Convoluted relationships

Although I worked this out quite a while ago, I have only just returned to this side of my Tree as I thought it time I progressed on the research of some of my paternal descendants. Back then I made a note of a lovely cross relationship found because I was curious as to why certain Cunningtons' ('Cunnington' being a subsidiary paternal 'marriage' connection; the fact that it came spelled a variety of ways is another story) seemed to be marrying into my 'Flynn' Irish descendant blood line. I needed to check out if each belonged to the same line of the same name.

In one case this was so and I then discovered that as well as being husband and wife, that he (a Flynn) was also -to her (a Cunnington): her Uncle's, Wife's, Sister's, Mother's, Brother. I expect they had that worked out as well. If that doesn't qualify as convoluted what does?

 

I chose this old posting of mine because the subject heading fits well with the comments that follow after the introduction to this new posting.

Whilst further researching an aspect of a cousin's Tree (a first cousin once removed) in Ancestry, I followed a Hint which led to a perfectly adorable photo of a family of 9 children taken c 1913.in an Ancestry PUBLIC (of course) Tree. All 9 were were well dressed, decidedly posed and in age order and, as it happens in perfect descending height order, plus at the end of the row next to the youngest, was the family dog standing on hind legs. (There was also an inset of 3 additional children taken c 1920). Of the 9 children, the second eldest (a girl aged about 15) was the paternal grandmother of the cousin I mentioned. I was so taken with the photo I decided to message the Tree owner (a lady) for permission to copy the photo to my Tribal Pages where I record all family photos rather than in my Ancestry Tree. I mentioned that my relationship was convoluted but less so to the person I was researching (and explained how so) and asked how she related.

I received permission within the hour as it happens (especially rewarding in itself) but from the husband of the Tree owner (clearly she was researching her husband's Tree) telling me he did not mind in the least and could if I wished copy them to my Ancestry Tree also. I learned the middle child (also a girl) was his maternal grandmother (thus he and my 1st cousin once removed were second cousins). He then told me that the father of the children (his Great Grandfather) was both a Publican and an amateur photographer, and later (and at the time of the photo) a professional photographer with his own studio.

And now comes the comical bit. He asked what relationship was I to him, and so knowing Tribal Pages likes to make a meal of such questions, I asked TP to define the relationship, if indeed there was one. In the answer, he is R and I am B.

R's mother's mother's sister's son's wife's mother's sister's son is B. It followed with a Summary: R's mother's cousin' wife's cousin's is B

Luckily TP also provided a chart to show how the relationship mapped out, which considerably helped make sense of it all. I could not check to see how Ancestry defined the relationship because as both of us were living (thankfully), such information is not given.

I shall now have fun explaining all this to my first cousin once removed who may of course be aware of her second cousin or if not, have knowledge of his parents as Aunts and Uncles.