When Monemia McCoy gave birth to Millie and Christine their arrival gave quite a stir for Hannah the midwife who safely delivered the conjoined twins weighing in at 17 pounds. (1) Despite Millie weighing less than half than her Christine at birth, the sisters met normal benchmarks for child development and shared good health for the rest of their lives. Being conjoined twins would remain the defining identity for the McCoy sisters.

Today according to medical research, conjoined twin births occur an estimated once for every 50,000 to 60,00 newborns; 75% of conjoined twins are joined at the chest or abdomen, while only 2% are joined at the head. (2) Millie Christine represent “pygopagus” births where 23% of twins are joined at the hips, legs or genitalia. (3)

Medical statistics have long identified women of African descent as having one of the highest rates of twin births. (4) Today we know that Monemia McCoy met at least 3 primary factors that increased her chances of giving birth to twins: having given birth before, being an older birth mother and having African ancestry. Heredity, a fourth primary factor for twin births, may also have played a role. (5)

In West Africa, a variety of cultural groups have historically viewed twins as having a special connection to the spiritual world. Among the Ekiti of Nigeria, twins were historically held in reverence and associated with special objects such as shrines, ritual practices, praise songs and special names including Kehinde and Taiwo. (6) Some scholars believe such practices evolved around the 18th century, when communities who held negative beliefs about twins shifted their attitudes through the influence of Christian missionaries. More recently, the modern Christian church and other sects have encouraged their members to forego these historic practices.

Chang & Eng Bunker: The Other Carolina Twins 

In mid-century America, Millie Christine of Columbus County were not the only conjoined twins in North Carolina. At the opposite end of the state, Chang and Eng Bunker (1811-1874) the original “Siamese twins” and side show performers, operated a farm with enslaved labor. Taken from their native Thailand (then Siam) the twins led a life familiar to Millie Christie replete with the demands of traveling side shows and examinations by medical personnel. Desiring a place to call home, the twins decided on Surry County after visiting a physician and friend who lived there. Chang and Eng married sisters, fathered numerous children and today have a rich legacy kept alive by numerous Bunker descendants.

Footnotes 

(1) Martell, Joanne. Millie-Christine: Fearfully and Wonderfully Made.  Winston-Salem, NC: John F. Blair, Publisher, 2000. 

(2 & 3) Conjoined Twins. Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. https://www.chop.edu/conditions-diseases/conjoined-twins 

(4) Pison, Gilles. “Nearly half of the world’s twins are born in Africa. ”Population & Societies, I.N.E.D., 2000 pp1-4. https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02527479/document 

(5) “Overview of Multiple Pregnancy,” University of Rochester Medical Center Health Encyclopedia (Online). https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?contenttypeid=85&contentid=P08019 

(6) “Twinship in an Ekiti Yoruba Town,” by Elisha P. Renne, Ethnology Vol. 40 No. 1 Winter 2001 pg. 63-78