ver since 1802 with the Baptism of Daniel Jones and his twin brother, Lewis, at Eglwys Newydd, Llanfihangel Y Creuddyn, every generation has produced a set of twins ending with Big Daddy’s siblings Moses and Miriam in 1880. 3 generations in total, but for all I know, there could be more. We can’t trace back any further than Daniel’s Father, Morgan Jones and to date, I haven’t found with proof any siblings of his.
THE LIST OF OUR JONES TWINS ARE:
Daniel & Lewis Jones Baptised 1802 Eglwys Newydd, Llanfihangel Y Creuddyn
Moses & Aaron Jones Born December 1843, Merthyr Tydfil
Moses & Miriam Jones Born 1880, Merthyr Tydfil (Miriam passed away in 1881).
I have wondered on many an occasion if this is a genetic thing, passed from generation to generation. It seems there isn’t a simple answer. There are different types of twins, identical and non-identical, or in the words of the professional, Fraternal Twins which are non-identical and can be passed down whereas Monozygotic Twins are identical and cannot be passed down through the generations.
To add to the confusion of twins being passed through generations, they can only be passed through the ‘female’ line and not the ‘male.’ It doesn’t take long to see that all the twins in our family history are born through the male line! So is it just co-incidence that we seem to have had 3 sets over 3 consecutive generations?
The only credible answer I can find is that either the women our Joneses married were from their own line of twins, which would seem a bit too much of a co-incidence over 3 generations, or there is another possibility which I think could be the answer.
The mother of Fraternal Twins has to release two separate eggs. Apparently, the older a woman is when she gets pregnant, for example, when she is in her 30’s, the more likely she is to release two eggs although this decreases once she gets over 35 years. If we look at our Jones twins, starting with Moses and Aaron as they are the first that I have a definite date for the age of their mother Ann. She was born in 1804, which would put her at 39 years old when she gave birth. It’s a few years over the 35 years, but I still think it’s feasible.
The final generation of twins, Moses and Miriam were born in 1880, which would put their mothers age at about 33/34 years old. This fits within the optimum range of years.
So that’s my theory on the Jones twins. Of course, I may be completely wrong, but if you’d like more detailed information about twins and genetics, click this link.