Cousin Challenge

Cousin Challenge!

Last month, Randy from Genea-Musings (Genea-Musings) posted a challenge about cousins. Caitie from Genealogically Speaking (Genealogically Speaking) took on the challenge, so I thought it’d be fun to try it as well!

Here’s the challenge:

1) Take both sets of your grandparents and figure out how many first cousins you have, and how many first cousins removed (a child or grandchild of a first cousin) you have.

2) Extra Credit: Take all four sets of your great-grandparents and figure out how many second cousins you have, and how many second cousins removed you have. HINT: Make a Descendants Chart with your genealogy software program!

3) Tell us the grandparents and great-grandparents names, but don’t give the name of living cousins unless you want to.

4) Are there any of those lines that you don’t know all of the cousins names? Do you care?

5) Tell us about them in your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post, or in a Facebook or Google+ post of your own. Be sure to drop a comment to this post to link your work.

I know I have a lot of cousins, but here it goes!

Grandparents

1a.     My grandparents Paul George and Dorothy Jean Jeckering had 4 children: Jean, Michael (my dad), Karla and Paul.

         

       ~Jean had 3 children- 2 girls and a boy- and 3 grandchildren that I know of.

       ~Karla has 2 children- a boy and a girl. I’m sure they have children, but I don’t know their names.

       ~Paul has 2 children- a boy and a girl- he has 1 grandchild.

          Dorothy remarried after Paul’s death and they had 4 more children—my father’s half-siblings: John, Carl, William and Frank.

          ~John didn’t have any children.

          ~Carl has 2 children- a boy and a girl- he has 1 grandchild.

          ~William doesn’t have any children.

          ~Frank has 2 children: - a girl and a boy- he has 1 grandchild.

Dorothy and her second husband- John Potchik and 7 of the 8 children. 

1b.     My grandparents Harold Earl and Helen Ruth Mendenhall had 4 children: Nancy, Earl Jr., Neil and my mom.

        

          ~Nancy has 5 children- 4 boys and 1 girl- she has 7 grandchildren.

          ~Earl Jr. has 3 children- 2 boys and 1 girl- he has 5 grandchildren.

          ~Neil has 2 children- 2 daughters- he has 4 grandchildren.

First Cousins: 21

First Cousins 1x Removed: 22 (that I know of)

Great Grandparents

2a.     Gerhard Cletus and Josephine M. Jeckering had 8 children: My grandfather Paul, Richard, Rita, David, Rosemary, Ruth, Joanne, and Joseph.

          ~Richard had 5 children- I don’t know about his grandchildren.

          ~Rita had 4 children- I don’t know about her grandchildren.

          ~David only lived one day.

          ~Rosemary never married or had children.

          ~Ruth only lived one day.

          ~Joanne had children, but I don’t know how many.

          ~Joseph had 5 children and 9 grandchildren, that I know of.

Gerhard Cletus, his wife Josephine and their children. 

Total so far:

First Cousins 1x Removed: 14 (that I know of)

2^nd Cousins: 9+

2^nd Cousins 1x Removed: Unknown

2b.     Isaac and Myrtle May Hendricks had 9 children: Harry Oliver, Grace, Ida Pauline, Mary Kathaleena, Catherine Virginia, Charles Woodrow, Edna Viola, Melvin Clifford, and my grandmother- Dorothy Jean.

          ~Harry Oliver married, but it is unknown if he had children.

          ~Grace died at 13, never married and never had children.

          ~Ida Pauline had 3 sons, I don’t know about grandchildren.

          ~Mary Kathaleena had 3 children- 2 daughters and a son- I don’t know about grandchildren.

          ~Catherine Virginia had 2 sons- 3 grandchild, 3 great grandchild, 4 great great grandchildren, and some 3x great grandchildren (number unknown).

          ~Charles Woodrow had 2 children- a girl and a boy- grandchildren are unknown.

          ~Edna Viola died in infancy.

          ~Melvin Clifford married, but I don’t know if he ever married or had children.

Total so far:

First Cousins 1x Removed: 24 (that I know of)

2^nd Cousins: 12+

2^nd Cousins 1x Removed: Unknown

2c.     Earl Dwight and Edna Grace Mendenhall had 3 children: Harold Earl (my great grandfather), Robert Eugene and Ruth E.

          ~Robert had 3 daughters- and at least 3 grandchildren.

          ~Ruth was disowned from the family- it is rumored that she married a doctor in California, but I don’t know if she ever had children.

Total so far:

First Cousins 1x Removed: 27 (that I know of)

2^nd Cousins: 15+

2^nd Cousins 1x Removed: Unknown

2d.     Otto Watson and Ruby Mae Seaver had 2 daughters- Anita M. and my grandmother- Helen Ruth.

          ~Anita had 2 daughters, one of which died in a car crash with Anita in 1957. Her other daughter had children, but I don’t know how many.

Total so far:

First Cousins 1x Removed: 29 (that I know of)

2^nd Cousins: 15+

2^nd Cousins 1x Removed: Unknown

4. There are a lot of missing names and yes, it does bother me- I wish I had all of it filled out but there are some parts of the family that I don’t talk to or I don’t know how to contact them.