Despite most of the same characters living different lives (because of that making-different-choices thing), it appears that over-all, it's not really that different in that particular band of Parallel Time from Normal Time. Geographical locations are the same. And even though no mention is made, it seems that history and even current events are pretty much identical. I mean, no one said anything about America being a British dominion, so I take it that George Washington was the first president of the USA in that time. And he was probably married to Martha and spent his days in Mount Vernon.
To that end, I think it woulda been kinda interesting to have some of the characters being virtually identical, almost indistinguishable in personality, attitude, lifestyle, etc. It seems that the one who comes closest to that is, despite a different last name, Amy. She is similar to the NT Amy in almost every way. If the two switched places, they could've most likely pulled off a Hailey Mills Marriage Trap thing and had a ball. Just one or two more characters being the same would've been fun, like Roger or even Mrs. Johnson. With everyone so different from their NT counterpart, having just a few being identical would've flavored the salad a bit more.
Gerard