Barnum, Phineas Taylor

Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)

Phineas Taylor (1810-1891), an American showman. He was born in Bethel, and died at Bridgeport, Connecticut. His father was a tavern keeper. Phineas was fond of fun and of making money. From his Autobiography, we learn that he got his start in the world by keeping a country store. In connection with it he took advantage of a mania then prevalent, and opened up a lottery, with branches in neighboring villages. Later he paid $1,000 for a colored woman named Joice Heth, who claimed to be the nurse of George Washington. He exhibited her for a number of years, realizing as high as $1,500 a week. There is every evidence, as Barnum gleefully admitted, that she was thirty years younger than the child she claimed to have nursed. One of the principles laid down by Barnum in the account of his life is that the American people like to be humbugged, provided it be done in an agreeable way. Among other enterprises, Mr. Barnum discovered Charles Stratton, a remarkable dwarf of Bridgeport, Connecticut, known as General Tom Thumb . Barnum exhibited Stratton and his diminutive wife both in this country and abroad. Queen Victoria, it is said, was particularly delighted with the little couple. Barnum brought Jenny Lind to this country for her first series of concerts, the gross receipts of which amounted to $700,000. He exhibited the "Happy Family" of birds and animals. In 1871 he established "The Greatest Show on Earth," the first great American combination of a traveling circus and menagerie. Jumbo, a mammoth elephant, 11 feet 6 inches high, traveled with this show until killed by a railroad accident in Canada. After making all the money he cared for, Mr. Barnum settled down at Bridgeport, Connecticut, where he built himself a comfortable villa and divided his time between farming and writing books, among others, The Humbugs of the World, a work which he was eminently qualified to prepare. See Circus