Why had no one ever mentioned Mum’s twin? 

After she passed away last month, we daughters had the job of going through the house and finding things family members had requested, sorting clothing that likely would all end up at the Thrift Store, and finally shredding all those old house bills that she and Dad had kept for the last thirty years. Why? We could never answer that question but it was common to believe they might come in handy one day, or someone might call to verify the bill had been paid.

Lots of people felt they were important papers and should be kept. It certainly kept us busy.

We also found shoe boxes full of old photo albums and loose pictures tossed in from vacations, children’s birthday parties, family dinners and Christmas gatherings. We laughed and cried at some of the memories they held, our parents were dear to us, loving and kind, and we missed them a lot. Dad had been gone several years before Mum and we joked about being orphans, even though we were now all middle aged.

My sister Margie had been quietly looking through one of the shoe boxes when I heard my name called. 

“Jess, who is this little girl with Mum? They look like twins don’t they?”

I dragged a chair to the table and we shared the photo. 

“Are you sure that’s Mum? She didn’t have a sister did she?” I flipped the photo over and was startled to see Elspeth and Eleanor Campbell, 4 years old, Edinburgh.

We stared at these little girls, dark hair, ribbons, smocked dresses, white socks and brown shoes with a single buckle.

 “We have to call Auntie Mary and ask, she’d know who these girls are.”

Margie grabbed the cell phone and called. Auntie picked up after a few rings, and Margie described the girls in the photo expecting an immediate reply.

The seconds ticked by and we looked at each other with a “what the heck” shrug.

“Auntie, are you still there?”

“Yes, I am. Your mother was a twin and they were separated at a young age. Both girls were adopted after their mother died and their father couldn’t cope alone. We’ve looked for her over the years but never found her. It broke your mother’s heart.”

We were so shocked it was hard to think of something to say.

“Auntie, can we call you back?”

Margie kicked into her usual problem solving mode. “We can do a google search, or look through DNA data bases or make a web site or something”. Her eyes were huge with excitement.

And I thought of Mum. If only we had known and used all the latest technology, maybe we could have found her sister in time.

“She might still be alive and we could at least let her know about Mum.”

We abandoned the rest of the clean up and focused entirely on searching for Eleanor.  

Starting with a Google search we moved onto families looking for lost members or genealogy trees. Half of Scotland seemed to be named Campbell. Were they separated there and Mum’s adoptive family emigrated to Canada? Or were they both brought to Canada first and then adopted? There was too much to know and we had so little information.

I put the kettle on for tea, and a scream came from Margie in the living room.

“Look at this!”

A small notice had been placed:

“Looking for Campbell sisters, born 1932 in Scotland, arrived in Ontario, Canada in 1936.

Email JennyC@yahoo.com”

“What do you think, Jess?”

“Scan the photo, send it and let’s see what happens.”

We made tea and started sorting Mum’s clothes for the Thrift Shop when the computer dinged.

A new email had arrived from JennyC. That was fast. We opened the message.

“Do you know Elspeth? We are relatives of Eleanor.”

(C) Chris Beryl, 2019.

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