Writing this post reminded me of how wild history can really be - many times I thought that these situations sound like a movie script. Millie and Christine McKoy, conjoined twins from the same state in which Chang and Eng Bunker lived most of their lives, are not as well-known as they should be. (A chronic theme in these posts, huh?) Their early years were filled with danger: enslavement, multiple kidnappings, custody suits, and international travel to entertain royalty. Through it all, these women obtained an education and became talented performers. They eventually bought the very plantation on which they were born and provided a large home for their relatives. They were able to obtain a measure of independence and autonomy that most women, especially Black women with disabilities, did not have in the Victorian era.
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| Millie & Christine, 1870 |
A note on names and plural vs. singular pronouns: the 1889 narrative is written in the first person plural and the title used the plural "twins." By contrast, the later pamphlet used the name "Millie Christine" and the singular "twin" in its title. Sometimes plural pronouns are used, but more often singular. Though they were technically two individuals, their mother considered
them one child and the family called them "Millie-Christine." Census records sometimes listed them as two people, sometimes as one. They were only ever issued one train ticket when traveling. Millie and Christine knew they were two separate personalities,
but they appear to have considered themselves to be one person. Their gravestones were inscribed "Millie-Christine" and "Christine-Millie." When asked if they were one person or two, they
answered, "Although we speak of ourselves in the plural we feel as but
one person; in fact as such we have ever been regarded, although we bear
the names Millie and Christina. One thing is certain, we would not wish
to be severed, even if science could effect a separation. We are
contented with our lot, and are happy as the day is long. We have but
one heart, one feeling in common, one desire, one purpose." Given all of this information, I have decided, for the rest of this post, to use plurals in reference to them but also the name "Millie-Christine," as they were called by their family and what they performed under as teenagers and onwards.
Millie-Christine (sometimes "Christina") McKoy (sometimes "McCoy") were born in Whiteville, North Carolina on July 11, 1851. Occasionally their birth year is listed as 1852. Their parents, Jacob and Monemia (sometimes spelled "Menemia"), were enslaved by a blacksmith named Jabez McKay (the twins later adopted and modified his last name for their own). The twins were born into a large family: at the time of their birth, their parents already had five sons and two daughters. All were ordinary, which changed with these new babies. Reportedly the nurse,"Old Aunt Hannah," was unsure if they were babies or "something else" at birth.
These two, who combined weighed seventeen pounds (Christine at twelve pounds and Millie at five), were conjoined at the lower spine. This is referred to as being pygopagus conjoined twins, which occurs in approximately 18% of conjoined twins. They shared one pelvis and were positioned at about a 90-degree angle to each other. Though their spines were slightly curved, their bodies were very much intact otherwise. Monemia reported that, because Millie was so small, it almost looked as though there was one typical baby with a growth on her back. The only way to tell that Millie was a second baby were her tiny hands and feet sticking out. Millie would remain the smaller and weaker twin throughout their lives, though a doctor theorized that Millie was able to grow “strong and hearty, owing to the support she has received from her connection with her more robust sister.”
The twins were taken from their parents' cabin to the plantation mansion to receive special care. Though Millie-Christine had unique bodies, their development seemed approximately on pace. They learned to walk at twelve months, though it was a clumsier task initially than for their peers, and learned to speak at fifteen months. The Sketch reported that "she was cheerful and active as any girl of her age, with every appearance of robust health. Her vivacity and goodness, together, no doubt, with her peculiar formation, rendered her the almost idolized child of the mother and a general favorite of both old and young, and every attention and kindess was bestowed upon her." It also described how popular the girls were: “rumor flew about the township of Whiteville, and spread from thence over the whole country,” as “pilgrimages to visit her became all the rage in the country side.”
As with Thomas Wiggins, Millie-Christine's owner knew they could be exhibited for profit. He was also allegedly tired of the "burden" of the "frequent visits of strangers" and decided to "dispose" of the girls. McKay sold the two of them, at just ten months old, in May 1852 for $1000 (almost $39,000 in 2022) to John C. Pervis of South Carolina. Pervis would exhibit the girls and pay 25% of the proceeds to McKay, along with 25% of the profit if he ever sold the twins. Their mother Monemia would be allowed to accompany them for free but would be returned to McKay if the girls were sold.
