"Twins"

Joseph Albert Brown and Robert Brown

This is Grandpa Brown (Joseph Albert) and his "twin" brother Robert. How are they twins? They were born a month apart. To the same father. Different mothers - who happened to be sisters. How does that happen? Well, it was back in the days of polygamy. Two sisters - Cynthia (Great Grandma Brown) and Thurza Berry married John William Brown.

They didn't live in the same house but their children were close. Often one family would sit down to dinner with a few cousins at the table and vice versa. And Robert and Joseph were close. In fact, Joseph Albert (Grandpa) looked more like Thurza's boys than his own whole brothers. One of Thurza's boys - Berry (sp?) looked so much like Grandpa that they were often confused as twins.

Once Elma (Phil's sister) was in SLC for General Conference with her family. Her daughter, Christine was lost and she was looking frantically for her. Eventually she found her Uncle Berry holding Christine. He had driven down from Idaho to attend conference and said that he was about to go in when a little girl walked up to him and said, "Grandpa!" He figured he had better wait. Christine was sitting on his lap, happy to be with her "Grandpa."

Dad remembers that one time there was a Brown family reunion when he was 18 years old. Someone said to Uncle Robert that they ,"couldn't tell who is your half-brother and who is your brother." According to Dad, Uncle Robert growled, "I don't have any half brothers, I only have brothers."

Ahhh, the joys of polygamy. Judging from Uncle Robert's reaction, I imagine that they had plenty of comments made throughout their lives about who is a "brother" and "half-brother." I think his answer was perfect.