COUSINS TWICE, BUT NOT DOUBLE

Betty Settle is a lifelong family friend and Tennessee relative. We grew up together in the rural Standing Rock Creek community and are cousins from both sides of our families. As we age, Betty gains prominence, since most of my other relatives have passed on ahead of me. This is a problem with being the baby of your family and living to a ripe old age. Your siblings and peers die off, leaving you as everybody else’s great aunt or distant elderly cousin. What follows traces just enough lineage of the Sexton and McHood family trees in the hills of western Tennessee to show why Betty and I are cousins twice, once removed both times, but not double.  

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