Your Family: Past, Present, and Future | Wait But Why

Question

The Wait But Why blog has a great, engaging examination of the concept that we're all family, which includes some very interesting points that I haven't seen made before: http://waitbutwhy.com/2014/01/your-family-past-present-and-future.html

I'm especially fond of the idea that within a given culture or nation, it's statistically likely that we are all 15th cousins, or closer, and that when the whole world is considered, we are most likely 50th cousins or closer.

So, hello cousins! Thank you all for all your work helping us to discover our connections.

Answer 1

Hi Pamela,

I read that article some time ago.  It is a great read!

Your 19th Cousin,

Michael

Comments

Hi Cousin Michael! It's nice to meet you. 

As is true with almost all the cousins with whom I've connected via WikiTree, we are connected through my father's lines; however, you are unique in that I've never connected with a cousin through Richard Champernoun before.

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are we are 19th cousins, once removed through William Ros (who until now I didn't know about).

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Hi cousins,

Pamela - 22nd cousin, twice removed

Michael - 17th cousin, once removed

Foster - 19th cousin, twice removed

"...every stranger in the world is a cousin of yours, and the only question is how distant a cousin..." interesting!

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This gets more interesting.  Kelly, you and I are kin on my father's line.  I am kin to Pamela and Michael on my mother's side.  But you and Pamela are kin through entirely different lines which don't involve me.

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Very cool! Nice to meet you Kelly and Foster. This is fascinating. Am I the only one that feels like we need to stop talking about family trees and start thinking about the family thicket? Or, maybe the family tangle, with all the many lines between us in so many different directions, looping back and forth.

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Good thought, Pamela.  I've always throught of a tree as two dimensional (no doubt because that is how we depict them); but this is getting three dimensional.

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Exactly, Foster. Wouldn't it be fun to be able to represent our families in three dimensions?

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the family thicket! hahahahaha 

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I'm happy to amuse you, Kelly. 

Answer 2

oh my goodness, I'm surprised to see that we have no blood relationship...perhaps we could adopt... ?   :-)

Comments

Hi Cheryl! WikiTree may not have found our blood relationship, but it's out there, somewhere!

Answer 3

Along the lines of tangled connections, I have three DNA matches (found on Geni) that are in the 3rd cousin 1 time removed to 4th or 5th cousin for whom there are identified, paper trail connections that show us as 16th, 20th, and 24th cousins.