Editing Chang and Eng Bunker (section)

==<span class="anchor" id="In Siam"></span>In Siam (1811–1829)==

[[File:Chang and Eng the Siamese twins. Coloured etching. Wellcome V0007367.jpg|thumb|right|Colored etching of the young twins]]

Chang and Eng{{refn|group=nb|Their parents named them ''In'' and ''Chun'' (or ''Jun'') ({{IPA|th|īn}} and {{IPA|th|t͡ɕān|}}), which contrary to popular belief during their lifetime do not mean "left" and right", and they were known locally as the "Chinese twins".  {{harvnb|Huang|2018|pp=27–28}}. According to Huang, the twins themselves signed their names as {{linktext|曾}} and {{linktext|因}}. He speculates that these names derive from Cantonese, though other sources suggest that the twins were Teochew, due to the historical prevalence of Teochews among Thais with Chinese ancestry.<ref>Were These Two Brothers the First Teochews in America?https://www.theteochewstore.org/blogs/latest/132834115-were-these-two-brothers-the-first-teochews-in-america</ref> {{harvnb|Huang|2018|pp=52–53}}.}} (จัน-อิน) were born in 1811 in Siam (modern-day [[Thailand]]). Their mother reportedly said their birth was no more difficult than that of their other several siblings.{{sfnm|Dreger|2005|1p=19|Wu|2012|2p=3 (birth)}} Their exact date of birth and details of their early lives are unclear. The earliest report on the twins assigns the birth month of May 1811.{{sfn|Orser|2014|p=11}}{{refn|group=nb|name=Birth date|The earliest report of their birth date is in the ''Boston Patriot and Mercantile Advertiser'' published August 17, 1829. Other reports give dates in late 1811 or early 1812. Records from Siamese royalty lead to the year 1812. An attempt to locate a specific date of birth is likely futile, as no birth records of the twins exist. {{harvnb|Orser|2014|pp=11, 208}}. Whatever the real date may be, May 11, 1811, is the generally accepted one. {{harvnb|Orser|2014|p=194}}.}} Their native village is called Meklong (today's [[Samut Songkhram (town)|Samut Songkhram]]); a statue in the town commemorates the twins' birthplace.{{sfn|Quigley|2012|pp=22, 39}}

Their father, Ti-eye or Ti (นายที), was a fisherman of [[Thai Chinese|Chinese]] descent. He died when the twins were young, possibly in a [[smallpox]] epidemic that ran through the area in 1819. Their mother, Nak (อำแดงนาก), raised ducks with her children's help.{{sfnm|Orser|2014|1p=11|Huang|2018|2p=26 (names), 36 (help)}} Their mother's ethnic origin is unclear. Varying accounts suggest that she was Siamese, Chinese, part-Chinese and part-Siamese, or part-Chinese and part-[[Thai Malays|Malay]].{{sfn|Orser|2014|p=15}}{{refn|group=nb|There are several narratives relating to Chang and Eng's siblings. Their mother had several other children, though stories attributing to her multiple sets of twins or triplets are probably misguided {{harvnb|Orser|2014|p=11}}.}} Chang and Eng were raised as [[Thai Buddhism|Theravada Buddhists]]. Despite being joined at the sternum, they were lively youths, running and playing with other children.{{sfnm|Orser|2014|1p=108 (religion)|Dreger|2005|2p=19 (activity)}} Their mother raised them like her other children, in a "matter-of-fact" way without special attention on them being conjoined.{{sfn|Dreger|2005|p=19}}

The "discovery" of the brothers is credited to the Scottish merchant [[Robert Hunter (trader)|Robert Hunter]].{{sfnm|Orser|2014|1pp=9, 12|Wu|2012|2p=4}} Hunter was a trusted trade associate of the Siamese government who traveled with considerable freedom. In 1824, Hunter reportedly first met the twins while he was on a fishing boat in the [[Menam River]] and the twins were swimming at dusk. He mistook them for a "strange animal", but after meeting them he saw economic opportunity in bringing them to the West.{{sfnm|Orser|2014|1pp=13–14, 246|Spencer|2003|2p=2: new creature}}{{refn|group=nb|In his November 1829 account of the discovery, [[John Collins Warren (surgeon, born 1778)|John Collins Warren]] writes, "They were naked from the hips upwards, were very thin in their persons, and it being dusk, he mistook them for some strange animal". {{harvnb|Orser|2014|p=13}}.}}

He would later tell a story that the king of Siam had ordered the brothers' deaths and had originally forbidden him to transport them out of the country. Regardless of the story's veracity, it took five years for Hunter to bring them away.{{sfn|Orser|2014|p=13}} Hunter and American sea captain Abel Coffin departed to the United States with the twins in summer 1829. A contract Hunter and Coffin signed with the brothers stipulated that their tour would last for five years,{{sfn|Orser|2014|p=9 (travel), 48 (contract): Hunter and Coffin said the contract for $3,000. Chang and Eng said it was $500}} though a rumor later circulated that Chang and Eng's mother had sold them into slavery, a charge that greatly upset the twins.{{sfn|Orser|2014|pp=37, 39–40, 48}}

Christian missionaries contacted their mother in 1845, four years before she died. She had believed that her conjoined sons were dead, having not seen them for fifteen years, but was informed that they were alive and recently married.{{sfn|Orser|2014|p=108}}{{refn|group=nb|Their mother said that she had a "strong desire to see them again". Despite the missionaries' claim that they would return, evidence does not suggest that their mother was reached again. {{harvnb|Orser|2014|p=108}}.}}