Thursday’s Thoughts: Shirt-tail Relatives

Eureka! I’ve discovered I have a whole new bunch of relatives. Shirt-tail cousins, shirt-tail aunts, and shirt-tail uncles. Who are these folks? They don’t share any genetic connection. I’ve bumped into them, though, when researching a branch of my family tree. Like so many other genealogy enthusiasts, I’ve ended up  way out on a limb when climbing up and down my family tree. If you are intrigued by the term “shirt-tail relative” and wondering if you have any yourself, here’s one definition: someone who is distantly related who rides into your family on the shirt-tails of a person who married into the family.