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It
is a census entry which usually sparks
the question. You wonder exactly what
it means when the record shows a resident
of a household as a cousin, or niece,
or sister-in-law or any one of the many
relationship terms in the English language.
Old
Usage
Cousin was taken to mean a collateral
relation more distant than a brother or
sister, which leaves scope for the word
referring to just about anyone who is
not a sibling or in the direct blood line.
Similarly, the word niece was not always
so precise in meaning; back in the 1500s
it referred to any female relative outside
the immediate family. It could have been
used to refer to a granddaughter.
Have
you wondered about the use of the term
"step? This word is derived from
Old English (OE), arising from a root
that appears in OE for bereaved and orphan.
That makes sense, for the situation arises
from second marriages, often due to the
death of a parent. My mother was brought
up by her father and step-mother because
her own mother died when my mother was
six years old. This second union produced
one child, my mother’s half-brother.
Had her stepmother had a child by a previous
marriage this would have been my mother’s
step-brother or step-sister.
The
census is unlikely to show such distinctions
as “step” or “half”;
in other words, what appears as the son
of the head of the household may be a
son by a previous marriage or a step-son.
Be prepared to find kinship terms like
cousin and in-law used for situations
other than what we assume by these words
today. In older documents you may see
the term “cousin-german.” People
with this relationship had a common grandparent,
what we know as first cousins.
The
Blood Connection May Not Be There
Kinship terms are used now and were used
in the past where, in fact, no blood connection
exists. We encounter this all the time
because most of us are either an aunt
or an uncle by marriage. My brother’s
children refer to my husband as “uncle”
but there is no relationship other than
his connection to me. Also, many of us
use aunt and uncle affectionately for
elderly cousins, where a close relationship
needs to be expressed or some acknowledgement
given to age difference. Close family
friends sometimes, too, are called aunt
or uncle.
Consanguinity
and Affinity
My research into terminology of kinship
took me into several reference books and
to a number of websites. Consanguinity
is defined as individuals who are descended
from the same ancestor, and who are therefore
related by blood. Affinity is the word
for relations who lack a blood connection,
step-sisters for example.
The
Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches have
set out for centuries who may marry whom,
expressed in a Table of Kindred and Affinity
or as degrees of consanguinity. There
is not space here to go into the subject
more deeply; it would lead on to considering
church law, otherwise known as canon law.
Most of what we are familiar with regarding
kinship arose from church laws. In fact,
“in-laws,” those relations we
often like to abuse, acquired their name
because of the definition of the connections
in canon law.
Conclusion
Relationships interest many people besides
genealogists. It is understandable that
lawyers, geneticists and medical people
take an interest. I discovered along the
way that mathematicians have taken hold
of the topic too and actually created
formulae related to kinship and consanguinity.
I am relieved that I am unlikely to find
a use for an algebraic sort of expression
of cousinly connections. Anthropologists
are another group taking an interest in
kinship and their studies of the topic
in a cultural setting could be interesting.
Whether
or not these byways of kinship raise your
curiosity, it is worthwhile to learn more
of the subject. A good starting point
is Wikipedia, where you can find several
articles on kinship and related topics.
Search engines turn up university resources
on the subject, and fat dictionaries provide
all sorts of interesting examples of usage
through the centuries.
A
final word of caution--experienced genealogists
learn to be ready for all sorts of pitfalls
and kinship terminology is one of them.
It is a good idea to be wary and avoid
quick conclusions as to the precise meaning
of a relationship recorded in a register,
record, or document.
Sherry
Irvine, CGRS, FSA Scot is an author, teacher,
and lecturer specializing in English,
Scottish, and Irish family history. She
is the author of Your English Ancestry
(2d ed., 1998) and Researching Scottish
Ancestry (2003), and she is a contributor
to several publications. Since 1996, she
has been a study tour leader, course coordinator,
and instructor for the Institute of Genealogy
and Historical Research at University.
She teaches online at MyFamily.com. Recently
she served a two-year term as president
of the Association of Professional Genealogists.
Copyright
2000, MyFamily.com.
This article may be reproduced in whole
or in part for non-commercial purposes
provided that proper attribution (including
author name) and copyright notices are
included.
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