A Chronological History of Conjoined Twins
Originally compiled by Twinstuff.Com

Chang and Eng Bunker - 1865

This article represents an historical look at milestones in the annals of conjoined twins. This list has compiled summaries of more than 1060 significant events over the past 1600 years in this special look at the rare birth of conjoined twins.

300-1499

A set of parapagus tribrachius tripus twins are born in Rome between 392-395 C.E., possibly the earliest medically-described case of conjoined twins. Another early pair of conjoined twins in recorded in Rome are dicephalus twin boys, born in the year 602 C.E.

Biddenden Maids - 1110

One of the earliest well-described cases of conjoined twins is a set of identical conjoined boys (the Armenian Twins) in 945 in Constantinople, connected from the waist to the abdomen. Initially admired as a curiousity, they were later thought to be bad omens and exiled. An attempted surgical separation caused the death of one of the twins, with the survivor dying three days later. (reported in Bulletin on the History of Medicine, 58 in 1984).

A pair of adult conjoined twin women, probably of the dicephalus type, are recorded in Brittany and Normandy in France in 1062. The twins ate, slept, laughed and talked at separate times. When one sister died, it is said that the other survived her for three years before succumbing herself. (This is probably untrue; however, it is plausible that the "dead" sister was merely comatose - see Gangalai and Gaurabai, 1911.)

Perhaps the most famous conjoined twins born before Eng and Chang were the Biddenden Maids, Mary and Eliza Chulkhurst of Biddenden, Kent, England, who were born to a wealthy family in 1100 and lived until 1134. They were joined at the hips (although illustrations sometimes mistakingly show they were also joined at the shoulders) and bequeathed their family fortune to the Church. For centuries following their death (until the early 1900's), an annual celebration was held in Biddenden in which biscuits displaying their images were distributed to the poor on Easter. Today, the 20 acres that the sisters bequeathed to the Church contains cottages known as the Chulkhurst Estate. Following the death of one sister, the second twin refused to be separated, supposedly saying, "As we came together, we will also go together," dying six hours later.

Ischiopagus or parapagus twin girls are born in England in 1225 and survive for several months.

Dicephalus twin boys are born in Florence in 1316.

A set of conjoined boys joined at the back was born in Glasgow, Scotland in the late 15th Century (we've seen it reported as both 1475 and 1490) and survived for 28 years (either 1503 or 1518), dying five days apart. They lived under the patronage of the King of Scotland, James IV. The most complete information we've read on these Scottish Brothers was in the book, The Two-Headed Boy & Other Medical Marvels by Jan Bonderon (Cornell University Press, 2000). According to that author, the brothers lived from 1490-1518 and spoke eight different languages, English, Irish, Latin, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch and Danish. They were also avid singers. They were dicephalus tetrabrachius twins (two torsos, 4 arms, 2 heads, 1 pair of legs).

Female twins conjoined back-to-back are born in present-day Italy in 1475. Two other cases of back-to-back twins - one born in Italy in 1493 and one in Austria in 1468 - may in fact be the same set.

There are also reports of a pair of girls born in 1495 near Worms (present-day Germany) who were joined at the forehead. A 1983 Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences essay relays the supposed origin of the birth occuring when two women (one of whom was pregnant) were having a conversation and had a collision with their heads. The pregnant woman became frightened and passed the mark of her concussion onto her unborn twins. The Worms Twins survive for ten years before one falls ill and dies. Surgeons attempt to separate the survivor, but she dies as soon as their skull is opened.

1500-1699

A set of twins similar to the famous Scottish Brothers is born in Switzerland around 1508. When described in 1538, at the age of thirty, both men were married to a single wife.

Ischiopagus twin girls named Elspeth and Margit are born in Sweden in 1512.

Dicephalus dibrachius female twins are born in present-day Germany in 1513 or 1515 and survive to at least the age of 26 years.

The first autopsy in the New World is performed in 1533 on a pair of eight-day-old conjoined twin sisters, Joana and Melchiora Ballestero, in Santo Domingo (present-day Dominican Republic). According to the book, Twins: Nature's Amazing Mystery, it is conducted at the request of a priest who had baptized both children but wished to determine as to whether one or two hearts (and therefore souls) were involved.

Dicephalus dibrachius twin boys sharing a single heart are born in present-day Italy on March 19, 1540, but both die soon after birth.

Parapagus dibrachius tetrapus twins of unknown gender are born in France in 1546. The twins share a single heart and die soon after birth.

Ischipagus tripus twin girls are born in England, near Oxford, on August 3, 1552. One twin is said to be happy and cheerful while the other is lethargic and sleeps most of the time. They die soon after birth, with the healthier twin surviving a day longer than her sister.

The Jarvys twins of England, two girls attached at the chest and abdomen, are born in 1565.

Conjoined twins are born in Paris on July 20, 1570, to a mason named Peter German Petit Dieu and his wife Mattea Petronella. Said to be one boy and one girl, the dicephalus or ischiopagus twins are baptized Ludovicus and Ludovica at the Church of St. Nicholas of the Fields. Ambrose Paré alternately gives the twins' names as Louis and Louise.

