Notes on genealogy

Russell Bateman
March 2015
last update:


Instructions for determining relationship

Pick two people in your family to figure out which ancestor they have in common. For example, if you choose yourself and a cousin, you have a grandparent in common.

  1. Look at the top row of the chart and find the first person's relationship to the common ancestor.
  2. Look at the far left column of the chart and find the second person's relationship to the common ancestor.
  3. Determine where the row and column containing those two relationships meet.

common ancestor child child grandchild great-grandchild great-great-grandchild
child sibling nephew/niece grand-nephew/-niece great-grand-nephew/-niece
grandchild nephew/niece first cousin first cousin, once removed first cousin, twice removed
great-grandchild grand-nephew/-niece first cousin, once removed second cousin second cousin, once removed
great-great-grandchild great-grand-nephew/-niece first cousin, twice removed second cousin, once removed third cousin