Up a Tree

I'm sure you're familiar with interjection that forms the title to this post, especially if you've seen or are a fan of the Back to the Future  movies, because it's a favorite exclamation of one of the principle characters, Dr. Emmett Brown.  As best as I can tell from a few minutes of Internet research, the phrase as we know it first shows up in the 1800s and appears to be linked to General Winfield Scott, commander of American forces in the War with Mexico and briefly one of the generals appointed to lead Union forces during the Civil War -- until President Lincoln decided he wasn't up to the job. So what has that to do with the title? You remember my saying that my wife, who was born a Reagan, wondered whether she was related to John H. Reagan, for whom Reagan County in Texas is named. When I looked him up and established the relationship -- he married one of Sharon's relatives -- I was given a brief genealogy listing that showed how he got into the tree. The

Over the years I've heard people discussing relations with cousins using a set of numbers, but I never understood what it was about, and I didn't care to find out. I'm sure lots of people actually know the system and would laugh at my ignorance, and that's OK. but I have talked to people who don't understand it either. Turns out it's  pretty simple, but the implications fascinate me. To start, people who share the same grandparents are first cousins. You know that. The somewhat confusing part is that more than likely, your cousins from your dad's side are different from those on your mum's side. My dad had no siblings, so I have no cousins from that side. Mother's parents had three children, and her brothers had a total of five kids. They are all my first cousins.  The cousin numbering follows from that. Me and my cousins are in the same generation, the first generation after our grandparents to qualify as cousins, hence first cousins.  My kids and m