After the custody battle, Jacob McCoy purchased the farm owned by McKay, his former enslaver. This allowed him to provide for his family and leave a sizeable estate to his wife and children upon his death.   

In the mid-1880s, Millie and Christine returned to Whiteville, North Carolina, where they penned an autobiography detailing their career singing and dancing at venues around the world, including a performance for Queen Victoria in 1871.  

In their retirement, Millie Christine were generous donors in their local community. According to the family's oral history the twins helped establish a school for the African American children of Welches Creek and donated money to Palmer Institute and other state educational institutions for African Americans.  

Millie died of tuberculosis on October 8, 1912. Christine died 12 hours later. The twins willed their land and home to their remaining siblings, nieces and nephews. 

Today, Millie and Christine’s story is preserved through their family’s oral history and has reemerged as an important part of North Carolina history. Their parent's custody battle is one of many legal stories detailed in the Freedmen's Bureau. 

The National Museum of African American History and Culture is leading a volunteer effort to transcribe the digitized records of the Freedmen’s Bureau so they can be more useful for scholars and genealogists researching the Reconstruction era. To get involved, visit the Smithsonian Transcription Center at transcription.si.edu.