Thailand / USA: Chang and Eng, the conjoined twins whose condition and subsequent fame led...

Chang and Eng Bunker (May 11, 1811 – January 17, 1874) were Thai-American conjoined twin brothers whose condition and birthplace became the basis for the term 'Siamese twins'. The Bunker brothers were born on May 11, 1811, in the province of Samut Songkram, near Bangkok, in the Kingdom of Siam (today's Thailand). Their fisherman father was a Chinese Thai, while their mother was a Chinese Malaysian. Because of their Chinese heritage, they were known locally as the 'Chinese Twins'. The brothers were joined at the sternum by a small piece of cartilage, and though their livers were fused, they were independently complete. In 1829, Robert Hunter, a Scottish merchant who lived in Bangkok, saw the twins swimming and realized their potential. He paid their parents to permit him to exhibit their sons as a curiosity on a world tour. When their contract with Hunter was over, Chang and Eng went into business for themselves. In 1839, while visiting Wilkesboro, North Carolina, the brothers were attracted to the area and purchased a 110-acre (0.45 km2) farm in nearby Traphill. Determined to live as normal a life they could, Chang and Eng settled on their small plantation and bought slaves to do the work they could not do themselves. Using their adopted name 'Bunker', they married local women on April 13, 1843. Chang wed Adelaide Yates, while Eng married her sister, Sarah Anne. Chang and Adelaide would become the parents of eleven children. Eng and Sarah had ten. The twins also became naturalized American citizens. On January 17, 1874, Chang died while the brothers were asleep. Eng awoke to find his brother dead and cried, 'Then I am going'. A doctor was summoned to perform an emergency separation, but he was too late. Eng died approximately three hours later.