Man is a social being: interpersonal relationships and the unification of people in various kinds of groups speak of this. People marry, give birth to children, while entering into a special relationship called kinship. There are blood and social types of kinship. Family ties can be close and distant. The distance between relatives determines the degree of kinship. Who by whom and to whom? How to build a family tree and understand the intricacies of family relationships? You will find answers to these and other questions in our article.
Who are blood relatives?
Blood relationship is otherwise called biological or natural. There are several options:
- Direct kinship is established between relatives descended from each other, this is the parent and child, for example, mother and daughter.
- If several people are united by a common ancestor, then such kinship is recognized as lateral.
- Two common parents are a sign of full-blooded kinship, that is, this is a family relationship between the children of one married couple.
- A half-relative can be considered a person who has one common parent with you. Unfortunately, sometimes families break up, but people after a divorce can marry again, and new children may appear. For example, if you have a common mother, and her daughter will be your half-sister, and her son-half-brother.
Types of social kinship
When getting married, a man and a woman create a new family. By registering their relationship, they bind themselves by the knot of kinship. If they have children, then blood relations are established with them, but between them they remain in a social relationship. Relatives of spouses have the same relationship with each other: mother-in-law, father-in-law, son-in-law, mother-in-law, father-in-law, daughter-in-law - all this is a relative of a social nature.
Another type of social kinship is adoption.
In Christian families, religious ties between godparents, godparents and godchildren are also considered social kinship.
Relatives far and near
Why are some relatives considered close and others distant? What connections unite people in a family? In order to determine the distance between members of the same family, there is such a thing as the degree of kinship. This position is difficult to explain by some scientific definition and much easier to explain in a specific situation. In simple terms, this is the connection of one person with another through birth. The more births between these individuals, the greater the degree of relationship. Here are some examples:
- A woman and a boy born to her are connected by one birth, which means that mother and son are the primary connection.
- Grandmother and granddaughter are connected by two births, therefore, between them the second degree of kinship.
Related lines
People born from each other, consisting of a series of successive degrees, are usually called the kinship line. If you draw a family tree, then the faces will go one after another, in a chain. For example, a son, father, grandfather, great-grandfather will make four degrees of the paternal line, and it will be ascending, in descending the same relatives will be designated as father, son, grandson, great-grandson. In addition, the child has a mother branch, which will be drawn in the same way.
How to find out a related degree?
To make it simple, you just need to calculate how many births separate you from the selected family member. Born from a father and mother, you get two people who have a first degree of kinship with you, a brother or sister will become a second degree, and an aunt or uncle will become a third degree.
Distribution Proof
A person can make a will, according to which the inheritance is transferred by his will, and not only the next of kin can be heirs. Such a will can be challenged, but for this you need to have evidence of the degree of kinship with the testator. If you are one of the heirs, then you should know that the order of succession is determined by the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.
Bequeathing property to direct heirs - children, you can be sure that they will not have problems with its design. If the will is made in favor of a person who is not a relative, then blood ties need not be confirmed. A certificate confirming the right of inheritance is issued in this case without determining the degree of relationship.
Often there are situations when it is necessary to confirm the blood degree of relationship. According to the law, children are the primary heirs. Sometimes it turns out that the deceased has illegitimate children who also have primary inheritance rights. Evidence can be both documents, such as a birth certificate, and oral testimonies. The notary checks the documents of kinship and identifies the heir. In cases where there is no document confirming the degree of kinship, children may be included in the certificate of inheritance with the consent of other persons with such evidence.
Proving the relationship of subsequent degrees is much more difficult. You can confirm that you are the brother or sister of the deceased on the basis of the issued birth certificates, which indicate the name, surname and patronymic of the common parents. Other relatives also have to seek confirmation in the archives of the registry office, making written requests, and collect evidence from common relatives.
Who is Who: Kinship Terminology
What are people becoming to each other, growing in kinship? Let's try to figure it out, starting with the simplest. Who are blood relatives?
