Facts About Multiples: Twins

Facts About Multiples
An Encyclopedia of Multiple Birth Records

Twins (2)

Most Sets of Twins
16 sets - Valentina Vassilyev (Mrs. Feodor Vassilyev) (Russia, 1700s) (in addition to 7 sets of triplets, and 4 sets of quads). The father remarried, and had more multiples (not sure how many).

Other families with more than one set of multiples are listed in the Multiple Multiples section.

Most Premature (All surviving)
125 days (22 weeks, 1 day) - Kay and Nick Banski.
120 or 119 days (22 weeks, 6 days or 23 weeks) - Courtney and Chloe Smith (Louisiana, March 1 2000)
119 days (23 weeks) - Devin and Dorraine Johnson (Ohio, April 8 1996).

Lightest Twins (Total Birthweight, Both surviving)
24.5ozs (1lb 8.5ozs) - Courtney (12ozs) and Chloe (12.5ozs) Smith (Louisiana, March 1 2000).
30.3ozs (1lb 14.3ozs) - Anne (14.8ozs) and John (15.5ozs) Morrison (Canada, January 14 1994).
30.3ozs (1lb 14.3ozs) - Roshan (17.28ozs) and Melanie Gray (13.02ozs) (Australia, November 1993).

Lightest Twin (Single Baby, surviving)
8.6ozs - Rumaisa Rahman (Illinois, Sep 19 2004). Her twin Hiba weighed 1lb 4ozs. Rumaisa is believed to be smallest surviving baby in the world.
12ozs - Courtney Smith (Louisiana, March 1 2000).
12ozs - Kylie Walpole (Texas, February 11 2004) Born 2 months early; her twin Trinity was 2lbs 8ozs. Kylie was fully developed and did not need to be on a respirator.

Heaviest Twins (Total Birth Weight)
27lbs 12ozs - Patricia Jane (14lbs) & John Prosser (13lbs 12ozs) Haskin (Arkansas, February 20 1924) born to Mary Ann Ward Haskin. Jane died Aug 3 2001.

Heaviest Twin (Single Baby)
14lbs - Patricia Jane Haskin (Arkansas, February 20 1924).

Heaviest Adult Twins (Combined Weight)
1466lbs - Billy Leon (5lbs 4ozs at birth, 743lbs adult - d 1979) & Benny Loyd McGuire McCrary (5lbs 3ozs at birth, 723lbs adult, d 2001) (North Carolina, December 7 1946). Their highest weight was a combined 1597lbs.

Longest Delayed Twin Birth (Both surviving)
95 days apart - Timothy & Celeste Keys (Louisiana, October 15 1993 and January 18 1994) .

Oldest Set of Twins to Ever Live (Combined Ages)
216 years, 9+ months - Alice Smith Lindsay (Australia, Mar 31 1893 - Jul 1 2004) & Eugenia Smith Collins (Australia, Mar 31 1893 - Oct 8 1998).
216 years, 20 days - Kin Narita (Japan, Aug 1 1892 - Jan 23 2000) and Gin Kanie (Japan, Aug 1 1892 - Feb 28 2001).
214 years, 10+ months - Dale (Ohio, Jun 20 1895 - Jul 17 2004) and Glen Moyer (Ohio, June 20 1895 - Apr 2001).

Oldest Living Twins (Male or Female, Both Living)
1909 - Fraternal twins Edith Rennie Ritchie and Evelyn Rennie Smith (England, UK, November 15 1909). Turned 103 in 2012.
1909 - Identical twins Ann Engerman Primack and Charlotte Engerman Eisgrou (Illinois, December 24 1909). Turned 103 in 2012.

Twinstuff.com has more info on long-lived twins, as does Wikipedia.

Tallest Twins (Male)
7' 4" - Michael and James Lanier (Michigan, November 27 1969).

Tallest Twins (Female)
6'7" and 6'6" - Beatrice & Suzanne Bofia (Cameroon)
6' 6" - Ann and Claire Recht (Oregon, 1988). Ann and Claire are the current Guinness Record holders.

Shortest Twins (Male)
2' 6" (30") - Matjus and Bela Matina (Hungary, 1903 - death date unknown). Primordial dwarfism. Had a triplet brother, Lajos. All three appeared in the Wizard of Oz as villagers.
2' 10" (34") - John and Greg Rice (Florida, 1952). John passed away November 5 2005.

I am trying to find out who the shortest living set of male twins is currently.

Shortest Twins (Female)
4' 1" (49") - Dorene Williams and Darlene McGregor (California).

First Test Tube (IVF) Twins
World - Stephen and Amanda Mays (Australia, June 5 1981). They were the 7th and 8th IVF babies born in the world and the first twins.

Canada - Colin & Gregory Rankin (Ontario, March 25 1982) Conceived via IVF in England. First IVF in North America.
USA - Heather & Todd Tilton (New York, 1983). Conceived via IVF in Virginia.
Nepal - Koirala (2005)

Longest Separated Twins
75 years - Iris Johns and Aro Campbell were separated from each other Jan 13 1914 and reunited 75 years later.

Most Identical (Contest Wins)
22 - John & William Reiff (Pennsylvania, July 1 1930) won a record 22 titles. William passed away in 2000 and John in 2005.

Youngest Mother of Twins
11 years old - Unidentified (Brazil, 2000) Had twin boys.

Youngest Father of Twins
13 years old - James Sutton (England, 1999) Identical twins Leah & Louise. James is a twin. The mother was 17 at the time of the twins' birth.

Oldest Mother of Twins (Both twins survive)
70 years old - Omkari Panwar (India, June 27 2008) boy/girl, IVF. She is also the oldest woman to become a mother.
66 years and 358 days old - Carmela Busada (Spain, December 29 2006) IVF
66 years and 230 days old - Adriana Ilescu (from Romania, born in the UK, January 16, 2005) Eliza. Twin sister lost in utero.

Oldest Father of Twins (Both twins survive)
78 years, 1 month old - Thomas James Lambert (Louisiana, March 15 1948) Dale and Dean
75 years old - Everett Franklin (Kansas, 1962) Don and Naomi.

I have read an article where TV host Art Linkletter said he ran across a man from Chicago who had fathered twins at the age of 100 (in addition to his most recent child, at age 104). The mother was in her 30s. I haven't been able to verify this.

Twins Marrying Twins (Quarternary Marriage)
28 - I have recorded 28 instances of twins marrying twins, but have seen a statistic claiming there are about 250 quarternary marriages existing.

Sets Born Per Year (USA)
Since 1989 there have been an average of 56,136 sets of twins born each year in the US.

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