Hi DJ, > Hi Gang, Can anyone tell me what "once removed" and "twice > removed", etc., means. My father is according a third cousin > of someone but I am (to this same person) a third cousin "once > removed". I know I should probably know what this means but > I do not. Thanks in advance, DJW of Salina, Kansas. The short version is that the level of cousin is the number of generations between the pair of even cousins and their common ancestor minus one because the first generation down from the common ancestor are siblings, not cousins. With your father as a third cousin, you'd have to go back four generations from him to reach the common ancestor. common ancestor..> great great grandparent <..common ancestor great grandparent................siblings..................great grandparent grandparent.........................1st cousins.........................grandparent parent...................................2nd cousins..................................parent your father..........................3rd cousins.........................your father The removals show the number of generations offset between odd cousins. For instance the related parent of your father's 3rd cousin would be your father's 2nd cousin once removed, while the grandparent of your father's 3rd cousin would be your father's 1st cousin twice removed. Because there's one generational offset between you and your father's 3rd cousin, you and that person are 3rd cousins once removed. The children of this 3rd cousin once removed, if any, would be your 4th cousins. On second thought, maybe that's the long version... :) Carey Chilcote -- Researching Chilcote/Chilcoat and related Booher, David, Fleck, Harris, Rutter, Smith and others...