If I'm following you correctly, Rudy and your mom are first cousins. Rudy and you are first cousins once removed. Likewise, Rudy's kids and your mom are first cousins once removed. Rudy's kids and you are second cousins. Rudy's grandkids and you are second cousins once removed. Rudy's grandkids and your kids would be third cousins.

Generation is this sense doesn't mean age -- i.e., Rudy's grandchildren and you are around the same age. It means number of generations removed from the common ancestor. One generation means that you are both the children of the common ancestor(s), or siblings. Two generations, grandchildren of the common ancestor(s), or first cousins. Three generations, great-grandchildren of the common ancestor(s), or second cousins. Etc.

So "your generation" is Rudy's kids, even if they are old enough to be your parents.

Make sense?

Uncle Rudy and you are first cousins once removed.

You and Rudy's kids are second cousins.

Your kids and Rudy's kids' kids are third cousins.

You and Rudy's kids' kids are second cousins once removed.

Did anyone watch Gilmore Girls? This reminds me of Emily and Richard's (second) wedding.

Yes they are first cousins. I do believe it makes sense now. My family has sooo many people in it, it is hard to keep track of it. lol.

I guess i've always been confused with this whole thing because i've always understood the "Mexican" way. Like Rudy and I are cousins, but he's always been "uncle Rudy" to me b/c in Mexico my mom and Rudy would be considered primos-hermanos or cousins-brothers. So that would mean that Rudy (and his siblings) and my mom (and her siblings) are more siblings than cousins because they all are around the same age.

Thanks for clearing it up MC & AGDee

I know exactly what you mean
 

My ex-husband is from West Africa and his family (and maybe his entire ethnic group) follow the same kinship system. What's interesting though, is that my family (black American) does the same thing and always has. My mom's first cousins are considered her sisters/brothers and my aunts/uncles. And one of my cousin's kids call me Aunt Rosalind. Even close family friends get in on it.. I have a childhood friend that won't refer to me as anything other than her cousin. WE ALL understand the connections, but I know we confuse the mess out of other folks when we try explain it, LOL.

We have "cousins" who are not really related but who came from the same village in Sicily along with my family on the same boat, moved next door to each other in Pennsylvania and then they all moved to Detroit together and lived across the street from each other in Detroit. In reality, since the village in Sicily is very small and people all married people from the same village, there is probably some shared blood somewhere, but they lived as though they were very close relatives our whole lives.

Then you have my dad's siblings. His brother and sister married a sister and brother. Their kids are "double cousins" because they share both sets of grandparents. They are probably, genetically, more like brothers and sisters than cousins.

lol lol this made me laugh really hard.:p:D

I am related to FDR and Zachary Taylor through the line of Isaac Allerton. My 13th great-grandmother was Sarah Allerton, 14th g-g Isaac Allerton, 15th g-g Isaac Allerton, Mayflower pilgram.

Thus, Isaac, Jr., being from 15th g-g Fear Brewster and Isaac, Sr. I am also related to William Brewster, Mayflower pilgrim, 16th g-g.

Also, Sarah Palin has been traced to Brewster now through Patience Brewster. Just thought I would throw that out there for what it is worth...

On my dad's side, it's been traced all the way back to England.
www.leftwich.org

Those that came to America started primarily in the Lynchburg, Bedford, Richmond, VA area.

My aunt has told me I'm related to some folks but I can't remember who other than Billy Graham's wife Ruth. Maybe Bryan Leftwich, the football player??

On my mom's side, all I know is that my gmother was born in Hartwell SC and her grandfather was a Cherokee Indian who was rescued by "a white man" named Sanders when his village was raided.

On my dad's mom's side, there is a Cherokee Indian female relative a couple of generations from her.

I haven't gotten really far, by my husband's family has been traced back to the 900's in Norway. (He has an aunt who had done a ton of research.) His dad recently went and met a realtive in Norway and spent some time with them. He said it was really neat.

This Relationship Chart is a good way to explain the difference between the types of relatives.

You take the common ancestor between you (along the top row) and the person to which you're related (down the side), and make the rows meet. Just like when you learned the multiplication tables!

What an interesting thread! I haven't gotten very far, although my grandma on my dad's side did quite a bit of research.

Mom's Side-
mid-1800s from Sweden, Norway, and Germany

Dad's Side-
early 1700s from Germany and Norway

We REALLY havent gotten very far. My family on BOTH sides are fairly recent immigrants to the US. My paternal great grandparents ALL came to New York from Ireland around 1910. So I'm third generation American on my dad's side. My maternal grandparents came to Michigan from Latvia in the late 40's after WWII. The Soviets were taking over Latvia at the time. They didn't actually meet in Latvia. Mutual Latvian friends in Michigan set them up! So I'm second generation American on my mom's side. I actually went to Latvia when I was 14. My grandmother's sister is MUCH younger than she and has a daughter about 2 years younger than me. It was cool to hang out with her, though she spoke VERY little English, and I spoke VERY little Latvian at the time. I saw her about a year ago when she visited. She speaks IMPECCABLE English now. I still speak very little Latvian LOL! I have LOTS of family still in Latvia. It's a beautiful country and I hope to go back some day.

Is it bad I like my illegal Irish immigrant side better than my "we fell off the Mayflower" side?

Nah - They're fun. Just don't ask them about old school Irish wakes - my dad tells a story involving drinking with the departed and playing cards that I think scarred me for life.