From the Evening Post (New York, New York), dated July 9, 1840:
Vauxhall Garden - P.T. Barnum has the honor to inform the public that the entertainments in the Saloon and Gardens being under his sole control, neither pains nor expense will be spared in presenting a combination and succession of novelty, variety, and attraction perfectly unparalleled in this city. These are undoubtedly the only real gardens in this city; they abound with pleasant walks - winding through a beautiful grove, interspersed with blooming plants and luxuriant shrubbery. The Saloon is pleasant and airy, being open in pleasant weather, on both sides.
Admittance 25 cents - Children under 10, attended by their parents or guardians, half price.
The Garden is open for visitors during the day and on Sunday evening. Tickets 12½ cents, entitling the holder to refreshments.
Stages and Cars pass the Garden, and will be in waiting at the close of the performances.
From the Greenville Journal (Greenville, Ohio), dated April 4, 1855:
Barnum’s Autobiography in England
Blackwood has impaled Barnum, treating him and his book as being grossly immoral, and holding him up to scorn and contempt. The following summary shows to what conclusions the reviewer comes.
“It has inspired us with nothing but sensations of disgust for the frauds which it narrates, anger for its audacity, loathing for its hypocrisy, abhorrence for the moral obliquity which it betrays, and sincere pity for the wretched man who compiled it. He has left nothing for his enemy to do, for he has fairly gibbeted himself. No unclean bird of prey, nailed ignominiously to the door of a barn, can present a more humiliating spectacle than Phineas Taylor Barnum, as he appears in his biography.”
From the Quad-City Times (Davenport, Iowa), dated September 21, 1874:
P.T. Barnum’s Marriage
In the interval that followed the recess of the Universalist Convention yesterday, it was announced that Miss Nancy Fish, of Southport, Lancashire, England, was to be married to Phineas Taylor Barnum. In a few minutes the couple walked up the aisle, the organ playing the wedding march. The bride wore a slate-colored dress, diamond earrings, and black velvet hat with blue feather. Mr. Barnum was in a black dress suit. After the ceremony, which was performed by the Rev. E.H. Chapin, the couple entered a coach and rode to the Windsor House. The bride is 26 and the groom about 67. Mr. Barnum’s first wife died about a year ago.
From the Oskaloosa Sickle (Oskaloosa, Kansas), dated June 9, 1877:
American Biography – Phineas T. Barnum
Phineas Taylor Barnum, a well-known American showman, who has acquired the sobriquet, but his own admission of “Prince of Humbugs,” was born at Bethel, Ct., in 1810. He early manifested an aversion to work of the ordinary kind. After an unsuccessful attempt in the newspaper line, he took a share in the management of a strolling theater. Subsequently he obtained possession of an old negress, whose proprietors represented her as having been the nurse of George Washington; she was said to be 160 years of age. Barnum adopted the story, and, by means of his tact as a showman, and by dint of the most astonishing “smartness,” he induced thousands in every city in the United States to flock to see the early guardian of the great Liberator. On the other side of the Atlantic, pathetic pictures were drawn, by the anti-slavery orators, of the degradation thus cast on the memory of the great General of the republic.
After the death of the old negress, Barnum bought the American Museum in New York, and soon brought it into high repute and prosperity. His next “card” was Gen. Tom Thumb; but his most enterprising speculation was the engagement of Jenny Lind for a series of concerts in the United States, Canada and Cuba, by which he claimed to have netted $350,000.
On his return to the United States, he was elected President of a bank, became largely interested in real estate in Bridgeport and its vicinity, and promoted agriculture and thrifty enterprise generally, with all the zeal of a public-spirited and benevolent citizen. In 1855 he published his autobiography, a candid and amusing relation of the innumerable artifices by which he attained his notoriety.
In 1856 his fortune became impaired by disastrous business complications, and in 1857-8 he gave lectures in London, and some of the provincial cities of England, on his method of obtaining notoriety as a stepping-stone to making money, etc.; drawing crowded audiences, and replenishing his treasury.
He is now living in comparative retirement, reposing on his laurels. In 1868 he was an unsuccessful candidate to Congress for Connecticut.
