P. T. Barnum & General Tom Thumb

Quintessential American
Phineas T. Barnum (1810-91) was the classic American. A rogue and a hustler, a natural-born showman with a gift for giving for the public what it wanted. He began his stage career in 1835 with an old black woman named Joice Heth, whom he claimed had been George Washington's nurse and was 160 years old at the time. She was later discovered to been in her 70's, but by that time, Barnum was on to better things.

In 1842, he discovered Charles Stratton, the 4 yr-old son of a Connecticut Carpenter, and transformed him into General Tom Thumb - the most famous midget in history.

Barnum followed up this success with a assortment of oddities - a bearded lady; Leona the Leopard Girl; Otis the Frog Boy; Prince Randian - the Hindu Torso; Chang and Eng from Siam , who gave birth to the term Siamese Twins. The list went on and on. He even sewed a monkey's torso onto the tail of a fish and displayed it as the Fiji mermaid. Audiences loved it. Barnum charged a quarter, and half-price for kids, and it made him a millionaire. He lived on a palatial estate in Greenwich , Connecticut , and mowed his lawns with the museum's elephants.

Chang & Eng - World's 1st Siamese Twins

When that burned down three years later, Barnum took the insurance money and founded the P. T. Barnum Circus, which he promoted as " The Greatest Show on Earth." Later, he merged with James Bailey to create the Barnum & Bailey Circus , which toured around the world. The show's primary attraction was Jumbo , an African elephant he purchased from the London Zoo. That where term Jumbo comes from.