My understanding is the "removed" refers to a generation difference. Your third cousin would be in your generation. Your "third cousin once removed" would be your third cousin's child -- one generation away. Your "third cousin twice removed" would be your third cousin's grandchild -- two generations away from yours. In a message dated 5/10/01 1:02:06 PM Eastern Daylight Time, GenTips-D-request@rootsweb.com writes: > Could some nice person please tell me what exactly "once removed" > means. I have family tree maker and I did the relationship of a cousin > of mine with me and it came up, "3rd cousin once removed". > > I don't know if you need this information or not, but I will give it to > you, just in case. > > My g-grandmother Adelia had a brother James. > > My cousin is from James. James had Thomas. Thomas had Marshall and > Marshall had Donald (my 3rd cousin). > > My g-grandmother had Katie. Katie had Mildred and Mildred had me. > > Where does the "once removed" come in? > > Thank you so much. This is a great list. > > Jan > mailto:hood@shentel.net > >