Dear Abby Writer had a Twin

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Remember Dear Abby? The advice column founded in 1956 ran in the paper. It was actually written by Pauline Phillips under the pen name of Abigail Van Buren. It is carried on today by her daughter Jeanne Phillips who owns the legal rights to the pen name. Pauline came up with the name Abigail Van Buren by combining both the Biblical character Abigail in the I Samuel with the last name of President Martin Van Buren. Ask Ann Landers which is a similar column written from 1955 until 2002 was written by Pauline's twin sister, Ruth Crowley. She is a nurse and also writes a child-care column in the Chicago Sun newspaper since 1941.