Chang and Eng

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“The Siamese Twins” Chang and Eng Bunker Without a doubt, Chang and Eng Bunker are by far the most famous of all conjoined twins. Also called “The Siamese Twins”. They were born on May 11th, 1811 in Siam now modern Thailand. They were two, among their siblings; three sets of twins and one set of triplets. The pair was only joined together by a small band of cartilage which was three inches of ligaments at the sternum. There livers were fused together by a small amount of liver tissue. Even though they were attached their livers were independently complete. They were positioned nearly facing each other with Chang on the left and Eng on the right, which is actually Thai for left and right. Although they were conjoined they had two different personalities and stories say Chang had the dominate personality. They were discovered in 1829, while swimming by a American explorer name Captain Able Coffin. He put them under contract and began to exhibit them in England and than America. After 3 short years Chang and Eng left the guidance of the captain. By 1838 the pair retired to Wilkes County, North Carolina with sixty thousand dollars. During retirement they explored the idea of being separated, however no physicians were up to the task. Chang and Eng became American citizens and adopted the last name of their banker- Bunker. Around that time they met a pair of sisters and fought over who got who. Both wanted Sarah Yates but Eng won her over and Chang had become content with Adelaide. They had a double wedding and quickly because people threatened them and disapproved of them. They went on to have twenty one children in thirty one years. The Bunker family had unconventional living arrangements. The two purchased a large plantation and owned slaves to work on it and raised tobacco. Each brother resided in a home on opposite ends of the land about

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