[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Figuring Relationships

[Karl Krueger]

Leo,
Others have already explained the relationships you were wondering about. Your other question about how often does this kind of thing happen was not answered though. The answer to that question is this happens very often among the German communities throughout this area. Think of  having a restricted population of hundreds to maybe a couple thousand people from which you can choose your spouse. In the first generation it is easy to find an unrelated person to marry. But with each subsequent generation it will be more difficulat to find someone completely unrelated to you. It will only take a few generations before you find the majority of the population interelated to each other. I have noticed this phenomenon studying EWZ records where my parents/grandparents came from. I found so many interrelationships betweens different branches of my distant relatives that my family was never aware before I started building this database. Most people I know now
 through SGGEE whose ancestors came from the Lublin area are either related to me (2nd-5th cousins) or are related to others of my relatives (1st or 2nd cousins).
 
Secondly, two other drivers for marrying was who your family knew and economic pressures to retain ownership of farm land. These factors tended to encourage marrying someone related to you. Cousins marrying each other was not uncommon. In rare instances marrying an uncle/aunt or even step daughter have been found. They were not aware of the benefit of genetic diversity or the dangers of avoiding it. In our society we have a better understanding of the genetic implications and thus we avoid marrying relatives.
Karl

--- On Wed, 10/1/08, Leo Sonnenberg <sonnal at shaw.ca> wrote:

From: Leo Sonnenberg <sonnal at shaw.ca>
Subject: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Figuring Relationships
To: ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org
Date: Wednesday, October 1, 2008, 10:15 PM

I recently received a list of ancestors on my father's side back to 1790 
from a cousin in Germany. I was surprised to see that my grandfather on 
my mother's side was also on the list.
My mother is a great granddaughter to the common ancestor and my father 
is a great great grandson to the common ancestor. I am both a great 
great grandson through my mother and a great great  great grandson 
through my father.

My questions are -  A. what cousins are my parents to each other and B. 
what am I to my distant grandfather?  How would I classify myself - a 
two great grandson or a three great grandson? So who am I?

Also, does this situation occur very often?

Any definition of my relationship to my distant grandfather is welcome 
(including any jokes).

Leo Sonnenberg


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