Just fourteen months later, the two-year-old twins were sold again to a showman named Brower. He was funded by Joseph Pearson Smith, a merchant, who provided a promissory note. Records indicate Smith, described as their "last manager and legal owner, " paid anywhere from $6,000 to $30,000 ($348,000-$1.1 million in 2022). The girls, Brower, Smith, and the rest of their group traveled to New Orleans. There, Millie-Christina underwent medical examinations, specifically of their shared pelvis and genitalia. Once examined and endorsed as legitimate, the men were allowed to exhibit the toddlers, billed as "The Carolina Twins" or "The Double-Headed Girl." They were even shown at the first official North Carolina State Fair. Even so, the first few shows were lackluster, reportedly due to lack of "proper management."
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| 1855 poster |
Shortly after, however, their lives changed dramatically again. Brower was conned by a "Texas adventurer" who offered to purchase the twins for $45,000 ($1.7 million in 2022) worth of land. Brower eagerly handed over the toddlers before even receiving the land deeds. Several days after sending the girls away, Brower realized he'd been cheated. The Texan and the girls had disappeared without a trace. He searched for weeks on his own, then returned to North Carolina to inform McKay and Monemia of the kidnapping. Monemia was "perfectly frantic, during six days refusing food and for the same number of nights her eyes did not close in sleep." Smith was given the promissory note, paying McKay $10,000 ($387,000 in 2022), and became the new legal owner of the toddlers. He also purchased Jacob, Monemia, and their seven other children so as to reunite the entire family once the girls were found.
Smith was determined to return Monemia's "much-cherised child." He hired Detective T.A. Vestal, who scoured the country and its newspapers for over two years. During this time Millie-Christine were passed around to a few different owners, eventually ending up with showmen named W.J.L. Millar (or "Miller") and William Thompson. According to their own words, the girls were being shown at a Philadelphia museum, still enslaved even though residing in a free state. A "concerned citizen" reported this to authorities, who appointed them a legal guardian. Millar, in American and European shows in the 1850s, reported that he and Thompson were those very guardians, appointed after their previous owner had died. He played this up for British audiences, claiming the girls were on display to raise money to free their enslaved parents. Later, in an 1860s article, he said he had purchased Millie-Christine from "a spotted woman" in Boston who claimed to be their mother. None of these stories were true.
The Sketch describes their harrowing experiences as
follows: "Taking advantage of the absence of our kind master and
guardian, [the Texan] absolutely kidnapped us, stole us from our
mother, and bore us far away from friends, kindred, or any one who had a
right to feel an interest in us." According to this version, they were
hidden from the public for two years and loaned to "scientific bodies"
before being sold to Millar and Thompson, who took them to England. Allegedly Smith and Vestal arrived in New York the day after the girls were put on the boat overseas.
The men got the girls certified by top British physicians before going on tour. They were shown to delighted crowds around the country. In August 1855, when the two were four years old, the men split up and Millar took the girls to Scotland. An outraged Thompson hired four "prizefighters" to snatch the girls back. Millar later reported a violent encounter: a man grabbed the girls, was knocked away by Millar, then three men piled on top of him and dragged the girls away. Thompson declared that a London judge had made him their legal guardian, so he was justified in using "forcible possession" to get them back. Millar decided to hunt for their mother and/or true guardians and eventually began correspondence with Smith back in North Carolina. That September, Smith declined to sell Millie-Christine to Millar and requested to travel to Britain to reunite the family. Smith and Millar negotiated for over a year. Finally, Smith, Monemia, and Millar's brother (his American agent), sailed for Britain in 1857 to reclaim the twins.
The three secretly attended the next exhibition, thinking that, if Millie-Christine recognized their mother, this would provide strong evidence toward their true guardianship. Monemia could not contain herself and "uttered a scream of such heart-rending pathos that the audience simultaneously rose to their feet, wondering and astonished" when she saw her daughters. She had not seen them for almost four years. The local Chief of Police helped protect the girls in a hotel room after Thompson tried to sneak them out of the circus during the chaos.
