March birthdays

 

March birthdays

 

Monday’s child is fair of face,

Tuesday’s child is full of grace,

Wednesday’s child is full of woe,

Thursday’s child has far to go,

Fridays’ child works hard for its living,

Saturday’s child is loving and giving,

But the child that is born on the Sabbath day

Is bonny and blithe and good and gay.

March seems to be a popular month for birthdays.  It’s my eldest daughter’s birthday today. She was born on the Sabbath day and the verse suits her well.

Tomorrow is my Norfolk niece’s birthday.

March 11^th sees my great-granddaughter’s third birthday, followed the next day by her cousin, my oldest great-grandchild, Isla’s eleventh birthday.

My eldest grandson was born on March 27^th and his daughter was supposed to be born in March last year, but she arrived in February, instead.

My late mother-in-law’s birthday was in March, too. For all the many years I knew her I never managed to remember which date was her birthday. I used to think it was 17^th March, until one year she told me sharply that she wasn’t born on St Patrick’s Day. I determined to remember it the next year, but forgot, and never did manage the correct date until the year she died, the day before her 96^th birthday, and then it really was too late. It was after that that I started writing the dates down, as the family expanded.

Now, although I write all the important annual dates in my diary, I somehow seem to forget or overlook some of them, realising too late to post a card. I could ask Alexa to remind me, but we already have so many reminders and it’s all too easy to say, ’Alexa, stop,’ and then forget what the reminder was.

 It’s strange to think that Isla and Frankie will both be going to secondary school in September. They are first cousins once removed or second cousins . . . are they? aren’t they? This is what I found.

 

A second cousin and a first cousin once removed are related, but they are not the same.

Second Cousin:

Your second cousin is someone who shares a great-grandparent with you.

In other words, your second cousin’s grandparent is your great-grandparent.

The common ancestor is two generations away from both of you.

For example, if your great-grandparents are the same, you and your second cousin are second cousins.

 

First Cousin Once Removed:

Your first cousin once removed is either:

The child of your first cousin, or

Your parent’s first cousin.

 

The common ancestor is one generation away from one of you and two generations away from the other.

The “once removed” indicates that there is a one-generation difference between your cousin and you.

 

In summary:

Second cousins share great-grandparents and are two generations apart.

First cousins once removed have a one-generation difference in their relationship to the common ancestor.

So, Frankie and Isla are second cousins. If ever I had considered taking up genealogy as a hobby, those types of relationships would tie me in knots immediately. I haven’t the patience to unravel them and in any case would find it frustrating to come across so many unanswered questions. Inevitably, the further back in history the searches go the more such questions arise.

Even in the best regulated and documented families, records have not always been kept rigorously and it’s easy to travel along the wrong road. We have found mistakes in quite recent documents relating to near relatives. I know many people thoroughly enjoy their researches – Barry’s sister-in-law has studied her family (and some of his, as she was married to his brother), for years.

I was contacted some years ago by a far-flung relative who was researching a different branch of my family. It was interesting to see what he had discovered, but not sufficiently inspiring for me to conduct my own researches. Ah, well, each to their own.

Must go and walk the dogs, now. Their genealogy is very plain to see on their pedigrees!