When 3-week-old twin boys were put up for adoption in 1940, they were adopted by two separate families. Both sets of adoptive parents named their new baby James. Both men were called Jim for short, but that was just the beginning. The two would grow up only 40 miles from each other and go on to live lives that were eerily similar. One of the boys was adopted by the Lewis family of Lima, Ohio, and the other by the Springer family of Piqua, Ohio. Both families knew that they had adopted a twin, but didn’t know what became of the other one. From there, though their paths diverged, they unknowingly forged lives as identical as their DNA. Both had childhood dogs named Toy, and both had a penchant for math and woodworking but were not great at spelling. Both Jims had been married twice, with both marrying women named Linda. After they were divorced, both remarried women named Betty. Both Jims had a son and…….you guessed it……both named their sons James Alan. Both Jims were heavy smokers, drove the same model car, and had similar jobs in the security field. They even took vacations at the same Florida beach. Neither man knew any of the facts about their brother, until at age 37 Jim Lewis decided to try to find his twin. In 1977, he succeeded and the pair spoke on the phone, eventually agreeing to meet in person. On Feb. 9, 1979, the Jim Twins were finally reunited. When their case came to light, the twins were approached by Dr. Thomas Bouchard of the University of Minnesota, who asked them to participate in a study. Researchers found that brain wave tests done on the twins were almost identical, as were the results of a personality test. Today, the Jim twins continue to live out their lives, only now they do things together.
