Hi Robert and Sue

Isn't the concept of a cousin-x-times-removed only really relevant when you're looking at 2 people who were both alive at the same time ?

The method I use is this. If 2 people, Y and Z, are related, then first you need to find the nearest ancestor-in-common, K.

If Y is the 5 x great grandson of K, and if Z is the 3 x great grandson of K, then the difference between the number of greats gives the number-of-times-removed, in this case it's 2. Then the ordinal number for the "th cousins" is the number of "greats" plus one (for the "grand" ) of the person with the fewer "greats" of the 2 people, ( so 3+1=4 )

So Y and Z are 4th cousins twice removed.

Jean