52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2025 – Week 29: Cousins – Journey Through the Generations

NOTE: I accepted the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge headed by fellow genealogy blogger Amy Johnson Crow. The idea behind this challenge is that you will receive email prompts, a word or phrase, every week, and you find something about your research or family history to write about. Click HERE to read my first 52 Ancestors blog post in 2019.

Cousin is defined as a child of one’s aunt or uncle; a relative descended from one’s grandparent. My mother grew up as an only child because her siblings were over 20 years older than her. But she had cousins her age that treated her like their sibling. Because her siblings were so much older than she was that also made my cousins much older than me and my siblings. And most of the he cousins that were my age lived out of the state, so I really only saw them during the summer months. My son is an only child, so I make it a point for him to hang out with his cousins.

Over the years I’ve formed another kind of family—my genealogy and RootsTech friends. We might have met because of our shared love for family history, but we’ve grown into something much deeper. When we meet at conferences throughout the year, it feels just like a cousin reunion. We swap stories, support each other through breakthroughs and brick walls, and laugh like we’ve known each other our whole lives. We now say we are RootsTech cousins.