One of my favorite movies while growing up was “Parent Trap” starring Hayley Mills.  I loved the antics and mischief the twins drummed up as they manipulated their divorced parents into first seeing each other once again and then eventually remarrying.

Orson and Heber as babies.
Oklahoma 

Off the movie screen, twins always seem to draw attention….whether it be in the grocery store or the mall, people frequently do a double take and then whisper to the person next to them—-“Are they twins?”

Identical or fraternal, there is a discernable connection between twins. Although frequently very different in personality, they often act almost in tandem with one another when they are younger.  

Orson and Heber, likely in Colorado
following their parents death

As  I look through my family tree, I see several sets of twins, although most of the twins are fraternal, which supposedly is not a genetic occurrence.

 My own Grandpa Heber Ganus was a twin.  I’ve heard that  Heber and Orson were so tiny when they were born they could fit in a shoe box.  They were fraternal twins.

There are other twins in my tree as well.  Heber’s father, Frank had a brother Newton who was a twin, although once again, they were not identical twins.  Newton and his sister Frances were born in 1867.

Some believe that Heber’s grandmother,  Olivia Rainwater may have been a twin with her brother Abner as some census records show their year of birth as the same.  There are a good number of twins throughout the Rainwater line.

While it is said that fraternal twins are not genetic,  I do find it interesting that there seems to be a fair number of them in our family tree and, while I do feel a sense of relief that my children came one at a time, I can’t help but hope that just maybe there might be a set of twins among our grandchildren.

Copyright © Michelle G. Taggart 2015, All rights reserved

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4 thoughts on “Seeing Double

  1. My husband is a twin, and there are many twins and triplets on his mother's side of the family. I've heard twins skip a generation, so one of my girls is sure to be the lucky mom, but so far no. I keep hoping there is a second baby hiding behind the one we see in the ultrasound photo.

  2. My Family Tree has several sets of twins. My paternal great-grandmother had two sets of twins. My mother had two sets of twins, of which I am one of the identical twin girls. I also had twins. My niece had two sets of twins. We are related to Michelle through the Mickelsons.

  3. I didn't realize that there were twins on the Mickelson side! I kept hoping for twins for myself or our children, but there haven't been any. I know there are challenges with caring for two of the same age when they are tiny, but there is just something special about twins. Thank you for commenting!

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