Thompson called Smith and Monemia the next day to prove their custody to the Court of Admiralty. He also paid a Black woman to lie and say that she was the girls' mother, not Monemia. The American consul, who had been advising Smith, declared Millie and Christine to be "an American citizen, and requiring it, as a minor, to be placed in charge of the mother." The judge allegedly did not require much evidence of their parentage, stating that the resemblance to Monemia was proof enough. A man on the bench said he was "sure Mrs M'Cay [sic] was the mother of at least one of the children, which remark caused considerable amusement in the Court."
After the court's decision to place the girls back with their mother, Millar offered Monemia $10,000 and an "elegant house" if she agreed to stay in England and allow him to show the girls until they were eighteen. Monemia declined, preferring to finally take her girls back to their family and friends in America. There appears to have been a three-year contract signed between Monemia and Millar initially, but he was so insulting and abusive (even threatening Smith's life) that Smith quickly broke the contract and returned the family to the Wadesboro, North Carolina.
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| Millie-Christine, 1860 |
There were still more troubles to be had: Thompson and Millar were furious at losing their "rich prize" and were determined to get Millie-Christine back. They appeared in Charlotte, North Carolina, not 55 miles from the girls' home. Luckily, the residents of Charlotte learned of this and decided to tar and feather the men. Millar and Thompson heard of this plan and sneaked out into the night, never to be heard from again.
From Millie-Christine's own writings, it appears that they viewed Smith as a humble, kind man, in contrast with the greedy Millar and Thompson. They called him "urbane, generous, kind, patient-bearing, and beloved by all." Smith and his wife, along with Detective Vestal just in case of trouble, took the girls on exhibit and steamboat shows around the southern United States. Unbelievably, the girls were kidnapped again in New Orleans. All that is written about this experience is the following from Sketch: "She was again kidnapped and for months was hurried over the country, from place to place, and deprived of the fostering care of her natural guardians. Ultimately, however, Mr. Smith's anxiety and determination were rewarded, and the child was restored to the arms and heart of Mrs. Smith, whom it soon came to regard and denominate its 'white mamma.'" Mrs. Mary Smith taught them religion and to read, write, sing (one singing soprano and the other contralto, all in harmony), dance (shaped from their sideways walk), and play piano duets.
Their travels ended when the American Civil War, which the twins called "the domestic political troubles" in a memoir, began in 1861. The twins, nearly ten years old, were hidden by the Smiths in Spartanburg, South Carolina, their new hometown. A descendant claimed this was because "it was rumored that Sherman's army was going to try to find and free the Carolina Twins." Smith died of an illness on November 5, 1862 (though one source claimed this occurred in 1860). His estate included over thirty enslaved people, twelve of whom were sold at auction to pay his debts. The girls mourned "the loss of our good master, who seemed to us as a father." Many records state that the girls chose to remain with Mrs. Smith, even after the war ended and their freedom was granted. One source reported that Mrs. Smith refused to emancipate the twins and planned to smuggle them to Europe; Jacob and Monemia had to appeal to the Freedmen's Bureau to return their daughters to their custody.
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| Millie-Christine, 1867 |
For the first time in their lives, Millie-Christine were able to make more independent decisions. This time, they chose to go on tour, reportedly to help the Smith family in their post-war financial devastation. Smith's son, Joseph Pearson Smith Jr., would serve as their manager. The girls even made demands: they would keep the money they earned, and there would be no more genitalia examinations. The fourteen-year-olds stated, "Surely, there was nothing new to see or feel that countless doctors hadn't already reported in graphic detail." The only doctor they trusted during their lifetime was Dr. William H. Pancoast (famous for the first artificial insemination resulting a live birth in 1884, which was an ethical train wreck). After treating an abcess, he was allowed to publish the only known photograph of them partially unclothed, which was published in his article in the Photographic Review of Medicine and Surgery in 1871 (available to view online). This article also included a graphic woodcutting of their conjoined genitalia. Pancoast noted the twins' mood towards this experience: "the expression of their countenances shows their displeasure, as their features ordinarily express great amiability of character."
