Fred and Clarence in 1908

I remember hearing stories about my grandfather and his identical twin Clarence ever since I was a kid.  There was never really any doubt about them being identical, because people had a hard time telling them apart.  Teachers tied different colored strings on them to signify a difference, but they always switched them to confuse the matter.  According to my mom, they seemed to enjoy confusing people and pulling switches on them.

I don’t remember seeing photos of the twins back then, though.  Grandpa may have had one or two, but he was not the type to sit with you, show you pictures, and talk about the good old days.  He was more prone to talking about his “good old age.”  He seemed to go on and on about his aches and pains.  It’s kind of sad, because I remember avoiding being around him because of that.  But really, what kid wants to hear adults complaining about being old?  Not me.

So let’s talk about young Fred before the aches and pains.  The picture I’m posting is of Fred D Bucklin and Clarence Jonathan Bucklin who were born October 2, 1907.  The photo was probably taken some time in mid 1908.  So that makes the photo 110 years old.

At the time of their birth, their mother Addie Mae Hine Bucklin was 31 years old.  They were her 7th and 8th children. Their older siblings were Leo, Mary, Ralph, Carl, and Herbert.  There was also a brother Paul who was born in 1903 and died in 1904, so they started out with four older brothers and one sister.  They were Addie’s first set of twins to carry and she would later carry another set.

Their father Louis Charles Bucklin was 34 at the time of their birth.  Both of Louis’s parents had died before this time, so Clarence and Fred didn’t know their paternal grandparents.  Louis was the youngest of all of his siblings.  He actually had a half-brother who was 27 years older than he was.  The other factor was that neither of Louis’s parents lived into their 70s.

I have this photo labeled with Clarence on the left and Fred on the right.  This identification was provided by their younger sister Edna Bucklin Keys.  She identified them in the photo in 2001 for my mom’s cousin (Joseph’s mom).  There must be a few copies of this photo around, because I got this original from my cousin Anita.  (Thanks again, cousin!)

I don’t have childhood photos of all of my grandparents, so I really appreciate the ones that I do have.  It’s nice to see my grandfather before he started complaining about his aches and pains.  It’s actually before he had any aches and pains!  Before they had a falling out with each other.  Before they had a business together.  Before either one of them married their Myrtle.  They were just two sweet looking little boys posing for a photographer in nearby Jennings, Louisiana.  Just so we could admire them 110 years later.