Families are like fudge….mostly sweet with a few nuts.

“As with all stories passed on by word of mouth, the story seldom remains the same and in fact often loses most of it's factual base.”

The Blue Eyed & Black Eyed Twiggs

By Jerry B. Twigg

Families are like fudge….mostly sweet with a few nuts.

Folklore

The story of the "Blue-eyed Twiggs" and the "Black-eyed Twiggs" is one that has been told many times. It has appeared in print in histories of Allegany County and numerous accounts of the Twigg clan. No one knows when the story was first told, nor by whom, but before it ever reached print it must have been told countless times by many people. As with all stories passed on by word of mouth, the story seldom remains the same and in fact often loses most of it's factual base. By the time it gets to print it has been romanticized for the sake of making the story interesting. If in fact this is what has happened then, what could remain that is true in this tale and what might have been the real story? Much study has been done in recent years into the Twigg families of western Maryland and there is little to support the idea that Ruth Farmer, wife of John Twigg of Robert, Jr., was an Indian squaw or that her children were born with the characteristic black eyes of Indian blood. It is believed that Ruth Farmer was the daughter of John Farmer of Bedford County, Pennsylvania and that Ruth's brother married John Twigg's sister, Lydia. In no other case but Ruth's are the Farmers known to referred to as of "Indian Heritage." Nor is it true that John and Ruth lived on one side of the big pond while John and Susannah (McElfish) Twigg lived on the other side. John and Susannah NEVER lived at Sink Hole Bottom ....