Mightier Acorns

How many cousins do you have?

I know, it’s a tricky question – “We’re all cousins if you go back far enough!”

But seriously, do you know how many 1st, 2nd, or 3rd cousins you have? Because every now and then, I start to think about the answer, and … I end up sidetracked doing something else, because I don’t have an easy-button or an app to answer it for me.

(This is where you may have an app or an easy button, and yes, please do share the link in the comments!)

It’s a tricky question because looking “up” the tree is always so predictable and easy to grasp – 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 greats, etc. In contrast, looking “down” the tree becomes a crazy-quilt of ever-branching forks, complicated by the system of “once-removed” and generational overlap.

There are Eight of Us, But…

I’m one of two siblings. Our parents had siblings, and their children are my First Cousins – and there are Eight of us. Simple enough, but…

How many cousins do each of my First Cousins have?

That’s not simple at all. For example, my cousin Tim was the only child of my Aunt Judy, my mother’s sister. However, I never knew his dad – and I only vaguely think I know that Uncle Jack had more kids. If he did, they aren’t related to me genetically at all; and I certainly have no idea whether he had siblings, so if he did, Tim has an unknown number of half-siblings and First Cousins who are not related to me.

Tim also wouldn’t count my dad’s niece and nephews as First Cousins, so of the Eight of us who are first cousins from my point of view, Tim is only really related to four of us.

In other words, I have no idea how many cousins Tim has!

Add another interesting wrinkle – among the Eight people I count as my First Cousins, three are girls, but two were adopted. My sister was not. One of my adopted cousins has been getting in touch with her biological family, and may know about her set of First Cousins, but I don’t know if there are any cousins in her bio-fam, or how many there are. My aunt’s husband was an only child, so while my adopted cousin’s brothers only have four First Cousins, she could have many more than her siblings do!

Expanding the Circle

The problems of figuring out how many cousins there are in a given generation feels impossible, even when just trying to count how many Second Cousins I have. On my dad’s maternal side, Grandma Nancy had one brother, who had one son, and he had two sons (one biological). Grandpa Bob’s brother Norman had three kids, with eight children between them who would be my Second Cousins.

Nine so far, so let’s look at the maternal side. Grandma Bert’s sister had four kids… who had 2, 2, 1, and… 12 children? And Grandpa Russ had 11 siblings, so I think I have πR² Second Cousins, total.

I can’t even begin to think about counting Third or Fourth Cousins at this point, if only because I’m not sure I’ve done my homework that far “down” the tree from all of my great- and great-great-grandparents.

Who’s Got a Number?

So, dear fellow Acorns, how many cousins can you count?