I'm your cousin

[START]

I have been away at a family reunion since Thursday night and returned Monday night from the Dirty South where I met many of my relatives who I had never met before, I haven't posted or replied to any posts in a while, anyway I met alot of people who married into the family and I thought if you go by people who married into the family then that means almost everybody in the United States are related through marriage. just a thought, cousin.

[Lobsang]

I've heard that every single person in the world is related to every other by no more than 6 relatives. Of course that could be a load of rollocks but it's a thought

[Ethilrist]

My wife's mom is the oldest of seven siblings. Her dad is the youngest of seven. All 14 of those people married (not to each other, of course, except for my wife's parents) and had variously-sized families (we're talking rural Wisconsin Polish catholic, by the way).

My wife has over 70 first cousins. We went to her sister's wedding; the reception had what I would think of as the fairly-immediate family: siblings, parents, grandparents, aunts/uncles and their kids and grandkids old enough to behave.

Over 400 people.

I have 2 cousins. 3 brothers. 2 parents and an aunt. So, if we're related, it's probably through my wife's side of the family...