Genealogy 101: Some help for Josie and Elsie

It's no secret that I am constantly confused by Andy's family. I've been involved with them for almost a decade now, and I still have trouble remembering Andy's approximately 50 aunts and uncles, who belongs to which family (is she a Koch or a Cooper? Who are his parents again?), and the names of his 3 gazillion cousins. A few months ago Gbert was visiting for dinner, and decided that it was time to make me a Cooper Family Tree that I could study before family events.

It contained important things like cousin's names and Ann and Brian's sibling's birth order and occupations (and I have to admit that I felt somewhat justified in my ignorance when Andy and Greg had to phone Ellen to get some of that information because they couldn't remember, either!).

I studied it for a few days, got overwhelmed (Have I ever met this person, Andy? Are you sure?), and stashed it behind the buffet for a rainy day (or the next big family wedding).



Well, Elsie was rolling around on the floor the other day and found the family tree. And boy, was she confused!



Eventually, she even rolled over and looked on the back of the paper to see if there was a key to help her understand it all. There wasn't.


I'm afraid, my dear, that his family (and your family!) really is just that big. Luckily, they are very understanding when you don't know who they are. We'll keep working on it, and we should have it all down by the time you graduate from high school.