From the Public Press (Northumberland, Pennsylvania), dated September 13, 1878:
P.T. Barnum and His Shows
World-renowned is Phineas Taylor Barnum as par excellence the Prince of Showmen. Mr. Barnum, in fact, may be said to be the legitimate father of the show business. He has time and again undertaken enterprises so colossal as to astonish the world, and has demonstrated the success of his ventures so as to win the plaudits of millions. His connection with Tom Thumb and Jenny Lind, in the incipient days of his professional adventures, extends his name and fame over all points of the habitable globe. It has been one of the peculiar idiosyncrasies, one of the strange and unaccountable freaks of Mr. Barnum, to advertise himself and persuade others to advertise him as a “humbug.” Nevertheless, he has no clear right to the patent or the caveat which he has filed, and which he autocratically assumes to belong to himself solely, and to be his individual proprietary trademark. The truth is, there is more of a legitimate and genuine and less of the artificial clap-trap and make-believe about Mr. Barnum and his shows than is found in the exterior makeup of half the men and women in the land, and in the component parts of two-thirds of the profession, whether fixed and permanent, or traveling and peripatetic. The chief fault with his shows of later years has been concentrated in the fact that they have been and are too colossal, too grand, too extensive. He shows so much that is showable and really meritorious, that the millions have not the time nor the opportunity to witness the merest fraction of what is on exhibition; they do not know where to begin nor where to leave off; and as a consequence they come and go without seeing the seeable, pass idly by the treasures on exhibition, crowd into the circus pavilion and await the commencement of the ring performances; then, after sitting two or three hours, drinking in the real wonders performed before their gaze, they take it into their heads that it being a Barnum, it must be a delusion and snare, a veritable “humbug,” to be in keeping with traditional fame, and they go away saying they were disappointed. “It wasn’t half as good as I thought it was going to be.” Mr. Barnum is one of the most liberal and generous hearted men of the nation and age. There is nothing small or mean about him. He has made and has given away fortunes and we suppose he will continue to do so as long as he lives. The show exhibits at Danville Thursday, September 19th. Mr. Barnum will be present and speak to his friends.
From the Morning Journal-Courier (New Haven, Connecticut), dated April 8, 1891:
Bridgeport’s Great Loss
Death of the Great Showman, P.T. Barnum
The End Peacefully Comes in the Presence of His Grief-Stricken Family
Those Present at the Death Bed Scene
Sketch of His Eventful Life
The Funeral Arrangements
Bridgeport, Conn., April 7 – The great showman, P.T. Barnum, passed away at 6:22 o’clock this evening in the presence of his grief-stricken family. During the period of Mr. Barnum’s invalidism and confinement to the house, which began twenty-one weeks ago last Friday, there have been frequent fluctuations in his condition, from each of which he rallied, although in each instance with a slightly lowered vitality. The change for the worst, which occurred last night, however, was so much more pronounced than the previous attacks had been, that it convinced the attending physicians that their patient had not many more hours to live. During his confinement to the house, he has been downstairs only twice, although sitting up much of the time and being cheerful and conversationally inclined in his waking moments. After the attack, which came shortly before midnight, Mr. Barnum suffered a good deal of pain. He seemed to realize that he could not live much longer and spoke of the approaching end with calmness.
During his illness, the physicians have been careful about administering morphine and sedatives of any kind through a fear that they might produce ulterior ill effects. Last night Mr. Barnum spoke of this and said when all hope was gone, he wished to given sedatives which would allay his pain and make his death as peaceful as possible. Dr. Hubbard promised compliance with his wishes in this respect. The first sedative was given at 10:10 o’clock this morning. It was understood by the patient and his family to mean that the end was near. Mrs. Barnum remained at her husband’s bedside throughout the night. In alternate spells of dozing and in conversation which showed his brain to be as clear as ever, Mr. Barnum passed the hours until about 4 o’clock this morning, when he sank into a lethargy, which was a condition of stupor, rather than of natural sleep. To arouse him from this state of unconsciousness was difficult. A faint gleam of recognition alone indicated that he had knowledge of his surroundings, or knew the familiar and sympathetic faces grouped about him. Thus, matters went on until about 10 o’clock this morning. He was again aroused and his mental faculties, which appeared to be brighter than at any time during the several hours previous.
