<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" ><tr><td valign="top" style="font: inherit;"><font face="arial" size="2">I use it in the context of "related by marriage" I remembered it as coming from some fancy French word for button hole (boutonniere; I had to look it up) but on further review;</font><div style="font-family: arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br></div><div><font face="arial" size="2">http://www.ehow.com/about_6636416_etiquette-wedding-buttonholes.html</font></div><div><font face="arial" size="2"><br></font></div><div><font face="arial" size="2">It is now just a plain old "button hole" note the space, that makes all the difference in the world.</font></div><div><font face="arial" size="2"><br></font></div><div><font face="arial" size="2">When I am referring to say a 2x buttonhole relative for example I mean someone like Uncle Herschel's in-laws who I grew up thinking of as my Aunts and Uncles even though they are married to the sibling of a
man who married my Aunt. I was easily as fond of some of them as I was of my own Aunt and Uncles.</font></div><div><font face="arial" size="2"><br></font></div><div><font face="arial" size="2">So when I refer to being multiple buttonholes away from Kin, which I sometimes wander into as I get obsessed with certain names or places, I am referring to people way off of my main line. </font></div><div><font face="arial" size="2"><br></font></div><div><font face="arial" size="2">I think "shirttail relative" is more inclusive, at least in my understanding of the terms, as I use button hole only in the context of "not Kin" but still "related" while "shirt tail" seems to be more broadly used not only for them, but distant cousins and "honorary" relatives. </font></div><div><font face="arial" size="2"><br></font></div><div><font face="arial" size="2">I have been confused by that term as some of the people I grew up thinking of as Kin turned
out to be just honorary relatives, though I was vindicated in my misunderstanding of the Abbot family as they are at least button hole rather than shirt tail kin.</font></div><div><font face="arial" size="2"><br></font></div><div><font face="arial" size="2">It is interesting that I seem to be one of a very limited circle of people that show up in searching that term. I have been asked a couple of times to explain other obscure terms by people who found references in their family histories they didn't understand and somehow ended up at one of my "button hole" relative posts.</font></div><div><font face="arial" size="2"><br></font></div><div><font face="arial" size="2">Les<br></font><br><font face="arial" size="2">--- On </font><b style="font-family: arial; font-size: 10pt;">Mon, 12/3/12, Robyn Greenlund <i><rgreenlund61@yahoo.com></i></b><font face="arial" size="2"> wrote:</font><br><blockquote style="font-family: arial; font-size: 10pt;
border-left-width: 2px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"><br>From: Robyn Greenlund <rgreenlund61@yahoo.com><br>Subject: Re: [or-roots] Buttonhole relative<br>To: "or-roots mail list" <or-roots@listsmart.osl.state.or.us><br>Date: Monday, December 3, 2012, 10:41 AM<br><br><div id="yiv2003470420"><div><div style="color:#000;background-color:#fff;font-family:bookman old style, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt;">I'm guessing it's a variant of a shirt-tale relative, which is "usually said to refer to somebody who is a relative by marriage or is only
distantly related, such as a fourth cousin, or is a family friend with honorary
status as a relative. It’s fairly common in the USA and has been since the 1950s
or thereabouts."<div><span><br></span></div><div> </div><div><span style="color:black;"><div>Robyn<br><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://rgreenlund61@yahoo.com/">rgreenlund61@yahoo.com</a><br><br><font size="2" color="#bf005f" face="bookman old style, new york, times, serif">Interested in Coos County History? See what's online at<br><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://genealogytrails.com/ore/coos">genealogytrails.com</a>, <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://coquillevalley.org/">coquillevalley.org</a>, or <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://orgenweb.org/coos/">orgenweb.org</a> </font><div style="padding:5px 0pt;font-size:13px;font-family:arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color:gray;"></span><a rel="nofollow" style="padding:0pt 2px;font-size:10pt;color:blue;" target="_blank" href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/rgreenlund"><img style="padding-bottom:5px;vertical-align:middle;" alt="Linkedin"
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