Sue, Frances,

Hi,

I am more than happy to take advice on steps and halfs and so on. Let me loose on something I have experience in, and I am happy, for example I am perfectly happy on triple expansion marine engines, or Soviet naval missiles, as I have spent years studying the things, but step-brothers have me thrown.

SITUATION ONE
Am I correct that if A and B have children and C and D have children and then B and C marry

AB children are children to B
AB children are step children to C

AB children and CD children are step bros etc.

SITUATION TWO
D ande E marry and there are DE children;
D dies
E married F and there are EF children

DE children and EF children are half brothers and half sisters as they share a common parent,
DE children are STEP children to F

Finally, As you are the experts, can you clarify removed cousins.
If G and H are siblings and each have children, called G1 and H1, G1 and H1 are FIRST COUSINS. As the relationship gets more remote you increase the number count, but I am not sure if I know when to go to 2nd 3rd etc cousin and Cousin once removed, twice removed and so on.

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As regards publication, the book I am working on at present, and is in effect now complete, is on IOM Shipping or more precisely the relationship between the Island and the Sea, which is not quite the same thing. The opening chapter explores the story of Sukie Corrin and Dominique LaMothe and thankfully there were no step brothers, half sisters or 12th cousins, twenty-three times removed to worry me ! Most of it was to do with side lever engines, oscillating cylinders and such like which is so much easier to cope with !!

As regards the family history side, I have been writing out sections of that primarily for the benefit of our two daughters when they are old enough for it. When I was a child, my mother would often sit with me and tell me stories of her childhood and of people from the past such as the LaMothe/Corrin story, or Mary Ann Joughin & Henry WIlliam Corrin, and that was really fantastic. I can tell out little ones the story, but at some stage they can also have the precise details, dates etc, which was not the case for me.

I think I was incredibly lucky, and my mother's stories (and those from Dad) gave me an abiding love for history. By writing down the stories now, I am preserving the detail, and another benefit is that if you start to write something out, then you quickly learn how much you do not know.

As to "publication", whilst I find it all fascinating, I do not know if other people would really be interested in our family tree, so I have not really thought about that. The main thing at present is to work at each weak link, refining it until it is good, and then move on to the next one. To me, one of the most exciting moments was that a story that I was told by my mother finally came true. "One of your ancestors wore armour" was the sentence, and she repeated it because it had been told to her, but I think she was a little dubious about it, but handed it on exactly as she had been told it. When I was little it was fun to have someone in armour in the background, but as I got older, it looked a little far fetched. Can you imagine saying, "Darling, where did I put my chain mail and my visor ?".

When I researched the Corrin line and found Amy Stevenson, that took me to Major General Richard Stevenson and his will of 1683, in which he bequeathed his "armor and arms, his bow and quiver" to his eldest son. Reading that was a thrilling moment, for I had found the contemporary documentary proof of the legend my mother had told me. As I say, I find it thrilling, but would anyone else ???

Again, many many thanks

Robert