When a man gives birth to children, he becomes their father, and the woman then acquires the status of a mother. Both of them can be called by the general term - parents. A male child is a son for them, a girl is a daughter, both of them are children. In relation to other children of his father and mother, the boy is called the brother, the girl in this case - the sister. The parents of the father and mother are grandparents, and the children of a son or daughter are a grandson or granddaughter. The prefix “great-” is added to future generations, and relatives are called great-grandfathers, great-grandmothers, great-grandchildren and great-granddaughters.
These connections are simple and understandable to every person. The situation is more complicated with blood relatives not in a straight line. Children of sisters and brothers are cousins in relation to each other, children of cousins are second cousins, and so on. The brother of the mother or father will be uncle for you, and sister - an aunt.
New Family - New Relatives
Even more confusion arises in kinship through marriage. Creating a family, a man and a woman become spouses, being each other husband and wife. The husband's father and mother are called father-in-law and mother-in-law, and the wife's parents are called father-in-law and mother-in-law. In relation to the parents of the spouses, the married are called son-in-law and daughter-in-law (daughter-in-law). The parents of the husband and wife are matchmakers to each other.
In the person of the husband’s brother and sister, the woman acquires a brother-in-law and sister-in-law, and the wife’s brother and sister become a brother-in-law and sister-in-law for the man.
The tree of life: from branches to roots
The family tree is a schematic representation of a family tree. Who is it for? Firstly, a person does this for himself, studying the history of his family, his relatives, living and long gone. Such a scheme will be interesting for children, so they can understand who they came from, learn more about generations of their ancestors.
How to make a pedigree diagram?
First you need to collect as much information as possible about relatives and your family. It happens that people do not know who their grandfathers and great-grandfathers were.This situation arises when a newly created family arises far from the places where the ancestors lived. You can contact your parents or other senior family members for this information. With the necessary information, you can begin to create your family tree.
First, indicate your name. It is better to arrange it so that there is a place around it for everyone else. It will be most convenient to occupy the top of the sheet approximately in the middle. If you have children and grandchildren, step back a little from above, leaving room for them. Depicting relatives in the diagram, you will descend lower and lower to your roots - ancestors. You can place your name at the bottom of the sheet, then the branches will diverge upward.
The second step will be to locate the parents in the family tree with whom you have a first degree of relationship. Write their names above or below your cell, connect them to yourself by drawing arrows or lines to them. These are your closest relatives. If you have more than two parents, include all. Your stepmother or stepfather will be reflected on the same level as the blood father and mother.
After that, place near, on the same level with your name, blood and step brothers and sisters, also linking them with the parents. If they have wives, husbands or children, you can enter them. The names of the spouses are located nearby, and the children are higher or lower, depending on the direction you choose. Combine them with lines.
At the next level, indicate the parents of the father and mother, that is, their grandparents. From them, arrows will return to the previous level, leading to the names of the brothers or sisters of the mother or father, who are your aunts and uncles and are on the same level with your parents. Their wives and husbands will be designated next to them, and their children will be on the same level as you, as these are your cousins.
Continue to fill the tree, consistently including relatives you know until you place all.
The benefits of a computer family tree
In our mobile age, filled with computers, it is not at all necessary to draw a family tree with a pen on paper, you can entrust this with special programs for creating a family tree. There are many similar products, some of them are distributed free of charge.
Such a program is capable of attaching not only photos, but also videos and audio recordings, it can search the Internet for matches in places, dates, events - your pedigree may have data that is common with other people's schemes. A questionnaire is added to each member of the family, where you can add anything - from a description of the appearance, contact details and documents to interesting facts from the biography. The programs are easy to use and understandable even for inexperienced users. In addition, they are equipped with tips to help fill in the information and enter data.
The pedigree can be displayed in the program as a table, the degree of kinship in which is reflected verbally, or as a diagram where the connections are expressed graphically.
Almost all programs have a print option. It is needed in order to transfer your creation from an electronic version to a paper one. Some programs offer a choice of several design templates. By choosing one of them, you can make your family tree not only informative, but also outwardly attractive.
Among such programs, the most popular are such products of foreign developers as GenoPro, GRAMPS, RootsMagic, SimTree, Family Tree Builder. There is also a Russian analogue - the “Tree of Life” program.