Among the sorrowing group then in the room were Mrs. Barnum, Rev. L.R. Fisher, pastor of the Universalist church; Mrs. D.W. Thompson, his daughter; Mrs. Clarke of New York, his granddaughter; Mrs. May Reade, his niece; Mrs. W.H. Buchtelle of New York, another daughter; Clinton H. Seelye, his grandson and principal heir; Benjamin Fish, Mrs. Barnum’s brother and treasurer of the Barnum & Bailey show; Dr. Hubbard, Mrs. M.L. Rikeman, the housekeeper; C.B. Olcutt, a trained nurse from Bellevue hospital, who has been Mr. Barnum’s attendant since his illness, and W.D. Roberts, for many years Mr. Barnum’s valet. The scene in the dying man’s chamber was deeply pathetic. Mr. Barnum was fully awake and conscious although his nearly exhausted physical powers made it impossible for him to talk. The affectionate messages he conveyed with his eyes to the weeping attendants were more expressive than words. With the exception of himself, all were in tears.
Previous to the arrival of several of the relatives from New York on the 10 o’clock train, Rev. Mr. Fisher bent over the dying man and spoke words of religious consolation. Mr. Barnum’s eyes brightened as the scriptural promises were recalled to him and he half nodded his head in assent. Shortly after 11 o’clock he took a sedative from Dr. Hubbard and soon afterward sank into a peaceful sleep. Mrs. Thompson, his daughter, sat by the bedside holding his hand in her own from the time of her arrival in the sick room. She could not hold back her tears. Mrs. Barnum also endeavored to restrain her feelings and present to her husband a cheerful countenance.
At 3:30 this afternoon, Mr. Barnum sank into a comatose condition, from which it was evident there would be very little hope of his again returning to consciousness. When the end finally came, it was peaceful and to all appearances painless.
The physicians say that Mr. Barnum had no organic disease whatever, the enfeebled heart action which had been apparent for the past few months being due to a gradual failure of his general mental powers, resulting from old age.
In a general way, Mr. Barnum has prescribed directions for his funeral. He wished it to be of a private and unostentatious character as possible. Of show and parade, he said he had enough during his life, and his commitment to his last resting place he wished devoid of all ceremony beyond the simplest tribute of affection and respect. He directed that the interment should be in the Mount Grove cemetery, where several years ago, he erected a massive granite monument of simple design.
The funeral will be held Friday afternoon in the North Congregational church and will be conducted by Rev. L.B. Fisher, the Universalist pastor, assisted by Rev. Charles Ray Palmer of the North church. Mr. Barnum had an intense horror of embalming or of having his body placed on ice after death. The remains will therefore be kept in a dark, cool room in the house. The body will then be enclosed in a hermetically sealed metallic casket. This is in exact accord with Mr. Barnum’s expressed wishes. There will, no doubt, be an effort made to induce the family to have the obsequies public, but for present indications, however, the family will probably strictly adhere to the wishes of the deceased.
**A Sketch of Barnum’s Career – Its Vicissitudes**
Phineas Taylor Barnum was born in Bethel (near Danbury) on July 10, 1810. His father was an inn keeper and country merchant, who died in 1825, leaving no property. From the age of thirteen to eighteen, the son was in business in various places, part of the time in Brooklyn and New York city.
Having accumulated a little money, he returned to Bethel where he opened a small store. Here he was successful, especially after taking the agency for a year of a lottery chartered by the state for building the Groton monument opposite New London. When the lottery charter expired, he built a larger store in Bethel, but through bad debts the enterprise proved a failure.
After his marriage in 1829, he established and edited a weekly newspaper entitled “The Herald of Freedom,” and for a free expression of his opinions, he was imprisoned sixty days for libel. In 1834, he removed to New York, his property having become much reduced. He soon after visited Philadelphia, and saw there on exhibition a colored woman named Joyce Heath, advertised as the nurse of George Washington, 161 years old. Her owner exhibited an ancient looking time colored bill of sale dated 1727. Mr. Barnum bought her for $1,000, advertised her extensively and his receipts soon reached $1,500 a week. Within a year Joyce Heath died and a post-mortem examination proved that the Virginia planter had added about eighty years to her age.
Having thus acquired a taste for the show business, Mr. Barnum traveled through the south with small shows, which were generally unsuccessful. In 1814, although without a dollar of his own, he purchased Scudder’s American museum, named it Barnum’s museum, and by adding novel curiosities and advertising freely, he was able to pay for it the first year, and in 1848 he had added to it two other extensive collections, besides several minor ones.
In 1842 he first heard of Charles S. Stratton of Bridgeport, Conn., then less than two feet high and weighing only sixteen pounds, who soon became known to the world under Mr. Barnum’s direction as General Tom Thumb, and was exhibited in the United States and Europe with great success.
