Multiple Births
My wife and I had the immense joy of having twins born to us back in 1988. However that joy was shattered almost 11 weeks later when Thomas, the younger, died as a result of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) or as it is more commonly know, 'cot death'. 8 years later twins appeared again in our family when they were born to one of my brothers and his wife.
Looking for multiple births in the Rowden family has its own fascination, but first a little background. There are two basic types of twins, fraternal and identical. Fraternal twins derive from two different eggs conceived at much the same time and therefore may be girl/girl, boy/boy or girl/boy combinations. Identical twins derive from one fertilised egg which divides during its embryonic development. Thus it follows that these twins will always be the same sex. Being girl and boy, our own twins were fraternal. The occurrence of twins has been increasing in recent years largely it seems as the result of IVF treatment. Fraternal twins occur at different rates in different races but the rate of occurrence of identical twins is the same worldwide.
Rowden Twins
Rowden twins are not rare, but it is difficult to measure whether they occur at the normal local
or international rate without knowing about all the possible twin/triple sets. One set of triplets
is known about - in sept 2. Multiple births are indicated in the pedigree lists on this website with a
symbol.
The following list shows the frequency of know multiple births in each of the septs. This must only be used for crude comparison as some of these septs could well be part of the same family, which would distort the ratings.
| Place | Sept | No of MBs |
| Bow | 1 | 6 |
| Zeal Monachorum | 2 | 10 |
| Bow | 3 | 1 |
| Bow | 4 | 1 |
| North Tawton | 5 | 1 |
| Bow | 7 | 1 |
| Crediton | 8 | 1 |
| Thorverton | 10 | 2 |
| South Molton | 12 | 2 |
| Brixham | 15 | 2 |
| East Knoyle | 22 | 2 |
| Steeple Langford | 25 | 9 |
| Alderbury | 27 | 2 |
| Broughton | 28 | 1 |
| Bromyard | 42 | 1 |
| Horningsham | 46 | 1 |
| Seasalter | 51 | 3 |
| England | 63 | 2 |
| Last update: 24 December 2018 |
This table should be read with caution because there are different numbers of people associated with each sept. The rate of occurrence is likely to give a different order. However it can be said that the highest likelihood of Rowden twins being born, occurs in families originating from Devon.
For more information about twins try the following links:
