CHANG & ENG BUNKER
Alex's maternal great-grandfather was Chang Bunker, one of the famous conjoined "Siamese Twins" Chang and Eng Bunker (May 11, 1811 – January 17, 1874). The Siamese-American conjoined twin brothers fame propelled the expression "Siamese twins" to become synonymous for conjoined twins. They were widely exhibited as curiosities and were "two of the nineteenth century's most studied human beings".
The brothers were born with Chinese ancestry in today's Thailand and were brought to the United States in 1829. Physicians inspected them as they became known to American and European audiences in "freak shows". Newspapers and the public were initially sympathetic to them, and within three years they left the control of their managers, who they thought were cheating them, and toured on their own. In early exhibitions, they appeared exotic and displayed their athleticism; they later held conversations in English in a more dignified parlor setting.
In 1839, after a decade of financial success, the twins quit touring and settled near Mount Airy, North Carolina. They became American citizens, married local sisters Adelaide & Sarah Yates, and fathered 21 children, several of whom accompanied them when they resumed touring. Chang's and Eng's respective families lived in separate houses, where the twins took alternating three-day stays. Eng died hours after Chang at the age of 62. An autopsy revealed that their livers were fused in the ligament connecting their sternums.
The brothers were born with Chinese ancestry in today's Thailand and were brought to the United States in 1829. Physicians inspected them as they became known to American and European audiences in "freak shows". Newspapers and the public were initially sympathetic to them, and within three years they left the control of their managers, who they thought were cheating them, and toured on their own. In early exhibitions, they appeared exotic and displayed their athleticism; they later held conversations in English in a more dignified parlor setting.
In 1839, after a decade of financial success, the twins quit touring and settled near Mount Airy, North Carolina. They became American citizens, married local sisters Adelaide & Sarah Yates, and fathered 21 children, several of whom accompanied them when they resumed touring. Chang's and Eng's respective families lived in separate houses, where the twins took alternating three-day stays. Eng died hours after Chang at the age of 62. An autopsy revealed that their livers were fused in the ligament connecting their sternums.
LEARN MORE ABOUT CHANG & ENG
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For this February 2019 episode of the CBS News podcast Mobituaries, Mo Rocca traveled to Mt. Airy North Carolina at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains to attend the Bunker family reunion.
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March 2019 CBS Sunday Morning report on the Mobituaries podcast on Chang & Eng featuring additional film footage from the Bunker family reunion.
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April 2018 NPR interview with Yunte Huang, author of Inseparable: The Original Siamese Twins and Their Rendezvous With American History
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The Lives of Chang and Eng: Siam's Twins in Nineteenth-Century America
by Joseph Andrew Orser |
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A Tale of Two Men
by Joan Vannorsdall Schroeder |