Latest / Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities / Nature vs. Nurture

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Nature vs. Nurture · Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

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  Speaker 1: Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history
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  Speaker 1: is an open book, all of these amazing tales right
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  Speaker 1: there on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome
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  Speaker 1: to the Cabinet of Curiosities. Ed was an actor, a
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  Speaker 1: pretty famous one at that. He was born in eighteen
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  Speaker 1: thirty three in Maryland to a family of actors. His father,
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  Speaker 1: as well as his two brothers, had all performed Shakespeare
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  Speaker 1: on stage four adoring crowds, and Ed had made a
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  Speaker 1: bit of a name for himself. He had gotten his
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  Speaker 1: start in a performance of Richard the Third alongside his father,
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  Speaker 1: who favored a more outspoken acting style to Ed's quiet contemplation.
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  Speaker 1: Regardless of how they performed, though, one thing was certain,
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  Speaker 1: the family knew how to entertain. People came from all
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  Speaker 1: the over to watch them and recite some of the
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  Speaker 1: most famous lines ever written for the stage. Then, three
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  Speaker 1: years after their first performance together, Ed's father passed away.
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  Speaker 1: Ed chose to remain with the show for an international tour,
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  Speaker 1: and it was on this tour where he gained wide
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  Speaker 1: acclaim for his talents. People in the United States and
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  Speaker 1: Europe knew his name, and it became synonymous with star.
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  Speaker 1: But his homeland was changing. A conflict that had begun
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  Speaker 1: in the South had migrated north and embroiled a country
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  Speaker 1: in a war unlike any other, Fathers were pitted against sons.
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  Speaker 1: Mothers stopped speaking to their daughters. Blood was shed, and
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  Speaker 1: fields and streams from Georgia to New York. As the
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  Speaker 1: Union fought to end the scourge of slavery infecting the
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  Speaker 1: Southern States, it was time for Ed to come home.
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  Speaker 1: He boarded a ship bound for the US and rejoined
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  Speaker 1: his family, who had changed considerably in his absence. He
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  Speaker 1: and his brothers had found themselves on opposing sides, with
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  Speaker 1: Ed supporting the Union and his brothers in favor of
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  Speaker 1: the South. In fact, none of them appeared on stage
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  Speaker 1: together until eighteen sixty four, when they participated in a
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  Speaker 1: charity to raise funds for a statue of William Shakespeare
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  Speaker 1: for Central Park in New York City. Coincidentally, eighteen sixty
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  Speaker 1: four was also the year Ed became a hero. He
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  Speaker 1: had been standing on a train platform in Jersey City,
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  Speaker 1: New Jersey, when he caught sight of a boy just
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  Speaker 1: shy of adulthood beside him. A crowd had gathered to
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  Speaker 1: board the car and pushed him forward. Before he'd had
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  Speaker 1: a chance to get out of the way, the train
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  Speaker 1: began to move, spinning him off his feet at the
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  Speaker 1: edge of the platform. He nearly fell onto the tracks,
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  Speaker 1: but there was ed ready. With lightning quick reflexes. He
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  Speaker 1: grabbed the boy's collar and pulled him back up next
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  Speaker 1: to him. The young man recognized his savior and thanked
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  Speaker 1: him profusely for what he'd done. Ed was only too
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  Speaker 1: happy to help, but had no idea who he'd actually saved.
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  Speaker 1: He wouldn't find out until months later, just before the
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  Speaker 1: country would enter a period of mourning for President Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln,
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  Speaker 1: as we all know, was shot during a performance at
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  Speaker 1: Ford's Theater by John Wilkes Booth, an actor. Booth had
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  Speaker 1: a brother too, In fact, both of them also actors.
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  Speaker 1: He'd fallen out with one, however, a Unionist named ed
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  Speaker 1: Edwin Thomas Booth. Edwin hadn't known his brother was going
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  Speaker 1: to assassinate the president. To perform such an act was
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  Speaker 1: unthinkable even to many of the very few people who
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  Speaker 1: hated the man and what he stood for. But Edwin
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  Speaker 1: tried not to dwell on the dishonor his brother brought
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  Speaker 1: to his family's name. Instead, he saw solace in one
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  Speaker 1: simple fact. He'd done some good. You see, the young
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  Speaker 1: man that Edwin had saved on the train platform that
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  Speaker 1: day wasn't some random boy. In a letter he received
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  Speaker 1: just before the President's death, the truth had become clear.
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  Speaker 1: The boy had told his story or to a Colonel
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  Speaker 1: Adam Badeaux serving under General Ulysses S. Grant. The colonel
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  Speaker 1: then penned a letter of gratitude for rescuing his newest recruits,
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  Speaker 1: a young soldier named Robert Todd Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln's son.
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  Speaker 1: Both brothers had managed to change the nation, one for
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  Speaker 1: the worse, one for the better. We'll never know what
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  Speaker 1: might have happened if Edwin hadn't been there to prevent
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  Speaker 1: Robert Todd Lincoln from falling. But we do know one thing.
