20 May 2006

Two's Company, Three's a Crowd!

20 May 2006
I was always fascinated by the story of Sibyl, the woman with 12 multiple personalities (as featured in the eponymous movie starring Sally Field). Little did I know that deep in the depths of my genealogical past, I too, am a multiple personality.

This all started when I made the astonishing discovery that my parents were distant cousins—5th cousins twice removed to be precise. I don't know why I was so surprised, given the rather inbred part of the world from which I hail. I must admit, the thing that fascinates me the most is that my parents, who descend from a common ancestor, were 2 generations apart. During the time it took my father's line to produce 5 generations, my mother's line produced 7.

However, the most interesting, and relevant, consequence of this relationship is that it resulted in there being two lines of descent from my most distant ancestor to myself . . . and that means that I am my own 6th cousin twice removed (my parents were 5th cousins twice removed, so I am my own 6th cousin twice removed).

What's more ... as my genealogy software revealed, because my gggg-grandfather, John Last, married his first cousin, Mary Quinton, I am also my own 7th cousin!

Thus, there you have it, the secret's out. I am myself, I am my 6th cousin twiced removed, I am my 7th cousin.

There are some other interesting consequences to this. For example, all of my 1st cousins are also my 6th cousins twice removed and all of my paternal cousins (cousins on my father's side) are also my 7th cousins. What's more, my maternal grandfather (my mother's father) is also my 6th cousin, making my maternal aunts and uncles, also 6th cousins once removed! My paternal grandfather is also my 5th cousin twice removed as well as my 4th cousin 4 times removed . . . and so on.

I was happy being me but now I'm never alone because I shall always have 2 of my cousins to keep me company.



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3 comments:

miss appropriate said...

Wow, that is incredibly interesting, and funny in a way. When you mentioned that you were from a "rather inbred part of the world", I first thought somewhere else in the world! Shame on me!

miss appropriate said...

I just noticed how old the post was, and didn't realize the blog wasn't up-to-date!! I really hope you decide to blog again - it sounds like you really had something going here!

Ian said...

Hi Christi - I am originally from Suffolk, England and my family lived within a few miles of where I grew up for at least 350 years!

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