Pat Quinney Williams doesn't recall her father or his brother ever talking about being part of a record group of twins, so she was surprised to see them in a 1924 photo showing nine sets of North Little Rock twins, she said.
The photo arrived in the mail at the North Little Rock History Commission early this month. Information typed on the back claimed that it showed a record number of twins at the former Clendenin School in North Little Rock. No identifications were listed, but the information said that all pictured were between ages 7 and 12.
The photo -- which shows three of the children in the front row as barefoot -- was posted online April 9 on the city government's Facebook page. The online post asks if anyone recognizes any of the twins. Only one set of twins has been identified so far.
Williams, who lives in Conway, posted on Facebook on Sunday and again Tuesday that she recognized the two tallest boys in white shirts standing to the right on the back row. Her father, Ben Quinney, is on the left with his arms crossed, she said. Glen Quinney, her uncle, is on the right.
The Quinney twins, born April 28, 1914, to B.J. and Birta Quinney, are deceased, as are their wives, Williams said.
Williams, who attended Park Hill Elementary in North Little Rock, said in an interview Thursday that she keeps up with several North Little Rock historic sites on social media.
"I was just scrolling through and saw it," she said. "I wasn't sure at first. Looking closer, I thought that was maybe them on the back row. I remember them talking about Clendenin School, and then because of the time period [of the photo]. They would have been 10. I sent it to my cousin, Glen's daughter [Carolyn Quinney], and she said, 'Yeah, that's got to be them.'
"I don't ever recall hearing that kind of story," Williams said about them being in school with eight other sets of twins. "Now there's no one to ask. I wish I had known about it. I don't think anyone was quite as excited as I was about it."
But Sandra Taylor-Smith, the North Little Rock History Commission's executive director, may have been just as excited.
The unsolicited photo, stamped on the back with the date Nov. 4, 1924, was mailed by a Michigan man who sent it to the commission with a note saying he wanted to donate it after finding it at a photo auction in Royal Oak, Mich.
"That was better than Christmas," Taylor-Smith said of opening the "nicely packaged" envelope containing the excellent-quality photo. "I just came tearing up the stairs with it. It was just such a surprise. Great stuff like that happens from time to time."
Taped to the back was caption information that reads: Arkansas School Claims Twin Record. Nine sets of twins ranging from 7 to 12 years of age is the record claimed by the Clendenin School at North Little Rock, Ark." It also has a "By United" photo credit line, denoting the photo's issuer, but not the photographer's name.
"I'd never heard of such a thing," Taylor-Smith said of the record twins claim. "It certainly does imply they went to the same school."
A Google search of "nine sets of twins" turns up more recent occurrences of schools in the United States and the United Kingdom having that many sets of twins.
The former Clendenin School, at 13th and Main streets, later became Argenta Academy alternative school. Argenta Academy closed in 2013 and is one of four former school buildings recently sold to a real estate development company because the sites aren't included in a North Little Rock School District capital improvement plan.
The photo apparently had been distributed nationally at the time for publication. On the back of the photo is stamped "United Newspictures Inc." and "N.E.A." for Newspaper Enterprise Association, both then part of the United Feature Syndicate, according to online histories. The typewritten information on a tag glued to the photo's back matches how photo caption details were shared at the time.
A search of Arkansas Gazette microfilm records for around the time that the photo was dated didn't find any publication of the photo.
The Quinney twins graduated from North Little Rock High School in 1933, according to a school yearbook at the History Commission.
Taylor-Smith also located a 50th class reunion program from 1983 that the two brothers attended, which included summaries provided by attendees about their lives and careers. Ben Quinney married Winona Thomas, lived on East C Street in North Little Rock and was retired as a field representative for an unnamed "Federal Agency." Glen Quinney wrote that he married Helen Keller, "not the famous handicapped woman," lived in Little Rock and was retired as a "Rating Specialist" with the Veterans Administration Regional Office.
At least 13 other pairs of seniors in 1933 had the same last names, according to a cursory look through the class yearbook, but it's not known, or obvious, whether any were twins, cousins or just had the same last names.
"I'm just really surprised nobody else has identified anybody," Taylor-Smith said of the twins photo being posted and shared several times online. "We're hoping."
Anyone who may be able to identify any of the children pictured can contact the North Little Rock History Commission at nlrhistory@comcast.net or by phone at (501) 371-0755.
"I'll be interested to know if any others turn up," Williams said. "You can't go by their ages and grades, either, from back then. My mother [Winona] graduated with them, and she was three years younger."
Metro on 04/19/2015