In 1849 Mr. Barnum, after long negotiation, engaged Jennie Lind to sing in American for 150 nights at $1,000 a night, and a concert company was formed to support her. Only ninety-five concerts were given, but the gross receipts of the tour in nine months of 1850 and 1851 were $712,161, upon which Mr. Barnum made a large profit. New Haven was one of the places where Jennie Lind sang, and old residents well remember the furor created here by her concert.
In 1855, after being connected with many enterprises besides those named, he retired to an oriental villa in Bridgeport, which he had built in 1846. He expended large sums in improving that city, built up the city of Bridgeport, made miles of streets and therein planted thousands of trees. He encouraged manufacturers to remove to his new city, which has since been united with Bridgeport. [sic] But in 1856-7, to encourage a large manufacturing company to remove there, he became so impressed with confidence in their wealth and certain success that he endorsed their notes for nearly $1,000,000. The company went into bankruptcy, wiping out Mr. Barnum’s property; but he had settled a fortune upon his wife.
He went to England again with General Tom Thumb, and lectured with success in London and other English cities, returning in 1857. His earnings and his wife’s assistance enabled him to emerge from his financial misfortunes, and he once more took charge of the old museum on the corner of Broadway and Ann streets, New York, and conducted it with success until it was burned on July 13, 1865. Another museum which he opened was also burned. He then, in the spring of 1871, established a great traveling museum and menagerie, introducing rare equestrian and athletic performances, which, after the addition of a representative of the ancient Roman hippodrome races, the elephant Jumbo and other novelties, he called “P.T. Barnum’s Greatest Show on Earth.”
Mr. Barnum has been four times a member of the Connecticut legislature, and mayor of Bridgeport, to which city he presented a public park. His other benefactions have been large and numerous, among them a stone museum building presented to Tufts college near Boston, Mass., filled with specimens of natural history. He has delivered hundreds of lectures on temperance and the practical affairs of life. He has published his autobiography [New York, 1855, enlarged edition Hartford, 1869, with yearly appendices] “Humbugs of the World” [New York, 1865] and “Lion Jack,” a story, [1876]. He presented to his native town an elephant fountain which is highly prized by Bethel people.
The crowning gift of his life was his donation of $250,000 for the erection of a building in Bridgeport to be devoted to science and history. The Bridgeport Scientific society and the Fairfield County Historical society will occupy the building, which will be a magnificent structure.
He was a prominent Universalist, who many times donated substantial sums of money for church purposes. Mr. Barnum leaves an estate variously stated from $3,000,000 to $10,000,000.
From the South Bend Tribune (South Bend, Indiana), dated August 25, 1900:
A Barnum Turtle
One Found at the Showman’s Childhood Home Marked “P.T.B., 1830.”
Danbury, Conn., Aug. 25 – Bethel, the home of the late P.T. Barnum, has many relics of that noted showman, but a new one was added to the collection yesterday.
Nathan I. Bennett, New York diamond broker, who has a summer home in Bethel, recently purchased some swamp land which at one time belonged to P.T. Barnum’s father. Yesterday, Mr. Bennett, while superintending some work on the newly acquired land, found an immense snapping turtle, weighing at least a hundred pounds. He noticed a curious formation on its back which was covered with a grown of moss. Part of the moss was scraped away and the inscription, “P.T.B., 1830” discovered.
Phineas Taylor Barnum was born in 1810, consequently he was 20 years old when he carved his initials on the turtle’s back.
From the Los Angles Times (Los Angeles, California), dated August 19, 1923:
One of Barnum’s most successful “finds” as a showman was the midget, Gen. Tom Thumb. In November 1842, Barnum stopped one night at the Franklin Hotel in Bridgeport, Ct., which was kept by his brother, Philo F. Barnum. His brother mentioned that there was a dwarf in Bridgeport, who played daily in the streets, and was accepted by the rest of the population as a natural curiosity. Barnum asked his brother to bring the child to the Franklin Hotel, and as soon as he saw this dwarf, he realized that here was a natural curiosity who could be transformed by instruction and publicity into a unique and profitable one. The child was the smallest Barnum had ever seen, and was in excellent health, without any deformities. He was two feet, one inch in height and weighed fifteen pounds. His hair was flaxen and his eyes dark; his cheeks were pink and his whole appearance gave the impression of health, symmetry, and whimsical charm on a lovely, diminutive scale. He was very bashful, and Barnum only learned after difficulty that his name was Charles S. Stratton, and that he was 5 years old.
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