker software and transferring it from one computer to another and always promising myself that this time I will enter data properly (acknowledging sources and so on).  And then I get interrupted.  This little exercise has proved most salutory.

I haven't got past first cousins yet and discovered great big gaps on my family tree already.

I'm an only child and first cousins are very thin on the ground...one to be precise.  My mother was an only child so nix on her side.  My father had three siblings but one didn't make it to adulthood and the other did, just, but died before he could be married and have children.  That leaves one sibling who got married and guess what?  She had one child!  That's my cousin Peter.  And here he is holding me when I was a baby.

My one and only cousin, Peter, taking good care of me

So, in answer to Randy's questions:

1a) Thomas J.B. McLOUGHLIN and Helen Kate FORFAR had only one child - my mother - so no cousins on this line.

1b) Edwin Arthur James CONNER and Ethel Eileen CARRETT had four children but only two went on to have children.  

1)Hazel and Charles had one son, Peter (my first cousin).  Peter had three children: Samantha Lee, Philip Charles and Jaimie Lee (first cousins once removed).  I think his son has two children (first cousins twice removed).

2)James had one daughter, me.

First cousin: 1
First cousins once removed: 3
First cousins twice removed: 2?

2a) Great grandparents Edwin CONNER and Eleanor Eliza COOK had 3 children: 1) Constance Nellie (Connie) and 2) Lilian Ada (Lil) and my grandfather.  

1) Connie married Henry Claude MORRISON.  They had three children Joyce, Jackie and John.  That's three 1st cousins 1 x removed.  Joyce married James and they had three children Robert, Elizabeth and Jennifer.  That's three 2nd cousins but we've never met (to my knowledge).  I don't know if Jackie and John married and had children.

2) Lil married Thomas WEBB and then Clarrie WILLIAMS I think but I don't know if they had children.  

2b) George Henry Charles CARRETT and Daisy Mildred TAYLOR had 7 children.

1) Millie (Dorothy M) married Francis W E ANDREWS in 1924.  To the best of my knowledge they had three boys - 1) George, 2) Neville and 3) Francis (3 x 1st cousins 1 x removed).  I don't know if they had children.

2) Ethel my grandmother and Edwin had four children.  We've spoken about them in 1b

3) Rene (Rena M) married Francis L HALL.  They had four children: 1)Lynette, 2)Lawrence, 3) Brian and 4) Daryl.  (4 x 1st cousins 1 x removed) I don't know if they had children.

4) George married twice I think and had one child - George.  (1 x 1st cousin 1 x removed) I don't know if he had children.

5) Daisy married Harry Beech.  I don't know if they had any children.

6) Nora married Alfred. They had two children: Gai and Cheryl. (2 1st cousins x 1 removed) I don't know if they had children.

7) Ossie married Rita and they had two children: Joan and Geoffrey. (2 x 1st cousins 1 x removed)  I don't know if they had children.


2c) John McLOUGHLIN and Margaret TAYLOR had at least 9 children. Thomas my grandfather.  Then there was Margaret Philomena, Mary Josephine (died 1902), John P (died 1900), John Patrick, Joseph (died 1907), Joseph B, Vincent and Helena (Lena) and Francis Noel.

I know that Lena had at least one child, Veronica.  Joe had at least one daughter Marilyn. 

Veronica has submitted this information to the Archived Website First Families:

HALL, Pauline Therese NILSSON, Margaret Louise GILL, John Anthony 
O'BRIEN, VERONICA MARY GILL, Neville Patrick HAYES, Patrica Anne 
GILL, Terence George GILL, Christopher John 

So I'm thinking that that's at least nine 1st cousins 1 x removed.  Probably  more.

Grandchildren

GILL, Georgia Lea HALL, Michael Jonothan(adp) HALL, Natalie Louise(adp) 
NILSSON, Christine Marie NILSSON, Gabrielle Simone NILSSON, James Steven 
GILL, Anthony John GILL, Georgina Lea GILL, James Albert 
GILL, Joanna Margaret GILL, Georgia Lea LAWS-O'BRIEN, ERIN FRANCES 
O'BRIEN, CHRISTOPHER JOHN O'BRIEN, DANIEL THOMAS O'BRIEN, KELLY ANN(dec) 
O'BRIEN, MARK ANDREW GILL, Jared Anthony  GILL, Stephen Courtney 
GOLDSMITH, Jan Maree HAYES, Robert Anthony TAYLOR, Catherine Louise 
GILL, Frances Maree GILL, Jaclyn Louise GILL, Matthew James 
GILL, Benjamin James GILL, Georgia Lea GILL, Nicholas John 
GILL, Rebecca Helen(dec) GILL, Stephanie Joy 

29 2nd cousins I think (at least)

Great Grandchildren

NILSSON, Jarod Matthew O'BRIEN, ALEXANDRA KOBE` O'BRIEN, AMELIA ISABELLA 
GOLDSMITH, Amy Louise GOLDSMITH, Joseph(twin) GOLDSMITH, Joshua 
GOLDSMITH, Luke Peter GOLDSMITH, Samuel(twin) HAYES, Brianna Marie 
HAYES, Sean Patrick Robert TAYLOR, Maggie Louise 

11 2nd cousins 1 x removed (at least)

I suspect there are many more McLoughlin descendants and potential cousins of which I am unaware.

2d) Walter William FORFAR and Kate Amelia ELLIS had five children: 1) Ernest Henry, 2) Dorothy Emily, 3) Helen Kate (Kit) , 4) Grace Isabel (Belle) and 5)Walter William.  

1)Ernest Henry married Eleanor and they had two children Marcia and Ray. (2 x 1st cousins 1 removed).  I don't know if they had children.

2) Dorothy and Reg had Cathy (at least).  Cathy married Reg and they had Kathleen and Robyn.  (2 x 2nd cousins).  Kathleen (Kath) married Fred and they had Jack (2nd cousin 1x removed).  I am delighted to have met my 2nd cousin Kath and her family who I love to bits and pieces.

Alex and precious Cousin Kath

This photo was taken a while ago now but you can see the family resemblance, no?

3)Grace Isabel (Belle) married Irvine William WINGFIELD and they had two girls Joyce Isabel and Shirley.  Joyce married Ray and they had a little boy who died shortly after birth.  They adopted another boy, Bill.  Another 2nd cousin - hoorah!  Shirley married David and they had two boys Douglas and Bruce.  Two more 2nd cousins - hoorah!

Doug and Alex when the Conners were passing through Perth on the way back from Scotland

4) Helen Kate was my grandmother and she and Tom had Barbara, my mother an only child.

5) Little Walter William FORFAR died shortly after birth so no descendants there.

So whilst I only have 1 cousin.  I do have in the order of at least 28 1st cousins 1 x removed, albeit some of them now deceased, at least 37 2nd cousins and at least 3 2nd cousins 1x removed.  A total of 68 cousins that I know about. Well actually, let's make that 70 because I also have some 3rd cousins but that would mean going back another generation to great-great-grandparents to explain them and that's a whole other story.

Not having any brothers or sisters makes cousins even more precious and I look forward to meeting more in time.