Building Community - My Genealogical SuperPower

This week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun from Randy Seaver over at Genea-Musings involves identifying your genealogical superpower:

1) Answer the question: Do you have a genealogical “superpower”? (i.e., a unique research ability or technique that helps you track down records or assemble conclusions that others can’t?) If so, what is it?

2) Tell us about it in a blog post, a comment to this post, a comment to Dean's post, or a comment to this post on Facebook or Twitter.

3) If you have a picture of yourself in superpower mode, please show it to us!

I am not a big fan of highlighting my own areas of expertise - it seems too much like "tooting my own horn" to me.  But if there is one "super power" that I seem to have, it has to be this: the ability to build community.

While it is obvious to many that I've been able to do this through both the GeneaBloggers Group on Facebook as well as the GeneaBloggers.com website, my history of organizing groups of people goes much farther back.  In terms of using social media to organize a group, I started in September 2008 when I created Heller Highwater, a blog about my former law firm.  I have been able to keep over 800 ex-employees of Heller Ehrman LLP informed about various bankruptcy court filings as well as the class action suit seeking to recover unpaid wages and benefits.

* * *

Connecting people with other is not an easy task - many people liken it to being the center of attention at a cocktail party.  Not true and it is a lot more difficult than it looks.  The job of a community builder is much like that of a concierge at a hotel, but not as temporary - when hotel guests leave, unless they return later on, they don't remember the concierge or keep requiring his or her services.

A community builder carefully crafts a group - whether it is online/virtual or in-the-flesh, and unifies them around key issues and concerns.  In addition, a community builder often has their "ear to the rail" as to who needs help, who has specific skills, and the developing issues and concerns which may impact the community.

And some skills that help: having a good memory and the ability to take notes and stay organized.

* * *

While I've tried to document my typical day in the genealogy community (and have taken a hiatus since there is barely time to write blog posts let alone keep a journal), there is hardly a typical day.  I typically process close to 500 emails a day as well as Facebook notifications and Twitter messages.  And don't forget blog posts in Google Reader.

I try to help where I can or at the very least when someone needs assistance, I try to put them in touch with others in the genealogy community who might be able to help.  In addition, I also try to match folks up with possible income opportunities such as writing articles, etc.  Many times the requests are not in my niche area of technology so I gladly pass them on to my colleagues.

* * *

I don't know if there is a cartoon super hero character that would match my persona, although I am partial to Wonder Woman.  I always thought it was neat how she would spin around real fast and transform into a fighter of justice especially with her Lasso of Truth and indestructible bracelets.

However I fear I'd look more like this.

Le sigh.

© 2010, copyright Thomas MacEntee

SNGF - My Celebrity Look-Alikes

This week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun from Randy Seaver over at Genea-Musings involves finding your celebrity look-alike:

1) Go to http://www.myheritage.com/ - you don't have to be a registered member to use this feature. Click on the "Celebrities and Fun" tab.

2) Click on the "Celebrity Collage" tab, and then on the "Create my Collage" button.

3) Upload a photograph with your face (or another person's face) to the site (the face must be at least 100 x 100 pixels) and click on the "Run face recognition" button.

4) Select a collage template, and the faces (up to 8) to go into the collage template. Click on "Next" and "Preview" your template, which should bring up the template for you to review. You could click on "Save" and it would go off to your selected social networking site.

5) Figure out how to show your collage on your blog or social network site (I have my own process defined below).

6) Tell us which celebrities that you (or your selected person) look alike - write your own blog post, make a comment to this post or on Facebook.

7) Think about how you could use something like this as a Christmas gift.

Well here are the not-so-stunning results.  As I've always said, I have a face made for radio:

© 2009, copyright Thomas MacEntee

Elizabeth Wood (nee Unknown) - Most Recent Unknown Ancestor

This weekend Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings posed this challenge as part of Saturday Night Genealogy Fun:

1) Who is your MRUA - your Most Recent Unknown Ancestor? This is the person with the lowest number in your Pedigree Chart or Ahnentafel List that you have not identified a last name for, or a first name if you know a surname but not a first name.

2) Have you looked at your research files for this unknown person recently? Why don't you scan it again just to see if there's something you have missed?

