Out On A Limb With Jean

Perhaps you have heard someone referred to as a second cousin, once removed, and wondered what in the world that meant.   I’m going to try to explain that before I dive into our different branches; that way, if I refer to someone in terms of cousin relationship you can hopefully remember this brief description, or refer back to it here on my blog.          Basically, the cousin relationship refers back to the common grandparents.   So, let me use my family tree:      Siblings: we share the same grandparents (Jim & Helen LAREW and Will & Iva CHURCHWELL) Dean LA REW       Kim GAUTIER LARSON     Willa Jean HOFFMANN            1st cousins: Deana SERRANO (Dean) Darin LA REW (Dean) Derald GAUTIER, JR. (Kim) Micah Aaron GAUTIER (Kim) Zach GAUTIER (Kim) Theresa ANDRESEN (Jean) Kellie BESSETTE (Jean)    ...

I've enjoyed doing genealogical research for over 30 years, and I am friends with many of my cousins on Facebook, but I know not all of you are on Facebook, and I wanted to find a way to communicate the many interesting, funny and sad stories I have discovered over the years about my ancestors. As my 1st, 2nd and even 3rd cousins, some of the people I talk about here will be your ancestor as well, others will not.  How can that be?  Because, I will be talking about both my dad's side of the family - Larew, Vanhooser, Stockton, etc. - and my mom's side of the family - Churchwell, Wallis, etc.  So any given post will feature someone that my Larew cousins will have in common with me, while my Churchwell cousins will have to wait until possibly the next post for their common ancestor with me.  I will try to keep it balanced so I don't overload my blog with one side say more than the other.  Obviously, my siblings as well as my nieces and nephews and my own children ...