Cousins, brothers, sisters used interchangeibly?

[dcotsman]

I am trying to make sense of immigration records for some of my early relatives that traveled together that show the immigration person wrote cousin as the relationship between them. I have a note from someone in the Ukraine that says cousins are sometimes called brothers and sisters. Is this true??

[dcotsman]

Attached is a partial copy of the immigration document I am trying to figure out. There are 2 names shown. I think the first is Rose Fornal (my Grandmother) and the second is Fusia (sp?) Fornal. Shortly after their names their is "cousin" written between their names. They are both 18. So far so good, they are cousins. To the right it shows their residence in Ukraine, then it shows their nearest relative in the country they arrived from. It looks like Rose's shows Father Michal Fornal and Fusia's shows brother Michal Fornal. That would make Fusia, Rose's aunt not cousin? I don't know if I'm reading it wrong or their is a different interpretation of cousin, brother, etc.

[zarjacks]

Could they be referring to 2 different Michal Fornals perhaps father and son? Or they could be aunt and niece but call themselves cousins because they are the same age?
Ruth

[Hannia]

Hello, I see you're still at it.

Yes, it was.and still is common to address first-cousin as either sister or brother. Transliterated from Ukrainian, first cousins are DWOYERIDNA SESTRA (sister) or DWOYERIDNYJ BRAT (brother).

Michael was/is a very common given name in Ukraine Once you start examining the metrykal records, you should be able to determine the exact relationship.

[dcotsman]

Thanks....In fact there are 2 Michal's that I have found immigration information for, so I need try to understand the relationships. And yes Hannia, I am back at it. I have found my 4 grandparents information (with a lot of help from you) and now I am trying to find my grandparents siblings. I have found many with the same last names and immigrating into the Cleveland, Ohio area and am trying to understand the relationships between all of them. I also have been corresponding with a relative I think from Liev who has some good information also (named Oleg Kapral). Thanks again.

[Hannia]

There's great satisfaction in doing it yourself.

[dcotsman]

I'm finding reference to a relative by the given name of Krylc or Kric. Is this a common Ukrainian name and is there an English translation for this name???