3) What online or offline resources might you search that might help identify your MRUA?

4) Tell us about him or her, and your answers to 2) and 3) above, in a blog post, in a comment to this post, or a comment on Facebook or some other social networking site.

My MRUA is Elizabeth C. Unknown, wife of William Wood, my 3rd great-grandfather.  From the research that I've done so far here is what I know about Elizabeth:

• she married William Wood around 1845.  This is based on the birth date of her oldest child Rachel J Wood who was born abt 1847.

• she was born in New York state but which county or town is unknown.  This is based on the United States Federal Census data for 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880 for both Elizabeth and William Wood and family.

I have not done much research on my Wood line and I really need to do so.  Finding a death date, a possible memorial on Find A Grave and also looking at the earlier census dates such as 1840 and earlier would help.  In addition, consulting the New York State census for 1845 over at Family Search would help as well.

© 2009, copyright Thomas MacEntee

SNGF - A Nice Thing

Over at Genea-Musings, Randy has put forth his weekly challenge as part of Saturday Night Genealogy Fun:

1. What is the Nicest Thing another genealogist did for you, or to you, in the last week or so? (If you have no examples for this past week, go back in time - surely someone has done a nice thing for you in recent years!).

2. Tell us about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post, in a comment on Facebook, or in a tweet on Twitter.

This is a very difficult post for me since it involves choosing one colleague in the genealogy blogging world over another.  And if there is anything that our community of bloggers has taught me is that there is lots of room at the table  - so how could I pick just one?

I can categorize all the nice folks and nice things, however:

• Over on Twitter, I run with a tight band of fellow genealogists who are always eager to "re-tweet" a link to a good genealogy blog post.  Folks like @acoffin, @familystories, @ourgeorgiaroots, @LCAfricana and others never hesitate to promote items from here at DAF or GeneaBloggers.

• In the genealogy blogosphere, I interact with so many folks all of whom are very supportive of not only the Daily Blogging Themes at GB, but of special projects.  For example, the tribute to veterans this past Wednesday was simply overwhelming with more than 200 blog posts.

• In the past two weeks, a fellow genealogy blogger - Melody LaSalle over at The Research Journal - took time to assist me with a client project.  I am researching Hawaiian ancestry for a family which arrived from the Azores via Brazil.  After using Twitter to ask for assistance, Mel immediately jumped in and did some quick lookups for me.  She also sent me some very helpful information on Portuguese naming conventions.  I greatly appreciate her help.  

• And how can I forget all those who took time from their busy days to comment on my recent posts about Mom?  Sometimes I feel I write too much about her and the effects of Alzheimer's Disease on her as well as her family.  But then I say to myself, "If I can help one other family understand that they aren't alone in this journey, then I need to keep posting about it."  All of you who sent your prayers and good thoughts please know they have brought comfort to me and my family.

Who says there aren't many "good people" left in the world?  When I look to my family of fellow genealogy bloggers and genealogists on Twitter and Facebook, I just shake my head and say, "You could have fooled me."

© 2009, copyright Thomas MacEntee

The MacEntee Surname Distribution

This week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun over at Randy Seaver's Genea-Musings asks participants to determine the worldwide and local distribution of their surname. Here is what I've been able to find about the MacEntee surname using the World Names Profiler:

The countries listed include Ireland with 5.49 persons per million with the MacEntee surname and then the United States at .38, Belgium at .29 and the United Kingdom at .15.  I figure there must be either some misspelling causing the name to pop up in Belgium or a large expatriate community of MacEntees.  Perhaps they are in Belgium for the better beer - I would be.

In the United States, the results are less surprising really. The yellow for Illinois has to be me - I am the only MacEntee that I know of in the state.

My home state of New York is a little surprising to me, since they show the highest concentration in Orange County and not Ulster County where most MacEntees are located both historically and in the present.

© 2009, copyright Thomas MacEntee

My Weird Family . . . Names That Is

This week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge has been put forth by Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings. Here are the details:

1) What is the most unique, strangest or funniest combination of given name and last name in your ancestry? Not in your database - in your ancestry.

2) Tell us about this person in a blog post, in a comment to this blog post, or in a comment on Facebook.

3) Okay, if you don't have a really good one - how about a sibling of your direct ancestors?

