Ten babies were born to Clabe and Leora Wilson. Four of them were sets of fraternal twins.
Leora already had three little ones by the time Dale and Darlene were born in Stuart, Iowa, in 1921. Two more singles were born before the next twins, Jack and Jean, arrived in Dexter in 1929. Jack and Jean were just infants when all nine Wilson youngsters came down with whooping cough. They were the only two who succumbed to the disease.
Grandma Leora said that she’d had miscarriages before both sets of twins. I believe the first time was a result of her suffering so during the influenza pandemic. So many who died of that pandemic were young parents. If a pregnant woman survived the influenza, her unborn child likely would not.
I couldn’t find any other twins in the family until I discovered that Clabe Wilson’s father (Daniel Ross Wilson) had a twin brother who didn’t survive. I’ve heard that twins tend to arrive every other generation.
Are there twins in your family?