Chang and Eng Bunker
The original Siamese twins. Born joined at the chest in Siam in 1811, Chang and Eng Bunker toured the world, became farmers in North Carolina and gave us the phrase Siamese twins.
Chang and Eng Bunker: see file page, Public domain
Born in Siam
Chang and Eng were born in 1811 in a fishing village near Bangkok, in the kingdom then known as Siam, now Thailand. They were joined at the chest by a band of flesh and cartilage, a few inches long, and they shared part of their liver. Doctors at the time did not believe they could be safely separated, and with the medicine of the day they were probably right.
As boys they learned to move, swim and work together with remarkable coordination, and they helped their family by selling duck eggs.
Touring the world
In 1829 a British merchant saw them swimming and arranged for them to travel to the West. They toured the United States and Europe for years, demonstrating their strength and agility and answering questions from crowds and doctors. Posters advertised them as the Siamese twins, and the phrase became the common name for conjoined twins.
Over time the brothers took control of their own business, earning enough money to settle down.
Doctors in Europe and the United States examined them, and they answered every kind of question, often with good humour, in English learned on their travels.
Life in North Carolina
In 1839 Chang and Eng bought land near Mount Airy, North Carolina, and took the surname Bunker. They became farmers, and in 1843 they married two sisters, Adelaide and Sarah Yates. The two families lived in separate houses about a mile apart, and the brothers took turns, spending three days at one home and then three at the other.
Between them they had 21 children. Many of their descendants still live in North Carolina and hold family reunions.
They became United States citizens in 1839 and were known locally as hard-working, prosperous farmers.
Their legacy
In January 1874 Chang became ill and died in the night. Eng died about three hours later. An examination afterwards confirmed that the band joining them contained shared liver tissue, which helped doctors understand conjoined twins.
Today the term conjoined twins is preferred, and modern surgeons can separate many pairs safely. Chang and Eng's story, though, remains one of the most remarkable twin lives ever lived: two people who shared everything, built a business, raised two big families and made a home far from where they were born.
Their autopsy was carried out by doctors in Philadelphia, and a cast of their bodies and their joined liver are still displayed at the Mutter Museum there.
- Chang and Eng Bunker: see file page, Public domain
Text written by Actual Twin.