Actually this is a very tough one for me - perhaps because I have worked so closely with researching my ancestors for the past 15 years that their names no longer seem weird - not even the Dutch or Huguenot ones!

I would have to say the most unusual for me is Pedda Everett (1798 - 1879), my 4th great-grandmother. She is descended from Richard Everett (b. abt 1600 in England, died 1682 in Suffolk, Massachusetts) and married into my Austin line. Her husband was Ira Austin Sr. (1800 - 1872) and they must have met in Lowville, New York with Pedda's family having migrated there in the early 1800s.

Pedda's first name has always been an issue since I can't figure out if it is a derivative of another name or a typo. In her death notice she was mentioned as Peggy and I've even seen the name as Predda.


© 2009, copyright Thomas MacEntee

SNGF - My Family's Increase

This week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge has been put forth by Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings, and once I read it, I immediately knew which set of great-grandparents I would use.  Here are the details:

1) Pick one of your four great-grandparents - if possible, the one with the most descendants.

2) Create a descendants list for those great-grandparents either by hand or in your software program.

3) Tell us how many descendants, living or dead, are in each generation from those great-grandparents.

4) How many are still living? Of those, how many have you met and exchanged family information with? Are there any that you should make contact with ASAP? Please don't use last names of living people for this - respect their privacy.

5) Write about it in your own blog post, in comments to this post, or in comments or a Note on Facebook.

And here is what I have to present:

1) I've selected the great-grandparents who I knew and who had a huge influence on my childhood - John Ralph Austin (31 Jan 1896 - 20 April 1976) and Therese Rose McGinnes (6 Apr 1894 - 25 Apr 1988).

2) I used Family Tree Maker 2009 only because I am in the middle of re-entering my database in RootsMagic 4 (call me crazy) and can't run the report from there.

3) The descendants, using Randy's neat "by generation" listing:

1. Children = 3 (1 still living)
2. Grandchildren = 15 (1 deceased)
3. Great-grandchildren = 32 (1 deceased)
4. Great-great-grandchildren = 37 (1 deceased)
5. 3rd great-grandchildren = undetermined

4) The total is 87 but I know there are more.  I have a bad habit of not keeping up with the living especially if they aren't on the Internet.  One of my goals has been to do a mailing this Christmas with forms and prepaid postage to gather recent data on births, deaths, etc.

Most the great-grandchildren are around my age, any where from 50 to about 30 years of age.  Their children have just started to have children of their own in the past 5 years or so - my estimate is that there must be at least 10 more descendants for whom I've not yet accounted.

Photo: Therese McGinnes Austin and Ralph Austin. Grahamsville, New York, abt 1946.  Digital photograph. Privately held by Thomas MacEntee, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Chicago, Illinois. 2009.

© 2009, copyright Thomas MacEntee

SNGF - A Childhood Memory

This week's edition of Saturday Night Genealogy Fun has been posted by Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings:

1. What is one of your most vivid childhood memories? Was it family, friends, places, events, or just plain fun?

2) Tell us about it in a comment to this post, a Comment or Note on Facebook, or in a blog post of your own.

My first vivid childhood memory that I can still recall is when I was about 3 years old (which would have been 1966) and it involved a set of bunk beds shared by me and my brother. What is I recall is that somehow I was climbing down the side ladder and must have slipped - the next thing I new I had bitten my tongue and quite badly.

There was blood everywhere. And I remember that my mother's sister Jo'el was visiting and she held me with a towel applied to my tongue to stop the bleeding. I know I didn't have to go to the hospital and have stitches but I was very scared as I'm sure my mother was too.

Soon thereafter the bunk beds were dis-assembled and used as two single beds in the same room I shared with my younger brother.

© 2009, copyright Thomas MacEntee

SNGF - Ahnentafel Roulette

This week's edition of Saturday Night Genealogy Fun has been posted by Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings:

1) How old is your father now, or how old would he be if he had lived? Divide this number by 4 and round the number off to a whole number. This is your "roulette number."

2) Use your pedigree charts or your family tree genealogy software program to find the person with that number in your ahnentafel. Who is that person?

3) Tell us three facts about that person with the "roulette number."

4) Write about it in a blog post on your own blog, in a Facebook note or comment, or as a comment on this blog post.