A celebrated pair of omphalopagus parasiticus conjoined twins, Lazarus and Joannes Baptista (John the Baptist) Colloredo, are born on March 20, 1617 in Genoa, Italy. Lazarus and his parasitic twin tour throughout Europe for most of his life (it is believed the twins die in the late 1640's or early 1650's) as detailed in the book The Two-Headed Boy & Other Medical Marvels by Jan Bondeson (Cornell University Press, 2000). Several poems and short stories are written about the pair, including this excerpt from 'Ballard of The Two Inseparable Brothers' by Martin Parker.

A Gentleman well qualifide,
Doth beare his brother at his side,
inseperably Knit,
As in this figure you may see,
And both together living be
the world admires at it.

Doctors who examined the medical histories of the twins believe that they began as two equally sized omphalopagus conjoined twins but that John the Baptist's body lost contact with the umbilical vesicle and certain body parts began to atrophy.

Conjoined twin girls are born to the Wasserlinck family in Ardemberg, Flanders, on November 21, 1657 (or December 3, 1658). These curious twins "had four arms and hands and the left head had a cyclopean eye in the centre" (from C.J.S. Thompson's The Mystery and Lore of Monsters, 1968). The lethal birth defect known as cyclopia occurs with some frequency in cephalopagus twins, so these sisters were probably of that type.

Ischiopagus twins, along with a non-conjoined triplet sister, are born to Mrs. John Waterman of Fishtertown, near Salisbury, England on October 26, 1664. The twins do not nurse but are fed by both mouths and share a single genitourinary tract. They are a popular attraction in the region after their birth but survive for just two days. The triplet sister is healthy and survives to adulthood.

A pair of xiphopagus twins known as The Isle Brewer Conjoined Twins is born in Isle Brewer, Somerset, England in 1680.

Craniopagus twin girls are born May 6, 1680, in Flanders to 19-year-old Maria Castelmans and her husband, 23-year-old wagon maker Roelan Voyoen. The girls, named Barbara and Pieternella, are believed to have separate brains despite being extensively joined at the top of the head, and cry, eat, and sleep separately. They are exhibited at home by their parents, who intend to take them to the nearby city of Bruges and then to Holland on exhibition.

Dicephalus tetrabrachius twin boys, Pierre and Jean Aubert, are born in France on January 2, 1684, and live for five days.

The first set of conjoined twins to successfully be separated were Elisabeth and Catarina Mayer, born in Basle, Switzerland, in 1689. Connected by a one-inch long and five-inch diameter band, they were separated although we've seen different reports as to which doctor performed the surgery. According to the Irving and Amy Wallace biography of Chang and Eng, The Two, the surgery was performed by a celebrated physician, Dr. Fatio, who supposedly employed six surgical wires to medically separate them. Dr. Nancy Segal's book, Entwined Lives, makes reference to a German physician G. Koong as performing the operation.

Thoracopagus twin girls are born in England on April 29, 1699.

1700-1799

An early separation attempt on four-month-old Magdalena and Suzanna, pygopagus twins born in present-day Italy, is conducted in 1700 but ends with the deaths of both girls.

Helen and Judith

A famous set of conjoined sisters were born on October 26, 1701, the Hungarian Sisters, Helen and Judith. Shown below in a drawing that doesn't appear to be accurate, they were actually connected at the back and had only one set of legs between them and were thus believed to be pygopagus twins. They spent much of their childhood performing in fairs throughout Europe in England, Holland, Germany and Italy but moved to a convent at age nine. They lived until age 22 with one sister dying of fever and the other passing on shortly thereafter with no evident signs of illness Their lives were also chronicled in a poem by Alexander Pope.

Ischiopagus tripus twin girls are born in Flanders on April 28, 1703, and survive only a short while.

In England, thoracopagus twins are born to a Mrs. Fisher in 1706.

Ischiopagus tripus twin boys are born in England on June 25, 1736.

Thoracopagus twin boys are born in present-day Italy in September of 1755.

Dicephalus tribrachius tripus twin boys, along with a non-conjoined triplet brother, are born to the Woblack family of Germany on November 17, 1773.

Cephalopagus twins, both of whom die at birth, are born in Spain on April 15, 1779.

1800-1899

Chronological list of births of conjoined twins during century (61 sets of twins entries)

1900-1939

Chronological list of births of conjoined twins during decades (69 sets of twins entries)

1940s

Chronological list of births of conjoined twins during decade (43 sets of twins entries)

1950s

Chronological list of births of conjoined twins during decades (87 sets of twins entries)

1960s

Chronological list of births of conjoined twins during decade (94 sets of twins entries)

1970s

Chronological list of births of conjoined twins during decade (74 sets of twins entries)

1980s

Chronological list of births of conjoined twins during decade (109 sets of twins entries)

1990-1994

Chronological list of births of conjoined twins during five years (57 sets of twins entries)

1995-1999

Chronological list of births of conjoined twins during five years (95 sets of twins entries)

2000

Chronological list of births of conjoined twins during year (47 sets of twins entries)

2001

Chronological list of births of conjoined twins during year (38 sets of twins entries)

2002

Chronological list of births of conjoined twins during year (55 sets of twins entries)

2003

Chronological list of births of conjoined twins during year (67 sets of twins entries)

2004

Chronological list of births of conjoined twins during year (61 sets of twins entries)

2005

Chronological list of births of conjoined twins during year (52 sets of twins entries)

2006

Chronological list of births of conjoined twins during year (36 sets of twins entries)

2007

Chronological list of births of conjoined twins during year (20 sets of twins entries)