Myrtle Corbin
Encyclopedia
Josephene Myrtle Corbin (May 12, 1868 in Lincoln County
, Tennessee
– May 6, 1928 in Cleburne
, Texas
) was born a dipygus
, meaning that she had two separate pelvises side by side from the waist down, as a result of her body axis splitting as it developed. Each of her smaller inner legs was paired with one of her outer legs. She was said to be able to move her inner legs, but they were too weak for walking.
Corbin entered the sideshow
circuit with the moniker "Four-Legged Girl from Texas". At the age of 19 she married a doctor, Clinton Bicknell, and eventually gave birth to four daughters and a son.
Lincoln County, Tennessee
Lincoln County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. , the population was 31,340. Its county seat is Fayetteville. It is named for Major General Benjamin Lincoln, an officer in the American Revolutionary War.-History:...
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
– May 6, 1928 in Cleburne
Cleburne, Texas
Cleburne is a city in Johnson County, Texas, United States, and a suburb of Fort Worth. According to 2007 United States Census Bureau estimates, the population is 29,050. It is the county seat of Johnson County. Cleburne is named for a Confederate General, Patrick Cleburne...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
) was born a dipygus
Dipygus
The dipygus deformity is a severe congenital deformity where the body axis forks left-and-right partway along the torso with the posterior end duplicated. Myrtle Corbin was a dipygus; she married and had 5 children and lived to age 59 or 60. In human cases the inner two of the four hindquarters...
, meaning that she had two separate pelvises side by side from the waist down, as a result of her body axis splitting as it developed. Each of her smaller inner legs was paired with one of her outer legs. She was said to be able to move her inner legs, but they were too weak for walking.
Corbin entered the sideshow
Sideshow
In America, a sideshow is an extra, secondary production associated with a circus, carnival, fair or other such attraction.- Types of attractions :There are four main types of classic sideshow attractions:...
circuit with the moniker "Four-Legged Girl from Texas". At the age of 19 she married a doctor, Clinton Bicknell, and eventually gave birth to four daughters and a son.