Emile Wagner (Paris)
1870 (ca)
Milllie and Christine McCoy - ‘the Two-Headed Nightingale‘

Carte de visite
Paul Frecker
Paul Frecker provides the following comments:
 
"Born into slavery in North Carolina in 1851 Milllie and Christine McCoy were the daughters of slave owned by blacksmith Jabez McKay. Joined at the lower spined, they learned to walk either on their rear pair of legs or on all four, in which case they progressed sideways. They were referred to as often in the singular as in the plural throughout their lives. By the time they were four, they had been stolen from their parents, kidnapped once and sold three times, lucrative earners for their succession of owners to exhibit as a curiosity in side-shows
 
Freed from slavery by Lincoln's declaration of 1863, the girls remained with their last owner, J.P Smith, who had bought them for $30,000. Under his care and management they continued their career. Mrs. Smith taught them to read and write and honed their musical talents. They eventually became renowned performers touring the world, accomplished singers, pianists and even dancers. Fluent in five languages ('she' could even talk in two different languages at once), they danced and sang before the royal courts of Europe. They were a great favourite of Queen Victoria.
 
The twins soon earned enough money for their father to purchase a farm and support the rest of the family. Returning to the States in 1882, they travelled with a circus for several years, receiving $25,000 a season, an extraordinary sum in those days. In 1884 they settled down in North Carolina, building a large house on the land they had bought for their father twenty years earlier when he was freed from slavery. Until their death in 1912, they did charity work and toured intermittently."
 
This carte-de-visite was produced by Emile Wagner of Paris. The addresses of three different branches are given on the reverse, which dates the image to around 1870.
 
LL/12033