Michael, I've not seen any studies on this but it applies in my family as well. Makes it very confusing to sort out what kind of cousins we are! In our case it seems more to do with a tendency for late marriages in some branches - we are an independent lot [:-)] - than of large families with wide age spread. Cheers Aggi-Rose At 04:26 PM 4/21/2007, you wrote: >I am puzzled in that I now find myself in contact with Clare cousins >younger than me) who are in fact true 2nd cousins of my grandfather. Is >anyone aware of any studies that have been made into why this kind of >generation slippage occurs. In my case it would seem to be because in >Ireland there is a greater spread age difference between the oldest and the >youngest sibling and that several males married wives younger (by 10 to 20 >years) than them. >Michael > > > > >------------------------------- >To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >IRL-CLARE-PROJECTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' >without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message