History Living Journal: Seventh activity: Analyzing an object from Antique Roadshow (Unique Antiques episode)

What inspires me in this particular episode of Antique Road Show in PBS is the chair of a famous siamese twin Eng and Chang Bunker. The current owner of the chair is Chang Bunker's great grandaughter. It was passed on to her by her grandmother, Chang's daughter. The chair is in very good condition and it was appraised for 10,000-12,000 dollars but the owner said the chair will never be for sale. The chair itself is very interesting: it is one chair but it is built for two people such as for a conjoined twins, but what I found more interesting is the life story of this famous twin. Their story seemed very peculiar: a siamese twin born of poverty who toured the world, became famous, and even married and had a bunch of children! How interesting!! Lessoned learned? Do not let any dissability or being different stop you from living a fruitful life! :-)

Here's what I found about the twins:

Eng and Chang were born in Siam (recently Thailand) in 1811. The term Siamese twins was coined as a reference to Eng and Chang.They were joined at the lower chest by a narrow band of flesh, which connected their livers. Robert Hunter, a Scottish merchant, discovered the boys and became friends with their family. Hunter requested the Siam government to travel the twins abroad but was denied at first. The government finally grandted the twin to travel abroad with Hunter in 1829 at the age of 17. The twins achieved international fame shortly after leaving Siam. They were exhibited in circus shows around the world and toured the United States and Europe where they were examined by doctors and visited by royalties. They also toured with PT Barnum Circus until 1839. The twins decided to stop touring and settled down in Wilkesboro, North Carolina and became a farmer and rancher. They received their citizenship in 1839 but without a last name so they were listed as Eng and Chang, the siamese twins. In 1844 however, they petitioned the government for claiming a surname. They chose the last name Bunker and was granted. They were successful businessmen and ranchers in Wilkes County, North Carolina. They got married to the Yates girls, daughters of a local pastor, in 1843. Eng was said to have fathered six boys and five girls and Chang fathered seven girls and three boys. They lived until 1874. Chang died first of Bronchitis and Eng followed soon after. They were 63 years old when they died.
Below are the pictures of the chair and the owner in the Antique Roadshow and some of pictures of the twins and their family.

This lady is the owner of the chair. She is the great grandaughter of Chang Bunker. She states she acquired the chair through her grandmother, Chang Bunker's daughter. She said there is supposedly another chair just like it in Eng Bunker's household. Chang and Eng Bunker married two sisters Adelaide and Sarah Ann yates, daughter of a local preacher. They had a double wedding on April of 1843 in an attempt to put a stop in a scheduled separation surgery in Philadelphia. According to this lady, the two couple live next door to each other where they spent three days in each house at a time. The two couple had 21 children all together. WOW!!!
Anyway... This chair's estimated value is around $10,000-12,000.00 WOW!!!