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  Speaker 1: Despite a lifetime on the stage, it was certainly the
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  Speaker 1: greatest performance of his life. The nature versus nurture debate
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  Speaker 1: has raged on for generations. How much of our lives,
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  Speaker 1: our personalities, and our futures are determined by our genetics,
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  Speaker 1: and how much is determined by our environment. For two
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  Speaker 1: Ohio men, the answer was clear. Jim Lewis was born
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  Speaker 1: in nineteen forty and adopted three weeks after he entered
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  Speaker 1: the world. His parents raised him in Lima, Ohio alongside
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  Speaker 1: their dog Toy, where he grew up to love math
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  Speaker 1: and carpentry, but couldn't spell to save his life. As
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  Speaker 1: he got older, he fell in love with a woman
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  Speaker 1: named Linda. The two married and built a life together,
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  Speaker 1: along with their son, James Allen Lewis. But of course
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  Speaker 1: people change over time, and for Jim and Linda those
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  Speaker 1: changes had been too great to reconcile. They divorced, but
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  Speaker 1: Jim eventually found love again, this time with a woman
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  Speaker 1: named Betty, who he later married. Our second man is
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  Speaker 1: Jim Springer. He was born in nineteen forty and adopted
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  Speaker 1: three weeks after he entered the world. His adoptive parents
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  Speaker 1: raised him in Pequa, Ohio, alongside their dog Toy, where
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  Speaker 1: he grew up to love math and carpentry, but couldn't
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  Speaker 1: spell to save his life. As he got older, he
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  Speaker 1: fell in love with a woman named Inda. The two
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  Speaker 1: married and built a life together, along with their son,
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  Speaker 1: James Allan Springer. But of course people change over time,
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  Speaker 1: and for Jim and Linda those changes had been too
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  Speaker 1: great to reconcile. They divorced, but eventually Jim found love again,
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  Speaker 1: this time with a woman named Betty, who he later married.
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  Speaker 1: And No, there's nothing wrong with your audio. Last Night
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  Speaker 1: Checked podcast can't get stuck in a loop like a
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  Speaker 1: vinyl record. Jim Lewis and Jim Springer didn't know each other,
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  Speaker 1: they didn't grow up together, but they lived incredibly similar lives.
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  Speaker 1: That's why scientists at the University of Minnesota were so
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  Speaker 1: interested in studying them. You see, Jim and Jim, we're
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  Speaker 1: twins who had been separated at birth. They'd never known
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  Speaker 1: their mother, and the adoption agency had told each set
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  Speaker 1: of adoptive parents that their new baby boy had a
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  Speaker 1: twin who had died in childbirth. As far as they
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  Speaker 1: knew there, Jim was the only Jim. It was during
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  Speaker 1: a trip to complete the adoption paperwork when Jim Lewis's
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  Speaker 1: mother overheard the clerk mentioned how the other child had
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  Speaker 1: also been named Jim. She encouraged her son to seek
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  Speaker 1: out the truth as he got older, and one day,
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  Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy nine, he did just that. He contacted
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  Speaker 1: the court for his adoption records, and once he had them,
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  Speaker 1: he was able to track down the other Jim. After
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  Speaker 1: a short game of phone tag, Jim Lewis got a
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  Speaker 1: call and he knew right away who it was. As
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  Speaker 1: it turned out, the two men had grown up fewer
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  Speaker 1: than fifty miles from one another. They were both chained,
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  Speaker 1: smoking Chevy drivers who vacationed at the same spot in
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  Speaker 1: Florida every year. The similarities were astounding for two men
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  Speaker 1: who shared DNA but nothing else. What's even more shocking
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  Speaker 1: is how many times this phenomenon has occurred over the years.
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  Speaker 1: Jack Youth and Oscar Store grew up in two very
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  Speaker 1: different households, Jack being raised Jewish and Oscar as part
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  Speaker 1: of the Nazi uprising in Germany. When they met, they
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  Speaker 1: were wearing I Dentical sweaters and found out they shared
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  Speaker 1: receding hairlines, the same boisterous sneeze, and they always flushed
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  Speaker 1: the toilet before using it. Daphne Goodship and Barbara Herbert
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  Speaker 1: were also separated at birth and met each other later
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  Speaker 1: in life. Both worked in government like their coffee cold,
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  Speaker 1: got married at the same time, and gave birth to
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  Speaker 1: two boys and one girl. We might never have an
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  Speaker 1: answer to the nature versus nurtured debate, as both are
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  Speaker 1: extremely important to how a person becomes who they are. However,
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  Speaker 1: what we do know is the bond between family members,
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  Speaker 1: especially siblings, is something too strong to ignore. I hope
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  Speaker 1: you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities.
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  Speaker 1: Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about
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  Speaker 1: the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show
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  Speaker 1: was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how
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  Speaker 1: Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore,
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  Speaker 1: which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and
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  Speaker 1: you can learn all about it over at the World
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  Speaker 1: of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.