Double 4th Cousins

It's not often for me anyway, that I find a double 4th Cousin. I received an email from the sister-in-law of my fourth cousin. 

I have corresponded with this sister-in-law in the past and we have shared a wealth of information. So I had her in my database, so I could easy see how I know her. Today she told me her 2nd great grandmother is the sister of my 3rd great grandfather. Why did I only find this out today. We have been in contact with each other, on and off for over 15 years while doing our research. But today I find this revelation. Strange thing, I had her 2nd great grandmother in my tree, not tied to my 3rd great grandfather and not tied to the sister-in-law. 

So I was looking at who I originally had in my tree, Ms Julie and she is my double fourth cousin. Looking at my line I see it is through my paternal grandparents. Each one can trace themselves back to Julie. Or should I really say, it's my genealogy software program that did all the heavy lifting on this one. 

The point of this blog post, to praise genealogy software programs that reside on our personal computers. No where on Ancestry does it give me this double relationship. Ancestry does show me that she is my 4th cousin, but how?

I know so many people who only have their tree on web based sites like Ancestry and I think how much they are missing. I find when I look at data in a different way, things start to pop out. Or perhaps it directs me to my next research project. 

Food for thought, with DNA, it makes me realize that if Julie and I were to look at our shared matches, it could be either set of shared Ancestors. Not so cut and dry anymore. 

To all the people who want to know why they should have a genealogy software program that resides on their personal computers, because they are more powerful than any web based application. Before programs came with syncing, I would upload my GEDCOM to one or more of these web based sites as cousin bait. Now I use Family Tree Maker and the sync function to keep my cousin bait up to date with the latest and greatest finds and additions, like Julie's sister-in-law is more than the sister-in-law of my fourth cousin, she is my 4th cousin 1x removed.  Julie and her sister-in-law are related to me through my grandmother's parents. Julie through my grandmother's mother's side and her sister-in-law through my grandmother's father's side. Therefore, Julie and her husband don't share DNA (that I know of anyway).