Relationship Calculator: work out how any two people in your tree are related
"How are we related?" is the question every family asks at a reunion. The Relationship Calculator answers it for any two people in your tree, using their shared ancestors.
How to open it
Open Tree options → Reports… and choose Open Relationship Calculator. It is a whole-tree tool, so you do not choose a starting person first.
Pick two people
Search for each person by name or record number, choose them from the list, and the answer appears straight away.
In this example, Emily and Ben are both great-grandchildren of William Whitfield, through different children, which makes them second cousins.
What it can work out
- Blood relationships through a common ancestor: parent, sibling, uncle or aunt, cousin, and cousins "once removed" or "twice removed", with the correct terms.
- Close in-law relationships when there is no blood link: spouse, parent-in-law, child-in-law and sibling-in-law.
It does not calculate more distant in-law terms, step-relationships, or "half-" terms beyond siblings.
Good uses
- Settling "is he my second cousin or my cousin once removed?" at a family gathering.
- Checking a relationship you have written in a letter.
- Explaining a connection to a newly found relative.
Frequently asked questions
How does it decide? It finds the nearest ancestor the two people share and counts the generations from each of them.
What if it says they are not related? Either they are not blood relatives in this tree, or the link has not been recorded yet.
Does it show the path? It states the relationship. To see the path, open the common ancestor's descendants chart.