Multiple twins in family

[Waltermitty18]

My Great Grandfather was one of four sets of twins born to his parents, who had 16 children in total. I'd never really heard of people having so many sets of twins until finding this. Has anybody else encountered anything similar when researching?

[Top-of-the-hill]

  My husband's grandfather was one of 15 children, which included 3 sets of twins. Only one of the twins survived infancy or early childhood. It probably came from the mother, as her siblings included 2 sets of twins. All born in the early to mid-1800s, to farm worker families.

[CaroleW]

Which census are they shown on?  Have you checked freebmd or GRO online for their respective births?  It is sometimes possible for children to appear as twins on a census if born close together

[Waltermitty18]

All born in Glasgow, have viewed all the births
cert images on Scotlands people website and confirmed as being 4 sets.

[Rena]

My late husband has several twins in his family tree - all are children of his male ancestors.  Apparently it's normal for the paternal genes to sire twins

[KGarrad]

We have 4 successive generations of twins! I may have mentioned this before?!
I'm a twin, born 1953.
I have twin daughters, born 1978.
One of my daughters has twin daughters, born 2013.
My mother was a twin; unfortunately her sister died on day 1 (family lore) and is registered as stillborn (1931).

All documented, and checked by Guinness World Records.

[Waltermitty18]

@KGarrad wow that is certainly some achievement! 

[DianaCanada]

My late husband has several twins in his family tree - all are children of his male ancestors.  Apparently it's normal for the paternal genes to sire twins

Fraternal twins are due to two eggs being fertilized during the same ovulation, so nothing to do with the father, more likely the tendency to release two or more eggs would be an inherited trait through the female side. 
Identical twins are not due to an inherited trait, but are a random occurrence.
My maternal grandmother had fraternal twins, as did my paternal great grandmother.  The latter’s mother in law, my great-great grandmother, also had twins, but both died as babies, two girls, unknown if fraternal or identical.  No twins for me though, and none amongst my first and second cousins.

[shanreagh]

Which census are they shown on?  Have you checked freebmd or GRO online for their respective births?  It is sometimes possible for children to appear as twins on a census if born close together

My mother used to say that children born in the same year were known as 'Irish twins'.  (She was Irish).  Also sometimes censuses had to round up/round down  ages so birth date differences that included months may have been lost.