The Bunker Brothers of Surry County

On April 13, 1843, the Bunker brothers each married a Yates sister—daughters of a tavernkeeper in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. That may not have been so unusual an event for the sparsely populated, agriculture oriented state of North Carolina, in the years before the Civil War. But the Bunkers were not your usual Wilkes County bachelors come a-courtin’. To begin with, the Bunkers were not originally from North Carolina and in fact had not spent much time in the state.

The Bunkers were well educated and worldly. They spoke several languages. They had traveled extensively in America, Europe and Asia. They had met the Russian czar, the king of Siam and P.T.

Barnum. And one other thing—the Bunker brothers were connected to each other by a thick fleshy ligament that joined them to each other at about their sternum. They were born that way and remained so connected for their entire lives. Chang and Eng Bunker were Siamese Twins—in fact, they were the original Siamese Twins.

Chang and Eng’s path to North Carolina was a complicated one. The twins were born to a fisherman’s family in 1811, on the Mekong River in present day Thailand. At an early age they were taken to the court of King Rama, the king of Siam, where they were ogled and examined. It is rumored that the king considered executing the children on the advice of some that associated their condition with bad omens for the kingdom.

But in the mid-1820s, Chang and Eng, with their mother’s permission, were taken aboard a ship that was sailing for America. They arrived in New York and were soon being exhibited to amazed throngs of paying customers. They proved to be a popular draw. As the shows and exhibitions—and their fame— increased, the twins added amazing synchronized acrobatic routines— somersaults and back flips—and shows of strength to their usual performance of simply being observed, and answering questions from the audience.

Physically and mentally, Chang and Eng appeared to function in complete harmony—so much so that they were sometimes referred to as one person, i.e., Chang-Eng. They participated in grueling travels and countless performances in the United States and Europe, ultimately touring with P.T. Barnum. By the early 1840s Chang and Eng were world famous as the Siamese Twins.

So why Wilkesboro? Well, it does seem plausible that by 1843 the fisherman’s sons from the Mekong tired of the cities, the travel, the crowds and the endless performances of their tours. By this time they had also attained some financial savvy and security. Something about the backwater of Wilkesboro in the 1840s must have appealed to Chang and Eng.

Maybe they saw a chance for a more normal life—although if so, they must have been true visionaries. And then there were the Yates daughters, Adelaide and Sarah. It is known that romance first bloomed between Chang and Adelaide, and that only later did Eng and Sarah become interested in each other— either because of extreme good luck or maybe a clear sense of the inevitability of such a union given Chang and Adelaide’s intentions. It is also said that there was initially substantial opposition to these unions from both the Yates parents and the community.

But the double wedding took place in 1843, and the two couples moved into a farmhouse twelve miles northeast of Wilkesboro, in the Traphill Community. Although they continued touring from time to time to supplement their incomes as farmers, Chang and Eng established themselves as solid members of the community. In the late 1840s and early 1850s they accumulated 1,000 acres of farmland on both sides of Stewarts Creek near White Plains in Surry County. They were slaveowners and they were active in the local Baptist church.

They built separate houses on either side of Stewarts Creek, one house for Chang and Adelaide and the other for Eng and Sarah. By agreement, the twins would stay three days at one house and the next three days at the other house. And children began to accumulate. Chang and Adelaide had 10 kids, and Eng and Sarah had 11—21 kids between them.

The twin’s famous harmony was apparently tested during their married life. Their wives would quarrel, the economy was unstable and the Civil War disrupted the region for many years. Union General George Stoneman’s raiders invaded the area in 1865 and destroyed part of the Bunkers’ homesteads. Chang also became more prone to abuse of alcohol while Eng remained more reserved and intellectual.

Economic problems forced the twins to go on tour to Europe one last time in the late 1860s. Some speculate that the twins also went to

Europe to investigate the possibility of a surgery to separate them. Over the years many physicians had examined Chang and Eng with such an operation in mind but the decision to operate had never been made. Apparently this last investigation was also inconclusive. In 1870, on the ship returning the twins to the United States from Europe, Chang suffered a stroke, leaving him partially paralyzed on his right side.

The twins’ understanding with the local Surry County doctor was that if either twin died the doctor would immediately sever the band that connected the two. But it was not to be. On the morning of 17 January 1874, Eng woke to find Chang cold beside him. Within hours, Eng too had died, the doctor not having been located in time.

Later autopsies indicated that the band of flesh connecting Chang and Eng could have been severed without endangering either of their lives. Chang and Eng Bunker donated land and helped build the White Plains Baptist Church, which is located south of Mt. Airy on old U.S. 601. Near the new brick church stands the old white clapboard church built in 1858 which the Bunkers attended.

The twins are buried in the White Plains Baptist Church cemetery on the north side of old U.S. 601. Eng and Sarah’s house burned in 1956 and a new house was built on the site. This house site is at the northeast corner of Highway 601 and the interstate connector interchange—all just south of Mt. Airy.

Stewarts Creek is nearby. For more details about Chang and Eng Bunker see: • The “Official Page Of Eng and Chang Bunker, The Original Siamese Twins,” on the internet at http://engandchang.twinstuff.com/ • Judge Jesse Franklin Graves’ Life of Eng and Chang Bunker, The Original Siamese Twins, (explaining that Chang and Eng assumed the name Bunker in honor of a New York family named Bunker with whom they had become close) at http://engandchang.twinstuff.com/graves_manuscript.htm • Darin Strauss, Chang and Eng, A Novel (Plume Books, 2001)