P.T. Barnum Biography

Born in Bethel, Connecticut, on July 5, 1810, Phineas Taylor Barnum grew up to be one of the world's greatest showman. He was always willing to do just about anything to lure in paying customers. His first exhibit featured Joice Heth, an African-American woman who claimed to be 161 years old. Barnum told audiences that she was a nurse to George Washington, the first president of the United States. After her death in 1836, it was discovered that she was about 80 years old and critics accused Barnum of making up the whole story.

In the early 1840s, Barnum attracted visitors to his American Museum in New York City. The museum featured human attractions such as Siamese twins and a midget named General Tom Thumb along with not-so-genuine artifacts, such as the Feejee, or Fiji, Mermaid, which appeared to be half-monkey and half-fish. Thumb, whose real name was Charles S. Stratton, was only 25 inches tall when joined the museum in 1842. Barnum told visitors that Thumb was a grown man, even though Thumb was still a child at the time. Barnum took Thumb and some of his other attractions on tour. While on tour, they traveled to England to perform for Queen Victoria in 1844.

Barnum scored one of his biggest successes in 1850 when he introduced Swedish opera star Jenny Lind to American audiences. Barnum arranged for her to perform across the country and her show made the two of them a lot of money. After this professional victory, Barnum took a break from the entertainment world and tried his hand at politics. He served in the Connecticut legislature and as mayor of the coastal city of Bridgeport, Connecticut.

After experiencing some personal money problems, he returned to show business in 1871 with his greatest production—P. T. Barnum's Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan, and Circus. It was reportedly the largest circus at the time. Traveling the country, the show is said to have earned about $400,000 in its first year, which was an extraordinary amount of money for the time. He soon began calling his wildly popular circus "the Greatest Show on Earth" and the people flocked to see sideshow attractions, animal acts, and amazing feats, such as sword swallowing.

Barnum later joined forces with rival James A. Bailey to form what is today known as Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. (The Ringling brothers bought the circus in 1907.) One of their early crowd-pleasers was a huge elephant named Jumbo. Barnum's old friend and one of his greatest attractions, Tom Thumb, also appeared in the circus.

A showman until the very end, it is reported that his last words were about the circus: "Ask Bailey what the box office was at the Garden last night." He died in his sleep on April 7, 1891.

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