Features
Family proves it has global reach
By Michael Brooke

Volume 50, No.5, April 05, 2007
 
CONNECTED: LEUT Daryl Peebles welcomes Seaman Sarah Ray of the US ship Polar Sea to his home port of Hobart. LEUT Peebles has received a lot of media attention in the US for tracking down some of his long lost relatives in the town of Graham in the US. SMN Ray is a former Graham resident.
 
Have you ever come across someone with the same name as you and wondered how much more you have in common?

Well, LEUT Daryl Peebles of Navy PR in Tasmania has a fascinating story to tell about meeting his American namesake, Rev Darryl Peebles, of the Historic Providence Christian Church in the town of Graham in the US.

This fascinating story began in 2006 with a Google search of “Daryl Peebles”, and quickly spawned worldwide interest, as they discovered some 40 personal and family similarities.

This story has been broadcast worldwide by some 28 media outlets including on The Jay Leno Show.

The incredible story began in early 2006 when Rev Peebles Googled his name while looking for an article on the internet, only to discover a “lost twin” in LEUT Peebles.

“When he first contacted me I was worried about identity theft – but the similarities we have discovered are simply amazing,” LEUT Peebles said.

“We have more than 40 similarities, beginning with names and being born in the same year (1949).”

Other similarities include similar media careers, family and personal characteristics, and other uncanny things which suggests more than just coincidence.

In fact, they may be distant relatives, with both Peebles having traced their ancestors back to two villages only 7km apart in Scotland. They are still trying to identify the “missing link”.

Their ancestors left Scotland in the 1640s and 1840s respectively and headed in totally different directions, the first to America and, two centuries later, the second to Tasmania.

LEUT Peebles said he went to the US to meet his US namesake and was quickly thrust into the media spotlight as The Jay Leno Show and 28 international news shows picked up the story.

“We even appeared on Seven’s Sunrise program which was a real novelty,” he said.

LEUT Peebles continued his US connections when the US ship Polar Star recently visited Tasmania.

LEUT Peebles, who is the local Public Affairs Officer in Tasmania, went onboard to greet the crew and met a former Graham resident in Seaman Sarah Ray.

SMN Ray’s mother, Lisa, had relayed stories to her daughter about LEUT Peebles and his unusual meeting with Rev Peebles.