Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History
Benson Lossing, Ed.

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Siamese twins, the

Chang and Eng: born in a small village on the coast of Siam in 1811. Their mother bore seventeen children; once she had three at a birth, and never less than two. These two children were the only deformed ones among them. They were united by a strong band of flesh, three or four inches in diameter, at the anterior part of the chest. Their parents lived by fishing, and the boys sold shell-fish until they were eighteen years of age, when they were brought to the United States and exhibited as curiosities. They were shown in different cities of the Union, and also went to England and France, where they attracted the attention of scientific men. They were very agile, and so accommodated themselves to their situation that they could run, leap, and, when crossing the ocean, climb to the masthead as quickly as any sailor. The twins finally settled in North Carolina, where they purchased an estate. Each was married (their wives were sisters) and had several children, none of whom were deformed. They died within a few hours of each other, Jan. 17, 1874, at the age of sixty-three years.