Phineas T. Barnum

From Philosopedia

Barnum, Phineas Taylor (5 Jul 1810 - 7 Apr 1891)

Barnum, whose circus became Barnum and Bailey Circus, was famous not only for his sideshows of freaks but also for “EGRESS,” a sign that pointed unsuspecting ticket purchasers to an exit, thereby forcing them to purchase another ticket in order to return. A Connecticut Yankee from Bethel and Bridgeport, he introduced the 3-ring circus as well as found the means to transport his entire group by railroad.

He earned $285,000 by booking the “Swedish Nightingale,” Jenny Lind, on an extensive US tour, paying her only $177,000.

With his wife, he irregularly attended the Universalist Church on New York City’s Central Park West. “The orthodox faith,” Barnum observed, “painted God as a revengeful being, and yet people talk about loving such a being.” “The people,” he concluded, “like to be humbugged,” a reference to the small fee his museum charged to see hoaxes . . . and misquoted as “There’s a sucker born every minute.”

One of Barnum's spectacular shows was that of “the smallest human on Earth, Tom Thumb.” Before an overflow crowd of dignitaries in New York City's Grace Church, Barnum arranged for the 2' 11" Tom Thumb to be married to Lavinia Warren, a 21-year-old Massachusetts schoolteacher who was three inches shorter, 2' 8". Thumb (whose real name was Charles S. Stratton) died in 1883, and Barnum arranged a memorial, one that consisted of a 40’ high marble shaft, atop which was the midget’s life-size statue. It overlooks Barnum's own grave. In a will, Barnum provided money for printing and distributing two pamphlets: “213 Questions Without Answers” and “Universalism, What It Is and What It’s Good For.

Curious as to what his obituary would state, Barnum asked the New York Evening News to print his obituary prior to his death and at a time that he was seriously ill and dying. The newspaper obliged with the headline: GREATEST AND ONLY BARNUM. HE WANTED TO READ HIS OBITUARY. HERE IT IS. Barnum died two weeks later.

His body was preserved on ice for two days and was then taken to South Congregational, the largest church in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where a public ceremony was conducted, after which he was buried in Bridgeport at the Mountain Grove Cemetery. {CE; PA; TYD; U; UU}

Barnum Gravesite, Bridgeport, Connecticut