Biography

Joseph Pearson Smith was a successful merchant in North Carolina and South Carolina. Smith endorsed the purchase of Millie and Christine McKoy, black conjoined twin sisters, by a man named Brower who undertook to profit by their celebrity. The girls were stolen from Brower and being unable to pay the debt on their loss, Smith became their sole owner. Smith traveled with the girls' mother Monemia to England where he successfully recovered them and brought them back to the United States. Smith continued to profit from the girl's celebrity until his death, whereupon the girls became the property of his wife, Mary Alef/Aliff (Cooper) Smith.