Jim Thorpe was born on May 28, 1887, in Oklahoma, United States into a very large family. He is a twin and his brother is called Charlie Thorpe.
Thorpe started his athletic career at Carlisle in 1907 when he walked past the track and, still in street clothes, beat all the school’s high jumpers with an impromptu 5 feet 9 inches jump. His earliest recorded track and field results come from 1907.
He also competed in football, baseball, lacrosse, and ballroom dancing, winning the 1912 intercollegiate ballroom dancing championship.
Jim Thorpe siblings: Meet twin brother Charlie Thorpe, and six others
Jim Thorpe is known to have seven siblings, including his twin brother Charlie, who died at the age of nine from pneumonia. But we discovered that before his father Hiram and his mother Charlotte got married, his father Hiram already had at least three children from two earlier wives, and Charlotte gave him eleven more children.
In the late nineteenth century, for white and Indian men to marry more than once was common, especially since women frequently died in childbirth (as did Charlotte with their last child).
Polygamy was a common practice among many American Indian nations. Hiram married more than most. After Charlotte’s passing, he fathered two more sons by one further wife. Of Hiram’s 15 or more children, less than half survived to adulthood.
Our search revealed that 6 of the 11 children born to Charlotte and Hiram died before the age of 12, most of them even younger.
Jim Thorpe’s brothers and sisters, in order of their birth, were George, born in 1882, Rosetta born in 1882 and passed away in 1889; the twins, Mary born in 1883 and passed away in 1884) and Margaret born in 1883 and passed away in 1887, Jim’s twin brother, Charlie born in 1887 and passed away in 1897, Mary #2 born in 1891, Jesse born in 1891 and passed away in 1892, Adeline born in 1895, Edward born in 1898, and Henry born in 1898, died at birth.
Source: nflfaqs.com
