Twins in the Bronx and the Wider World

My Mom, Daisy Schwartz Burk (1919-1981), was born a few minutes after her twin sister, Dorothy Schwartz (1919-2001). Their mother made most of their clothes and usually dressed them alike, as shown in this photo taken at their elementary school in the Bronx, New York. Dorothy is on the left, slightly taller and bigger than Daisy, standing on the right.The girls were told they were fraternal twins, but they sure looked a lot--a lot!--alike.Fast-forward to my Mom's first-born children, me and my two-minutes-younger twin Sis. Sis weighed a few ounces more than I did at birth. For special occasions, we were often dressed the same but as we got older, we were free to choose whether to do this or not.As children, we looked very much alike. Yet as long as I can remember, our parents said we were fraternal twins. This was probably because of two placentas; newer research shows even identicals can have two placentas.Years after our parents passed away, Sis insisted we take DNA tests to prove…