5) If you do not have a person's name for your "roulette number" then spin the wheel again - pick your mother, or yourself, a favorite aunt or cousin, or even your children!

Here are my results:

1. Well using my father's age of 70, I come up with a "roulette number" of 17.

2. Using my Ahnentafel report, the person designated number 17 is Elmira Wood, my great-great grandmother.

3. Elmira Wood was born on December 10, 1851 in New York City. On March 11, 1874, she married John W. McEntee at Guilford, Chenango County, New York. She died on her birthday - December 10 - 1882 at Gardiner, Ulster County, New York and is buried at the New Paltz Rural Cemetery in New Paltz, New York.

I have to admit that my Wood line is one that I've not pursued very much and it could use some work. To me, this is why Randy's games are not just "games" - they are exercises that spur us to take a closer look at our research and jog our memories or remind us of further work that we need to do.

My Sweet Sixteen - My 16 Great-Grandparents

It is time again for Saturday Night Fun - and thanks to Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings we have a nice challenge tonite:

1) List your 16 great-grandparents in pedigree chart order. List their birth and death years and places.

2) Figure out the dominant ethnicity or nationality of each of them.

3) Calculate your ancestral ethnicity or nationality by adding them up for the 16 - 6.25% for each (obviously, this is approximate).

4) If you don't know all 16 of your great-grandparents, then do it for the last full generation you have.

5) Write your own blog post, or make a comment on Facebook or in this post.

Thanks to a recent brick wall coming down, I can now complete these tasks!

My 16 great-great grandparents

1. John W. McEntee is the son of Edward McEntee and Ann E. Freer. He was born on Jan 21, 1840 in Gardiner, Ulster, New York, USA. He died on Jan 21, 1918 in Gardiner, Ulster, New York, USA.

2. Elmira Wood is the daughter of William Wood and Elizabeth C. Unknown. She was born on Dec 10, 1851 in New York, New York, New York, USA. She died on Dec 10, 1882 in Gardiner, Ulster, New York, USA.

3. Jacob L. DeGroodt is the son of Charles C. DeGroodt and Elisabeth Mariah Finehout. He was born on Sep 22, 1860 in New York, New York, New York, USA. He died on Jan 09, 1933.

4. Georgiana Simpson is the daughter of Elijah Simpson and Rachel Unknown. She was born Feb 1862 in New York, New York, New York, USA. She died on Nov 10, 1938 in Walkill, Ulster, New York, USA.

5. Martin Slattery. He was born in Ireland.

6. Margaret Leehive is the daughter of John Leehive and Unknown. She was born Abt. 1867 in Greenwich, London, England. She died Bef. 1900.

7. William R. Krom is the son of Jacob Markle Krom and Jane F. Roosa. He was born on Jun 25, 1847 in Marbletown, Ulster, New York, USA. He died on Nov 19, 1891 in Olive, Ulster, New York, USA.

8. Sarah Ann Christiana is the daughter of Jacob L. Christiana and Mary M. Smith. She was born Abt. 1851 in Olive, Ulster, New York, USA. She died on Feb 26, 1926 in Gardiner, Ulster, New York, USA.

9. William Dence Austin is the son of Ira H. Austin and Hannah Dence. His birth on May 24, 1863 (Boonville, Oneida, New York). He died on Mar 26, 1932 in Bronx, Bronx, New York, USA.

10. Catherine M. O'Keefe is the daughter of David O'Keefe and Catherine Sullivan. She was born on Sep 30, 1862 in Lowville, Lewis, New York, USA. She died on Nov 08, 1946 in Bronx, Bronx, New York, USA.

11. Matthew McGinnis. He was born Abt. 1851 in Ireland. He died on Feb 15, 1899 in New York, New York, New York, USA.

12. Bridget Farren is the daughter of John Farren and Ellen Doherty. She was born Oct 1861 in Belfast, Antrim, Ireland. She died Aft. 1930 in New York, New York, New York, USA.

13. Gustavus Henneberg is the son of Gustave Henneberg and Magdalena Schmidt. He was born on Jul 06, 1864 in Germany. His death on Aug 15, 1942 in Queens, Queens, New York, USA.