They began touring, this time enhanced by the musical skills taught them by Mrs. Smith. They were now known as the "Carolina Nightingale" or the "Two-Headed Nightingale." In many articles and letters by others, they were often referred to as "the dual woman." The shows were so successful that it is estimated Millie-Christine earned up to $6,000 ($348,000 in 2022) per week. In a single day in New York City, 10,000 visitors came to see them. In 1869, a biography entitled History and Medical Description of the Two-Headed Girl was also sold during their appearances.
The skill of song-writing was also added to their repertoire. One such verse goes as follows: "Some persons say I must be two,/ The doctors say this is not true;/ Some cry out humbug til they see,/ When they say—great mystery!/ I’m happy, quite, because content;/ For some wise purpose I was sent;/ My maker knows what he has done,/ Whether I’m created two or one." Newspapers praised their performances, saying they "dance divinely" and "sing well, in fact excellent." They were called "pleasing and gentle in her manner" and noted for their "marvelous intelligence."
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| Millie-Christine, 1871 |
The girls continued their tours of America and Europe. A New York Times reviewer commented, "...she is a perfect little gem or gems, or a gem and a half, we don't know which. Great care and attention must have been bestowed upon her education." Perhaps their greatest honor was performing for Queen Victoria on June 24, 1871. The 52-year-old monarch wrote of them in her journal: "it is one of the most remarkable phenomena possible... They sang duets with clear, fine voices." She reportedly gave the twenty-year-olds a gift of jewelry. In their biographical pamphlet, the visit was described as follows: "We can say that 'Victoria was a woman' for she talked tenderly to us, and to our mother, and when we left we bore away abundant tokens of her good feeling and queenly liberality." They traveled through England, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Hungary, Austria, Holland and Russia (possibly even performing for Tsar Alexander II's family). While touring Europe, Millie-Christine studied with Spanish, French, German, and Italian tutors as well. They added a piece to their act where they carried on two conversations in two different languages at once. Years later, they used their Spanish skills to great success while touring Cuba.
In 1881, when the thirty-year-olds were considering retiring from show business and building their dream home, they were convinced to join John Doris's Great Inter-Ocean Railroad Show (his 1886 route book is available online). This was their first circus experience and they signed on for two 35-week seasons. It was here that a vicious slanderous attack was launched by a rival circus, the Great Forepaugh Show. A broadside cried, "The one great feature [Doris]... extensively advertises is a horribly repulsive Negro monstrosity. No lady would knowingly ever look upon it, little Children cover their faces with their hands when encountering this frightful malformation, and the sooner this hideous human deformity is hid from public view the better it will be for the community." Millie-Christine filed a libel suit against Mr. Forepaugh, which was not settled until 1884.
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| 1882 poster |
The women spent a year in England and then a season with P.T. Barnum's circus before spending a few months on the dime-museum circuit. By this time, they had been in show business for forty years. Their wealth was so great that they were even able to receive some reparation from their beginnings as slaves: they purchased Jabez McKay's plantation on which they and their family had been enslaved. Millie-Christine gave it to their parents, Jacob and Monemia, as a gift. Later, when Jacob died, his will split the plantation between his wife, children, and grandchildren, so that the dozens of family members were able to live comfortably together on the land. Millie-Christine built a large 10-14-bedroom house. The women even founded a school for black children and anonymously donated to several colleges.
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| Millie-Christine, 1890s |
It appears that the two got along well throughout their lives. The Sketch states that they were "never at a loss for society or for company, for each has, attached to itself, another existed." A 1925 article wrote that "so closely allied was their mentality that their thoughts would often blend, and they would drift into the same topic." A descendant said that his aunts "sensed each other's moods and feelings perfectly and were devoted to each other... nowhere have I ever found that they argued."
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| Millie-Christine, 1890s |
The end of their lives was not without sorrow: their beloved home and most of their possessions were burned in a 1909 fire. Millie-Christine sat outside in the cold, watching their home burn to the ground. It is theorized by family members that Millie caught tuberculosis on this terrible night. Her condition worsened over the next few years, finally dying on October 8, 1912 at the age of sixty-one. Christine said that "[Millie] passed away in a dream, a peaceful dream." Christine, who was given morphine for the pain, died after 8-17 (reports conflict) hours of "singing and praying for release."
