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Glossary of Relative Genealogical Terms

Term	Definition	Source
affinity	1. a. Relationship by marriage; opposed to consanguinity.	1
ahnentafel	An ahnentafel (German for "ancestor table") or ahnenreihe (German for "ancestor series") is a genealogical numbering system for listing a person's direct ancestors in a fixed sequence of ascent.	2
ancestor	An ancestor or forebear is a parent or (recursively) the parent of an ancestor (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent, and so forth). Ancestor is "any person from whom one is descended. In law the person from whom an estate has been inherited."	3
clan	1. A number of persons claiming descent from a common ancestor, and associated together; a tribe. a. prop. Applied to those of the Highlands of Scotland; extended also to Lowland Scottish families, esp. in the Border country, where a somewhat similar social system prevailed. b. Rarely used of the Irish. c. Extended to similar tribal groups in other countries.	1
cognatic kinship	Cognatic kinship is a mode of descent calculated from an ancestor or ancestress counted through any combination of male and female links, or a system of bilateral kinship where relations are traced through both a father and mother. Such relatives may be known as cognates.	4
collateral descendant	A collateral descendant is a legal term for a relative descended from a brother or sister of an ancestor, and thus a niece, nephew, or cousin.	5
consanguinity	Consanguinity ("blood relation", from the Latin consanguinitas) is the property of being from the same kinship as another person.	6
cousin	A cousin is a relative with whom a person shares one or more common ancestors. In the general sense, cousins are two or more generations away from any common ancestor, thus distinguishing a cousin from an ancestor, descendant, sibling, aunt, uncle, niece, or nephew. However, in common parlance, "cousins" typically refers to "first cousins" as the children of one's uncles and aunts.	7
cousin	In modern usage, a cousin shares a grandparent with another person, AKA a first cousin. The term is also used for a person who shares any common ancestor though it would not usually be used in place of aunt, uncle, nephew, niece and other terms for close familial relationships. In colonial America, a cousin could be a nephew, a niece, the spouse of a nephew or niece, or any person who shares a common ancestor. Second cousins are related through common great-grandparents. Third cousins are related through common great-great-grandparents, etc. Once removed, twice removed, etc., are used to indicate that the cousins are not the same number of generations from the common ancestor. If the common ancestor is a grandparent of one cousin, but the great-grandparent of the other, then there is a one-generation difference and the two people are 1st cousins once removed.	8
degrees of relationship	The degree of relative consanguinity can be illustrated with a consanguinity table, in which each level of lineal consanguinity (i.e., generation) appears as a row, and individuals with a collaterally consanguineous relationship share the same row.	6
descendant	See: lineal descendant and collateral descendant.	5
direct ancestors & descendants vs relatives	Direct ancestors and descendants are parents, grandparents, great grandparents, etc., children, grand children, great grandchildren, etc., while relatives also include spouses, aunts & uncles, nieces & nephews and cousins. So, someone can be a relative, but not an ancestor or descendant.	9
genealogy	Genealogy (from Greek: γενεά genea, "generation"; and λόγος logos, "knowledge"), also known as family history, is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history.	10
generation	A generation is "all of the people born and living at about the same time, regarded collectively." It can also be described as, "the average period, generally considered to be about thirty years, during which children are born and grow up, become adults, and begin to have children of their own."	11
generation	4.a The offspring of the same parent or parents, regarded as a single degree or step in the descent of a person or family from an ancestor. In reckoning genealogies, each generation is naturally restricted to one individual in the direct line, without regard to collateral descendants. 4.b first- (or second-, etc.) generation a., designating a member of the first (or second, etc.) generation of a family, spec. of descendants of immigrant parents, esp. in the United States; also, designating a naturalized immigrant (or a child, etc., of a naturalized immigrant). 5. The whole body of individuals born about the same period; also, the time covered by the lives of these. In reckoning historically by ‘generations’, the word is taken to mean the interval of time between the birth of the parents and that of their children, usually computed at thirty years, or three generations to a century.	1
ilk	3. of that ilk, of the same place, territorial designation, or name: chiefly in names of landed families, as Guthrie of that ilk, Wemyss of that ilk = Guthrie of Guthrie, Wemyss of Wemyss. Sc. ¶Erroneously, that ilk: That family, class, set, or ‘lot’. Also, by further extension, = kind, sort.	1
kin	Family, race, blood-relations.	1
kith and kin	orig. Country and kinsfolk; in later use, Acquaintance and kinsfolk, one's friends and relatives; in mod. use often taken merely as a pleonastic phrase for Kinsfolk, relatives, family connexions.	1
lineal descendant	A lineal descendant, in legal usage, is a blood relative in the direct line of descent - the children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc. of a person.	5
naturalization records	Documents recording the process by which an immigrant becomes a citizen. An individual has to live in the United States for a specific period of time and file a series of forms with a court before he or she can become naturalized. Naturalization records provide the following information: place and date of birth, date of arrival into the United States, place of residence at the time of naturalization, a personal description, and sometimes the name of the ship that the individual arrived on and the individual's occupation.	15
née	Born, used to denote a woman's maiden name (e.g., Anne Gibson née West)	1
nephew	A nephew is a son of a person's sibling, and a niece is a daughter of a person's sibling. Conversely, that person is the aunt or uncle of their niece or nephew. The gender-neutral term encompassing both nephews and nieces is nibling.	12
newspaper announcements	Recorded events within newspapers of genealogical interest, such as births, deaths, and marriages.The amount of information in these announcements will vary. Usually, you will find the names of the people involved in the event, the date of the event, and where the event took place.	15
nibling	The gender-neutral term encompassing both nephews and nieces is nibling.	12
niece	A nephew is a son of a person's sibling, and a niece is a daughter of a person's sibling. Conversely, that person is the aunt or uncle of their niece or nephew. The gender-neutral term encompassing both nephews and nieces is nibling.	12
nuncupative will	Oral will declared or dictated by the testator in his last sickness before a sufficient number of witnesses and afterwards put in writing	16
obituary	A record or announcement of a death or deaths, esp. in a newspaper; usually comprising a brief biographical sketch of the deceased. ob. (abbreviation) [obitus: "death"] Deceased obit. (abbreviation)	1 16
progenitor	The progenitor (German: Stammvater or Ahnherr) is the (sometimes legendary) founder of a family, line of descent, clan or tribe, noble house or people group. Genealogy (commonly known as family history), understands a progenitor to be the earliest recorded ancestor of a consanguineous family group of descendants.	13
relation	5.c. A person related to one by blood or marriage; a kinsman or kinswoman; a relative. Also freq. in pl., kinsfolk, relatives.	1
relative	3.b. One who is connected with another or others by blood or affinity; a kinsman.	1
sibling	A sibling is one of two or more individuals having one or both parents in common.	14

Sources:

Wikipedia - Anentafel
Wikipedia - Ancstor
Wikipedia - Cognatc Kinship
Wikipedia - Lineal Descndant
Wikipedia - Consanguinity
Wikipedia - Cousin
Encyclopedia of Genealogy - Cousin
PCFA Web Site Staff
Wikipedia - Genealogy
Wikipedia - Generation
Wikipedia - Nephew and Niece
Wikipedia - Progenitor
Wikipedia - Sibling
Chastain Chatter #139 - 10 December 2022
Chastain Chatter #140 - 14 January 2023