14. Magdalena Zwicker. She was born on Jun 12, 1864 in Germany. Her death on Feb 10, 1937 in Queens, Queens, New York, USA.

15. Robert F. Pressner is the son of Johann Pressner and Franziska Unknown. He was born on Jun 11, 1858 in Pogwitz, Austria. His death on Feb 07, 1897 in Manhattan, New York, New York, USA.

16. Anna Herring is the daughter of Franz Xaver Herring and Anna Manch. She was born on Nov 13, 1860 in Aixheim, Tuttlingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

Ethnicity

The dominant ethnicity is European - Y-DNA haplogroup is R.

Nationalities

5 Irish (31%), 4 English (25%), 4 German (25%), 3 Dutch (19%).

SNGF: Genealogy Threes

Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings has posted his weekly Saturday Night Genealogical Fun challenge and I thought I might give it a go. The challenge is to give three responses to the following statements:

* Three genealogical libraries I frequent

True confessions: I don't get out much. Seriously. Between looking for full-time employment and running various blogs like GeneaBloggers, as well as working on genealogy presentations to give over the next few months, I am not left with much time.

The three libraries/archives that I love to visit, and I wish I could do so more often are:

The Schenectady County Historical Society Library

The Newberry Library

The Library of Congress

* Three places I've visited on genealogy trips

Lowville, New York where my great-grandfather John Ralph Austin was born in 1896.

North Kingstown, Rhode Island where my 10th great-grandfather Robert Austin was born in 1638.

Westerly, Rhode Island where by 9th great-grandfather Joseph Crandall was born in 1661.

* Three genealogy societies I belong to (or want to)

Southern California Genealogical Society

California Genealogical Society and Library

German Genealogy Group

* Three websites that help my research

Ancestry

Footnote

GenealogyBank

* Three ancestral graves that I've visited

Hugo Freer in New Paltz, NY - my 8th great-grandfather

Elmer A. MacEntee in New Paltz, NY - my great-grandfather

Edward McEntee in New Paltz, NY - my 3rd great-grandfather

* Three ancestral places I want to visit

County Monaghan, Ireland where my MacEntee/McEntee ancestors lived.

Leipzig, Germany where my Henneberg ancestors lived.

Schenectady, New York where by Putman ancestors lived.

* Three brickwall ancestors I want to research more

Elizabeth Finehout, my 3rd great-grandmother

John Leehive, my 3rd great-grandfather

Matthew McGinnes, my 2nd great-grandfather

© 2009, copyright Thomas MacEntee

SNGF: Google Yourself

At first I was hesitant to join in on Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun since I didn't see much of a point in Googling myself (or an "ego search" as it has been called). I do have Google Alerts turned on for both my name and GeneaBloggers which helps me fight the good fight in terms of blog content theft and copyright violations.


But this morning as I went through all the blog posts from close to 500 genealogy blogs (yes, we are coming up to that high water mark!), I could see that not only was this week's SNGF just plain fun for some folks - they actually found relevant genealogy information!


So here is Randy's original directive:


1. Google yourself at www.google.com. Put your first name, middle initial and last name, plus the name of your city or town in the Search box to see what other persons may have mentioned you online, or to see which blog aggregators are "collecting" you.


2. Then go to the "Images," "Videos" and "News" links and see what they show.


3. Tell us about any surprises you found, either in your blog or in Comments to this post.


And here are my results:


1. I used "thomas macentee chicago" and came up with 149,000 hits. However, as you progress to the following screen for more search results, the number of hits keep dropping. It appears that Google then accounts for duplicates. So there are 850 base hits without duplicates or related searches.


Interestingly when you start to use Boolean operators as in "thomas +macentee +chicago" the number of hits drops down to 30,000 with base of 489.


I am not sure if using Chicago in my searches is acurate - this is not my hometown, I've only lived here for the past five years and I have a much longer history in California and New York.


2. Images shows 7,990 entries with many being from my blog posts or professional sites like LinkedIn. There are no tawdry photos or anything with black bars across the eyes or any body parts. Thanks footnoteMaven for not releasing those photos from Jamboree and that wee little incident. LOL.


Videos shows only two entries and they both seem to be a MSNBC piece with some named Tom McEntee. Sorry not me.


