( CNN ) -- In 1936 , a pregnant single woman in England made the difficult decision to give up one of her newborns , separating fraternal twins . It would be 78 years before the girls were reunited . The two women , now living on different continents , found each other when the daughter of one made a surprising discovery during some genealogical research . Her mother , Ann Hunt , had a twin sister she never knew about . The daughter , Samantha Stacey , wrote a letter to a woman in Oregon , asking if she was born in Aldershot , England . Elizabeth Hamel called England and said she was . In moments , she was speaking to her very long-lost sister . After a year of calling on Skype and getting to know each other , the two finally met on May 1 in California , a long way from Aldershot , where they were born to a mother who worked as a live-in servant . Alice Lamb was a cook and the girls ' father -- a man named Peters who never met the twins -- was in the British Army , the BBC reported . Hamel said she was born with a curvature of the spine , the reason Lamb kept that daughter . She could n't afford to keep both of them . Hamel , who lived with an aunt for the first years of her life , said she had been told as a child that she had a sister . But she knew it would be difficult to find her , especially since her twin likely changed her name when she got married . And she had no idea if her sister had moved from Aldershot , as she had done . When they saw each other for the first time , Hunt was overwhelmed . `` I could n't speak . I was so happy , '' she said Monday . `` It 's like you 're dreaming . Even now I have to pinch myself . '' The twins do n't look much alike and say they have different personalities . But during an interview with CNN , they did act like sisters , sometimes bickering lovingly and sometimes finishing the sentence for the other . Hunt said she is normally more talkative , and Hamel is the more sensible one . They both said they lead very busy lives , which will make staying in touch , already complicated because of the eight-hour time difference , a bit difficult . They share at least one trait , though , Hunt insisted . `` We use our hands in a similar manner , '' she said . Hamel said that while they may not look the same in the face , they have the same feet . They also discovered they married men with the same first name ( and same last initial ) . When they reunited Hamel looked for similarities . `` You think , this is someone like me , '' said Hamel , who is 20 minutes older . Both were raised as the only child in the family , though Hunt had no idea she had a twin until her daughter told her last year . The two have exchanged gifts , something common among reunited twins , said Nancy Segal , a psychology professor at Cal State Fullerton and author of four books about twins . `` These are the kinds of things that twins do for each other but here they have do those gifts a little bit more because they have to make up for all those years that they did n't share one another 's lives , '' she said . Segal became involved with these twins when Hamel 's son wrote her an email about the unique case . She interviewed Hamel and Hunt to see how environment affects twins who are raised apart . She said fraternal twins are less likely to be close friends and do n't stay in contact as closely as identical twins . After spending a few days in the Los Angeles area , the twins are heading to Oregon to catch up some more , Segal said . On 78 years .
Ann Hunt was adopted as a child and never knew she had a twin . Her sister Elizabeth Hamel knew she had a sister , thought it would be hard to find her . Hunt 's mother discovered the connection while doing research into her family history . The two were interviewed in 2007 by a professor who discovered twins .