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| McKoy property, 1940s |
Millie-Christine, knowing of conjoined twins Chang and Eng Bunker's autopsy, wanted to be cremated and were very afraid of grave-robbers. The McKoys buried them in a double coffin in the family graveyard, with a guard stationed there for several months. There the women stayed until 1969, when the Columbus County Historical Society exhumed the remains from the overgrown plot. They transferred these and a few remaining possessions (dentures, a hairpin, a button, and three rings) to a community cemetery in Welches Creek, North Carolina, their birthplace. One of the gold rings found was inscribed, "As God decreed, We agreed." Millie-Christine's new headstone bears the original 1912 inscription: "A soul with two thoughts, Two hearts that beat as one."
Their story remained relatively unknown following their deaths until a former court reporter discovered a pamphlet about the twins in the Whiteville library. Joanna Fish Martell intensely researched and eventually published a biography in 2000 entitled Millie-Christine: Fearfully and Wonderfully Made. Though there is still not much out there about these women, I did find a lecture entitled The Story of Millie-Christine McKoy: Contemporary Questions about the Historic Circus available on YouTube.
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| Millie-Christine's gravestone |
Through all of the horrors they endured and the riches they earned, family and friends remained the most important to them. Their nieces and nephews fondly remembered "Aunt Millie-Christine," calling her "the best Christian-hearted person I ever saw... I often wish I could live the life she lived." A neighbor boy remembered how "they influenced me to try to get an education, not by telling me but by being so very intelligent themselves." The chorus of a song composed for them by Professor W. Wilson goes as follows:
The dear, dear friends at home,
The dear, dear friends at home,
Kind heaven will surely hear the prayers
Of our dear friends at home.
Our father, with his silvery hair,
Our mother, kind and fond,
Our sisters, and our brothers dear,
The same kind thoughts respond.
The wind blows fair, our vessel sails
Right gaily o'er the foam,
And soon again we hope to greet,
The dear old friends at home.
Most sincerely,
Clem
Further Reading
Millie-Christine: Fearfully And Wonderfully Made by Joanne Martell
Conjoined Twins in Black and White: The Lives of Millie-Christine McKoy and Daisy and Violet Hilton by Linda Frost
The Mark of Slavery: Disability, Race, and Gender in Antebellum America, Volume 1 by Jenifer L. Barclay
Between Fitness and Death: Disability and Slavery in the Caribbean by Stefanie Hunt-Kennedy
African American Slavery and Disability: Bodies, Property and Power in the Antebellum South, 1800-1860 by Dea H. Boster
Works Consulted
Biographical Sketch of Millie Christine, the Carolina Twin, Surnamed the Two-Headed Nightingale and the Eighth Wonder of the World. (2004). Documenting the American South. Retrieved December 14, 2022, from https://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/carolinatwin/carolinatwin.html
Fowler, H. (2021, October 8). Conjoined twins from NC who escaped slavery, performed for royalty died 109 years ago. The Charlotte Observer. Retrieved December 14, 2022, from https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/state/north-carolina/article254867442.html
Gold, S. E. (2010). Millie-Christine McKoy and the American Freak Show: Race, Gender, and Freedom in the Postbellum Era, 1851 - 1912. Berkeley Undergraduate Journal, 23(1). https://doi.org/10.5070/b3231007676
McCormick, G. (2000, May). The Two-Headed Nightingale: From Dixie comes proof: miracles happen. Stanford Magazine. Retrieved December 14, 2022, from https://stanfordmag.org/contents/the-two-headed-nightingale
Millie Christine: The Life and Legal Battles of the Carolina Twins. (n.d.). National Museum of African American History and Culture. Retrieved December 14, 2022, from https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/exhibitions/millie-christine
Millie-Christine, 1851-1912. The History of the Carolina Twins: Told in “Their Own Peculiar Way” By “One of Them.” (2005). Documenting the American South. Retrieved December 14, 2022, from https://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/millie-christine/millie-christine.html
North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. (2016, October 8). Millie McKoy, One of the Conjoined Twins Known as Millie-Christine Died. Retrieved December 14, 2022, from https://www.ncdcr.gov/blog/2016/10/08/millie-mckoy-one-conjoined-twins-known-millie-christine-died
Last Updated: 23 Jan. 2023