Opinion : When the 2nd Cousin One Time Removed and the Third Cousin and I get together

While I love genealogy, I don't understand the whole, 5th cousin 20 times removed thing. All I know is that somewhere in those family trees, we're all related.

I've often wished that in Vinton we could do a "Vinton Family Tree." My kids used to roll their eyes at being "related to everyone." Hey, it happens when great-grandpa was one of a dozen kids and lived on a farm next to the farm where great-grandma was one of a dozen kids. There were a few marriages from those two farms to kids on the neighboring farm so we have double cousins in the mix in Benton County.

Part of the melee that resulted in these relationships is that while I know the family names that we are related to, I really don't know a lot of my probably hundreds of cousins from these two or three families that lived in the Garrison area. But I know this. There seems to be something about bloodlines that for some just attract to each other.

When first arriving back in Vinton as part of the quest to find a church, the Sunday School part of the search was important. As the service wrapped up, and the Sunday School class began, I was immediately mesmerized. (Don't tell the pastor that it took a couple of sermons to be sold on that part of the service. It wasn't his fault, his style was just drastically different than what I was used to.)

It was abundantly clear to me, that the Sunday School teacher and his wife were the cream of the crop. Little did I know that he was a 2nd-cousins-one-time-removed. His grandma and my great-grandpa were brother and sister.

I of course only knew that we were cousins because an aunt later told me. That sent me immediately swinging from branch to branch in the family tree on Ancestry to connect the dots.

A few years later, this website came about. My newly discovered cousin aka Sunday School teacher was talking to another of his cousins who was from the hills of Kentucky. The Kentucky cousin said something about reading Vinton Today as he is from the area. So the local cousin explained to the Kentucky cousin that he and I were friends in real life. That sparked an email from my friend's Kentucky cousin.

Kentucky cousin, said, "Hey, I'm a cousin of your Sunday School teacher." I immediately responded with, "On which side of the family?"

I discovered that he too was one of my cousins, he is my 3rd cousin on my mom's side of the family. Our cousin came to visit today. Unfortunately, I had scheduled things too tight so I wasn't able to stick around for his visit as long as I would have liked.

When he arrived with his bone-crushing hug, I also noticed that he is starting to look like my uncle on that side of the family. And his son, oh my, the characteristics of the two, are so strong...or it's just that southern drawl that they share that made me just sit and smile.

But I tell you what. When you get both my 2nd-cousins-one-time-removed and my 3rd cousin in the same room, you will hear about antics that two have pulled over the years. You'll hear about pranks they've pulled on the neighbors, pranks they pulled on the job, and have all kinds of laughs.

I have to admit, I borrowed one of the pranks from the Kentucky division and it was glorious. It was a long-distance prank, that can only be appreciated by a select few. The guy has perfected the prank to now a traveling prank in his neck of the woods.

On the heels of this discussion I hear that there will be a new arrival in the mail from one of the neighbors north of town, so don't say I didn't warn ya! When my 3rd cousin shared a prank that he pulled involving package deliveries, the local 2nd-cousins-one-time-removed said, "Oh, I'm going to steal that one!" and he will. I'm positive. When it arrives, you'll now know that your neighbor is my 2nd-cousins-one-time-removed.

Now, I didn't get the pranking bone from that part of the family. I suspect the strict upbringing took it right out of me. Or it's that firstborn, rule follower that wouldn't let me bend the rules for a laugh. However, I love to hear about the antics that these two have pulled over the years.

This brings me to yet another email I received last week. "Hey, Valerie, my sister and I will be in Vinton and would love to meet up with you." Now, normally I'd say "Cool, let's do it." I had to think back. I KNOW the name, but from where? Oh yeah! Ancestry.com. Now, he and I have batted around the OTHER side of my family tree information for years. I see his name a lot, and as I plug tidbits into the tree he probably sees mine. Apparently, several thousands of ancestry tidbits ago I had helped him locate information locally. I don't remember that, because when you are knee-deep in genealogy, you're just thrilled to help another info seeker find a puzzle from their family tree.

The guy lives a few states away, and his sister lives a few states away in the other direction. What could POSSIBLY bring them to MY neck of the woods?

Well, there is a little wedding happening at the Kacena farm that they will be attending. Talk about a small world! The two have rented an Airbnb in town, and we will meet up for breakfast together. I am still trying to figure out just how we're related on my dad's side of the family. I have yet to locate the brother and sister duo in the branches, but I would bet that they are another set of 2nd-cousins-one-time-removed, or 3rd cousins or 4th cousins 12 times removed...and I can't wait to meet them!

Apparently, National Cousin Day was last month. So I'll celebrate a few weeks late. But thanks to the internet, Ancestry.com, Vinton Today, Kacena Farm and dumb luck, the world continues to shrink, and I'm here for it! I say bring on all the ALL the cousins!