News fails to show any entries for the past 30 days (thank goodness) although the archives for all dates shows 401 entries. However keep in mind that I really have no history with Chicago past 2004 and many of those 401 articles are for the surname McEntee not MacEntee.


3. There were no real surprises for someone like me who has a heavier web presence than the average person. I am also not surprised with the results if I add the various cities where I've lived besides Chicago.

These Three Things

This Saturday evening, Randy Seaver asks:

1) Think of three things that you learned about Genealogy or Family History today.

2) Tell us about them in a blog post or a comment to this post.

I seem to always learn more than three things a day about genealogy so here are the ones foremost in my mind tonight:

1. There are too many acronyms in genealogy!

Or at least so many that they can overwhelm a newcomer! Even I get perplexed when someone uses terms - the one that got me today was BMD. Means "births, marriages and deaths" and is common among my UK genea-friends. Someone also added the aka which is "hatch, match and dispatch" which I thought was kind of funny.

I think a cheat sheet or a lookup with genealogy acronyms would be great and right now I am finding some great resources on The Internets but they are not as comprehensive or as organized as I'd like. Hmmmm - sounds like a new project . . .

2. It pays to research those in-laws and siblings on your family lines.

I learned that this week in my search for Catherine Sullivan my 3rd great-grandmother. I located her son Francis Dennis O'Keefe and realized that his son Carlton D. O'Keefe was the same Carlton I had been trying to match up with a set of parents for over a year. Very often we stop at our own direct ancestors and then go on to the next generation not realizing there is quite a bit of information to be found in those sibling and in-law lines!

3. Don't get overwhelmed - get organized!

As Vera Charles said in the movie Auntie Mame, "Let's get organized! Now what day is it and what time is it?" It helps to have a research plan to keep you focused - but don't forget there are times when you need some leeway especially when you know you are about to break down that brick wall! A solid plan and well organized files will help you find what you need not only in terms of your tools for research but the data itself!

Catherine Sullivan Located In 1910 Census

If you remember my complaint of madness in this past Monday's post, I had been unable to locate Catherine O'Keefe (nee Sullivan), my 2nd great grandmother, in the 1910 US Census. This all came about after participating in Randy Seaver's SNFG challenge on Saturday when he asked which ancestors were living in 1909 and which of them could be located in the 1910 US Census.


As you can see in the image above, Catherine is listed as KIEF not O'KEEFE. While searching on Ancestry last night, I had to employ all my searching super powers and wildcard tricks in order to locate her. Here's how the sleuthing worked:


- I knew that in 1920, Catherine Sullivan was living in Birmingham, Alabama with her daughter Mary O'Keefe and husband James Downey. So I did an exhaustive search in the Jefferson County, Alabama census rolls for any Catherine born in New York abt 1837 after failing with the surname O'KEEFE and OKEEFE.


- Catherine Sullivan had lived most of her life in Lowville, New York and this is where she had appeared in the 1900 US Census. So searching through the Lewis County, New York census rolls using the surnames O'KEEFE and OKEEFE resulted in bupkus.


- I then decided to search for all Catherines born abt 1837 in New York within Lewis County and Lowville township. Bingo! It appears that even the enumerator got the last name wrong, writing it as KIEF.


Catherine Sullivan had been widowed since 1870 and in 1910 was living with her daughter Ellen (often called Ella). Ella was a milliner and hair dresser who moved back home to take care of her mother who was now 72. The 1920 US Census shows Ella living in the Bronx, New York with the family of William Dence Austin who married Catherine Sullivan's daughter, Catherine O'Keefe. Catherine Sullivan would also moved into the family home at 2482 Elm Place in the Bronx before she passed away on February 12, 1928.

My Genealogy Bumper Stickers

Randy Seaver over at Genea-Musings has another fun activity for us this Saturday evening: create a bumper sticker using 12 words or less to describe your favorite passion. Of course, that passion is genealogy and family history so here goes:

"Well at least my family tree forks!"

"Shake my family tree and you'll find some nuts!"

"Genealogy: are my roots are showing?"

"I dig dead people."

"I'd rather be at the archives!"

"We're probably related. But I'm the prettier one, right?"

"I have a 2nd cousin once removed. Can I remove some others?"