Twins separated at birth led eerily similar lives(1979)

[Chock Full o Nuts]

Caught a bit about it on a program, and was WTF?..

TWINS REARED APART: A LIVING LAB (Published 1979)

Edwin Chen article on twins describes several instances where identical twins who were reared apart for most of their lives were found to have led astonishingly similar lives and to have similar interests and tastes; discusses situation of identical twins James Edward Lewis and James Arthur...

www.nytimes.com

When identical twins James Arthur Springer and James Edward Lewis were reunited last February, after spending all but the first four weeks of their 39 years apart, they discovered that, despite the long separation, their lives had been astonishingly similar. Aside from sharing a given name:

■ Each married and then divorced a woman named Linda. Their second wives were both named Betty.

■ Springer named his first son James Allan. Lewis named his first son James Alan

■ Each man grew up with an adopted brother named Larry.

■ During childhood, each owned a dog named Toy.

■ Both twins had law‐en forcement training and had worked part time as deputy sheriffs in their Ohio towns 70 miles apart.

■ They shared many common interests, such as mechanical drawing, block lettering and carpentry.

■ Both said their favorite school subject was math, their least favorite, spelling.

■ They vacationed at the same, three‐block‐long beach near St. Petersburg, Fla., both getting there and back in a Chevrolet.

■ Their smoking and drinking patterns were nearly identical.

Suppose you could chalk some up to genetic predisposition, but some of that is just...

 

[eman623]

I don't think people are genetically predisposed to marry people named "Linda" or "Betty", or to get an adopted brother named "Larry".

OTOH, liking math and hating spelling is very likely genetics, or at least genetics-related. And their love of carpentry and working as deputy sheriffs may be due to them both being large, active men.

 

[Chock Full o Nuts]

I don't think people are genetically predisposed to marry people named "Linda" or "Betty", or to get an adopted brother named "Larry".

The dog named Toy probably is though.

OTOH, liking math and hating spelling is very likely genetics, or at least genetics-related. And their love of carpentry and working as deputy sheriffs may be due to them both being large, active men.

 

[Helix]

Nature vs nurture is an interesting discussion. Some of the above examples seem to be purely coincidence, but a lot of it probably isn't. I have examined how closely I resemble my mom, dad, and grandparents, and I can find evidence for both.

 

[Chock Full o Nuts]

Nature vs nurture is an interesting discussion. Some of the above examples seem to be purely coincidence, but a lot of it probably isn't. I have examined how closely I resemble my mom, dad, and grandparents, and I can find evidence for both.

All the names are one hell of a coincidence!

 

[Helix]

All the names are one hell of a coincidence!

I think that I remember reading other separated at birth twin stories like that. Glitch in the Matrix?

 

[Demon]

You'd think they might have run into each other on that beach at some point.