History with ‘Hud’: Columbus County conjoined twins journey from slavery to world fame
COLUMBUS COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — The life of Mille and Christine McKoy began with a number of challenges. In addition to being born into slavery near Whiteville in 1851, the pair were also conjoined at a nearly 90 degree angle at the spine. Each shared a pelvis but had two arms and two legs, referring to themselves as one person. Despite the difficulties they faced, the pair would go on to achieve world-wide glory.
As many slaves did in the 19th century, the McKoy twins adopted a slightly modified verision of their owners last name, McKay. They lived on the same plantation until they were stripped from their mother and sold at two years old. They would be sold several more times, frequently being put on display at freak shows and fairs, including the first North Carolina State Fair in 1853, attracting thousands of daily visitors.
By the age of three, the twins were appearing in P.T. Barnum’s famed American Museum in New York City. During this period, one of the showmen charged with exhibiting the twins stole them away and took them to England.
It took three years for a private detective, hired by the McKoy family’s last “rightful owner”, Joseph Pearson Smith, to track the twins down in Europe. They were almost six by the time they were returned to Smith and their family in 1857. Smith and his wife decided to educate Millie and Christine and manage their budding career as performers, becoming billed as “The Carolian Twins”.
Smith’s wife taught Millie and Christine how to read, write, sing, dance, and play the piano. After Emancipation, the twins decided to remain with the Smiths. In the summer of 1871 they again traveled to England, where they performed for Queen Victoria, who presented the pair with diamond hairclips.
Over a 7-year European tour, they became fluent in German, Italian, Spanish and French, eventually commanding $25,000 per season on the country fair circuit. They would use their increasing wealth later in life to buy their old plantation and build a 14-room home for them and their nine siblings. The twins also founded a school for black children and supported a number of colleges anonymously.
The house the McKoys built unfortunately burned down in 1909, destroying treasures from the far corners of the world they had collected. The pair continued to live in Columbus County until Millie died of tuberculosis in October of 1912. Doctors gave Christine morphine to help end her life quickly and painlessly. But Christine outlived her twin by as many as 17 hours.
The two were buried in a double coffin with a grave marker inscribed: “A soul with two thoughts. Two hearts that beat as one.”
In 1969 the Columbus County Historical Society moved the grave from an overgrown, almost forgotten plot to the nearby Welches Creek community cemetery.
While their lives faced numerous hardships, the McKoy twins remain one of the biggest success stories to come out of Columbus County.
Meteorologist Matthew Huddleston (‘Hud’) has always had two major loves – weather and history. While you can watch him talk about weather each evening on WWAY, he looks forward to bringing you a little piece of history each Thursday on WWAY’s website.
To read other History with ‘Hud’ segments, click HERE.
