• Cousins are blood related, which means they share a common ancestor.
• My cousin and your cousin are not necessarily cousins of each other.
• If you and I have the same grandparents, we are first cousins (1C); same great-grandparents, second cousins (2C).
• A child of my first cousin is my first cousin once removed (1C1R), not my second cousin.
• If my uncle married your aunt (U+A), we are are not blood related. We are "related by marriage," not "cousins by marriage."

cousins (blood related):

related by marriage (not cousins)

Robert Alden (Internet acquaintance)
8C1R: common ancestor: John Alden (abt.1599-1687)

Paul Andrews (personal friend)
9C1R: common ancestor: Caleb Church (1642 - 1722)
10C: common ancestor: Richard Church (1608 - 1668)

Eric Beals (colleague)
9C: common ancestor: Nathaniel Merrill (1601-1654/5)
10C1R: common ancestor: Rev. John Lathrop (1584 - 1653)

Kathy Beals (wife of colleague)
9C2R: common ancestor: Nathaniel Merrill (1601-1654/5)
9C2R: common ancestor: John Alden (abt.1599-1687)

Donald Bingham (son of Internet acquaintance Doug Bingham)
8C: common ancestor: John Lathrop (1645 - 1688)
11C: common ancestor: Richard Warren (1580 - 1628)

John Brazauskas (amateur genealogist)
8C1R: common ancestor: John Catlin (1643 - 1703/4)

George H.W. Bush (41st U.S. President)
10C1R: common ancestor: Rev. John Lathrop (1584 - 1653)

George W. Bush (43rd U.S. President)
10C2R: common ancestor: Rev. John Lathrop (1584 - 1653)

Winston Churchill (Prime Minister of England)
9C2R: common ancestor: Richard Warren (1580 - 1628)

Winston Churchill (Prime Minister of England)
9C2R: common ancestor: Richard Warren (1580 - 1628)

Charles Dorsett (personal friend)
10C1R by two paths: common ancestor: John Whitney (1592 - 1673)
9C2R by two paths: common ancestor: John Pabodie (abt.1585 - 1667)
10C: common ancestor: Rev. John Lathrop (1584 - 1653)

Raymond Downing (Internet acquaintance)
6C: common ancestor: Theophilus Redfield (1682 - 1759)

Lillian Follett-Hall (genealogist and editor of Merrill Newsletter)
9C2R: common ancestor: Nathaniel Merrill (1601 - 1654/5)

Holly Gillan (Internet acquaintance)
6C2R: common ancestor: Theophilus Redfield (1682 - 1759)

Ulysses S. Grant (18th U.S. President)
11C5R: common ancestor: Richard Warren (1580 - 1628)

Charles Julius Guiteau (assassin of U.S. President James A. Garfield)
1C3R: common ancestor: Francis Guiteau (1765 - 1825)

Aldon Hynes (Internet acquaintance)
8C1R: common ancestor: Nathaniel Merrill (1633 - 1682/3)

Melissa Ives (McDermeit) (Internet acquaintance)
9C2R: common ancestor: Nathaniel Merrill (1601 - 1654/5)

Eric Kingman (Internet acquaintance)
7HC3R: common ancestor: Nathaniel Merrill (1664/5 - 1738)

Stephen M. Lawson (Internet acquaintance)
9C and 9C1R: common ancestor: Nathaniel Merrill (1601 - 1654/5)

Jeannie Lonergan (Internet acquaintance)
9C: common ancestor: Nathaniel Merrill (1601 - 1654/5)
10C: common ancestor: Richard Church (1608 - 1668)

Julia Matisoo (Internet acquaintance)
7C: common ancestor: Nathaniel Merrill (1664/5 - 1738)

Ted Merrill (Internet acquaintance)
9C: common ancestor: Nathaniel Merrill (1601 - 1654/5)

Melaney Moore (Dodson) (Internet acquaintance)
9C: common ancestor: Hon. Samuel Lathrop (1623 - 1700)

Franklin Pierce (14th U.S. President)
4C4R: common ancestor: Nathaniel Merrill (1633 - 1682/3)

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (32nd U.S. President)
8C2R: common ancestor: Richard Church (1608 - 1668)

Frankie Silver (one of the first women executed in North Carolina)
1C4R of my wife: common ancestor: George Silver (1753 - 1839)

Beverly Smay (Internet acquaintance)
4C1R: common ancestor: Constantine Hardy (1767-1842)

Diana Spencer, Princess of Wales (Prince Charles' ex-wife, killed in auto accident in 1997)
10C: common ancestor: John Strong (1605-1699); also
9C1R: common ancestor: John Strong (1605-1699)

Robert Ward (Internet acquaintance)
4C1R: common ancestor: Constantine Hardy (1767-1842)

Eli Whitney (inventor of the cotton gin)
5C5R: common ancestor: John Whitney (1592 - 1673)

Kathleen Wilson (Internet acquaintance)
9C: common ancestor: Nathaniel Merrill (1601 - 1654/5)

Randy Wilson (Internet acquaintance)
6C: common ancestor: Theophilus Redfield (1682 - 1759)

Lewis Wood (Internet acquaintance)
6C3R: common ancestor: Ebenezer Wood (1671-1736)

related by marriage (not cousins):

cousins (blood related)

Paul Allred (Internet acquaintance)
W=10C1R (his wife is my 10th cousin once removed)

Gary Beckett (Internet acquaintance)
2C(GF)=M(W) (his grandfather's 2nd cousin is my wife's adoptive mother)

Maj. Gen. "Buck" Lanham (WW II military leader and friend of author Ernest Hemingway)
2C=M(W) (his 2nd cousin is my wife's adoptive mother)

Dr. Howard G. Lanham (Internet acquaintance and Lanham family researcher)
3C2R=M(W) (his third cousin twice removed is my wife's adoptive mother); also
3C3R=M(W) (his third cousin 3 times removed is my wife's adoptive mother)

Count Dracula (Vlad the Impaler)
H15GGN+10C (his half 15th great grandnephew was married to my 10th cousin)

Ralph Waldo Emerson (American poet and essayist)
D+11C4R (his daughter was married to my 11th cousin four times removed)

Randy Jones (genealogy Webmaster and Internet acquaintance)
6C(GF)=M(W) (his grandfather's 6th cousin is my wife's adoptive mother)

Jim Jurista (Internet acquaintance)
5C(GF)+GA (his grandfather's 5th cousin was married to my grand-aunt)

Chris Morben and Laura Walker (my wife and her adoptive mother)
(Chris' half 7th-great granduncle was married to Laura's 5th-great grandaunt)

Robert Miller (Internet acquaintance)
S+1C(F) (his sister was married to my father's first cousin)

David Tylcoat (personal friend)
13C+2C (his 13th cousin is married to my second cousin)

Laura Walker and Chris Morben (my mother-in-law and her adopted daughter, my wife)
(Laura's 5th-great grandaunt was married to Chris' half 7th-great granduncle)

links:

• Genealogy of Deane Merrill (1938-)
• Ancestors of Deane Merrill (1938-)