Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1892-05-19
NUMBER 40
REMARKABLE TWINS.
TWO WOMEN so NEAR ALIKE AS
TO DECEIVE THEIR HUSBANDS.


field, Mass, Have H3d Lots Of Fun in
Their Lives Eecause Of Their Great Re-
CONFERENCE.-The. coonibs' stsry.
Similarity in facial appearance has Of
ten resulted in mistaken identity with
the subjects Of this sketch. Mrs. Levi II
Coombs ana Mrs. Josiah Turner.
These estimable w0inea are twins:
their maiden names We're Frances AFRO
cite and FlOrella Antoinette Foss. 1t
will ba observed that their initials were
the same, the middle name being be-
slowed on the promise 81 pearl neck
lace for each
The Foss twins were the daughters of
DR.. Simeon Foss. a Maine physician Of
the old school and Mason Of high de-
gree. They were born ii Belfast. Me-,
Nov. %, 1926. Frances made her debut
in this world half an hour before her sis
ter.
At Paris Hill they went to school with
the late Hannibal Hainlin. ex-vice presi-
dent Of the United States
Frances married tile late Levi 4.
Coombs, who held the position of deputy
sheriff of Androscoggin county. ID the
town Of Lisbon, twenty-one years.
Florella married Josiah Turner, now
dead. who also lived IN tile town Of Lis
bon. Both have been srh0oI teachers
and inseparable companions. Their
mother died when they were 2I5 years
Of aye.
It i difficult To distinguish one from
the other, and the photographer who
took their pictures persisted that Flo
rella had just been in the room when, in
fact, it was her sister who had been
there
Frances has given birth to six chill
dren, all Of whom are dead but two
Walter Coombs, of this city, and Simon
Coombs. now mail agent on the Maine
Central railroad
Mrs. John Staples, Of Charlestown,
and Charles Z. Turner, Of Lawrence,
are the only living children of Florella,
who had three in ALL
The height Of the twins il exactly the
same, and twelve years ago they weighed
just 200 pounds apiece
Singularly, when one would fall away
i'll weight tile other would Az the same.
Their aggregate weight At present il $50
pounds.
These duplicate sisters think alike, act
alike and have never adopted different
I characteristics Of dress to avoid mis-
the others shoes, while years ago their
money came from one pocketbook, and
it did not matter which one carried 1t.
Mistaken identity was almost daily
occurrence with us in our Younger
days" remarked Frances a few days
ago. Ny father always called us girls
I and neither Of Us ever addressed the
other by our given names We called
I each other sister instead
The reason why father never adj
dressed o. by our given names was due
to the fact that hewas always uncertain
which was which.
After W. we're married people ad-
dressed me by my sisters new name W
often that ! declare got puzzled my
NJ self once, and couldn't for the life Of me
tell whether my name was Turner OF
\ Coombs
I'VE took our first ride on 4 railway
train at eighteen years Of age. we never
4 had seen the cars before. st that time
we were living in Lisbon and drove
down from there in Il chaise to Portland.
When we alighted at SacO the depot
/ closely resemble6 the one in Portland,
and l stuck TO it that it went with US.
"One time IN church Judge Chamber
I lin was sitting IN my sisters pew. Ny
seat was just ahead of him. When I
came in he mistook me for my sister,
and politely arose and stepped into the
aisle to let me into my sisters seat
"My husband often mistook my sister
for myself Tn illustrate how easily he
was fooled. I will recall the time when
Y ] dropped into my husbands store to
pay him u call Judge Chamberlin sat
there, and knew him well. but my SIS
ter didn't.
As 4 entered Ieisurely lily husband
said, Come il. Mrs. Turner. ana be
" seated. ! kept straight face as long as
/ could until lie had introduced me to
I the judge when a smile ON my face let
the cat out of the bag. and then my
husband discovered that he had intro
duced his wife instead Of Mrs. Turner.
"When we lived ii Minot we studied
! French under Parsoa Jones One day
had a perfect lesson and sister did not
know hers We shifted around. and
VI the parson mistook me for sister and
recited the lesson for her and no one was
the wiser.
I'VE used to attend parties in Iny
n younger days. and 0n one occasion. when
the fellows come iii after TIL girls,
started oH with sisters fellow anna got
Y quite piece with him before told him
ho was mistaken and had better DO back
after his girl.
Once ut dusk Mr. Co0mlss WAS going
home from the store He saw my sister
on the other side of the street and
thought it was l. Florella had bun
( die under her arm which he mistook for
q baby. Ny husband thought If strange
that was ont at that time with my
baby. and said TO clerk that he be
lie7ed Frances was crazy and going TO
drown that baby.
Il used to fool nay children sometimes
after they bad got to be quite large.
X Whenever / wanted to En away my sis-
N ter wuuld come over "a my house. put
v on one Of LIN dresses ami stay with the
children Till ! got back. and they wonld
not know the differences. Springfield
Cor. Boston Globe.