USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Bridgeport > The story of Bridgeport > Part 10
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27
"He (Lincoln) was a man and a leader whose supreme effort was devoted to the welfare and the well being of all the people of his nation. . . . Such devotion has always raised him above the level of ordinary political strife, and made his memory one which, in after years, draws reverence from all fac- tions in the nation's life."
THE CALL TO ARMS
The majority of Bridgeporters were loyal to Lincoln, it must be said, and they showed their allegiance by volunteering in such large numbers when the first call for soldiers was sounded, that the governor of Connecticut didn't know what to do with them all.
At the time that President Lincoln issued his call for 75,000 militia, there was not a single organized regiment in the state of Connecticut. April 16, 1861, the day following the president's call, Governor W. A. Buckingham of Connecticut called for a regiment of volunteers, ten companies in all, to supply the quota asked for by the secretary of war.
The response was overwhelming. In an incredibly short time, 54 companies instead of 10 had been or- ganized and tendered their services to the governor. This was more than five times the number asked for in the call. The governor went to Washington and persuaded the war department to accept three regi- ments from Connecticut instead of the one originally asked for.
A great war meeting was held in Bridgeport, April 20, 1861. Mayor D. H. Sterling presided and it was voted that photographs and autographs of every member of the companies then being raised should be preserved in the town archives.
It was also voted that $10,000 be raised for the families of the volunteers. More than $7,000 was subscribed before the meeting ended. Lastly, it was decided that when the volunteers left for the seat of war, the population should escort them to the depot.
During the fall of 1861, seven companies were filled in whole or in part by Bridgeport men. In 1862 the Fourteenth Regiment went out, and then the Seventeenth, followed by the Twenty-third and the Twenty fourth all containing Bridgeport men. The First Regiment Connecticut Cavalry, the Second, light battery, and the First Regiment, heavy artillery, all took Bridgeporters to the front, and the names of many of these gallant Park City sons will be found in the appendix of this volume.
Another great war meeting took place in Bridge- port, July 19, 1862 at which time $20,000 was sub- scribed to carry on the war. Now Elias Howe, Jr., of sewing machine fame came forward, announced that he had enlisted as a private and called on others to join him. For days he recruited, marching up and down the streets with a fife and drum.
[ 74 ]
1936
1836 THE STORY OF BRIDGEPORT
"BOUGHT" SOLDIERS
Drafting, hated and despised, came to Bridgeport in 1863. The idea proved so unpopular that it was suspended and thenceforth when recruits were needed, they were gained through substitute brokers. Thus, if a man were slated to go to war and did not choose to do so, he offered a bounty, the higher the better, and through a broker, a "substitute" was bought for him. Unfortunately, many of these "substitutes" were rounded up from the slums of New York and reflected little credit on the northern army.
A grand celebration was held in Bridgeport, April 10, 1865 in honor of the fall of Richmond and Petersburg and the surrender of Lee's army.
Five days later, the joy and the gladness were turned to sorrow when news reached Bridgeport of the assassination of President Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth.
Incidentally, Dr. George Loring Porter of Bridge- port was the only commissioned officer present at the disposal of the body of Booth. Dr. Porter, who was in the army throughout the war, was post-surgeon at the Washington arsenal from May, 1864 to May, 1867. He had medical charge of the Lincoln con' spirators during their confinement in the old peni- tentiary building and was present at the hanging of five, and accompanied others to Tortugas where they were imprisoned. He returned to Bridgeport after the war to carry on an extensive practice. He had eleven children.
It is interesting to note that Lincoln ate his first fried oyster dinner in Bridgeport at the home of Frederick Wood, Washington Avenue, March 10, 1860. Lincoln was, at the time, campaigning for the Republican party. His second visit to Bridgeport was as president in 1864. He was then candidate for re- election.
Two Bridgeport veterans received the medal voted by Congress for distinguished bravery on the field and given out by the secretary of war: Major William B. Hincks and Lieutenant John C. Curtis.
A Soldiers' Monument stands today at Seaside Park, bearing the names of 168 Bridgeport soldiers and sailors who died in service during the Civil War, killed on the field of disease in the hospitals, or of starvation in one of the many prison pens. The cornerstone of the monument was laid August 29,
1866 and the monument was dedicated August 17, 1876.
The following are Bridgeport's present Civil War veterans, all members of the Elias Howe, Jr., Post, No. 3 Grand Army of the Republic: Casper D. Wallace, 749 William Street; Russell Van Deusen, 2505 Main Street; Edward T. Abbott, 857 Noble Avenue; Truman N. Parsons, Stratford; Henry J. Seeley, 1437 Park Avenue; William P. Jessup, 55 Adams Street; Lionel W. Coates, 528 William Street; and George W. Johnson, 1481 North Avenue.
MEXICAN WAR
A number of Bridge- JB porters took part in the War with Mexico, 1846. These men were in the regular army at the time. Credited to Bridgeport were:
Henry Y. Cable, Company I, Fourth Infantry; James R. Murray, Company I, Eighth Infantry; Charles F. Mckenzie, Company A, Ninth Infantry; Thomas Bigelow, Company F, Ninth Infantry; George Stratton, Company G, First Artillery; John Smith, Company A, Second Artillery; John W. Goulden, in the dragoons; William H. Lyon, general service; and Nathaniel B. Webster, Voltiguers.
SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
No sooner had President Mckinley issued a procla- mation asking for 125,000 men from the national guard of the several states, to serve in the Spanish- American War of 1898, than Connecticut set about answering the call.
Battery B was formed in Bridgeport, being mus- tered into service May 19, 1898 with Fred J. Breckbill as captain; John A. Leonard as first lieuten- ant; and William A. Evans as second lieutenant.
The battery was not called into active service however, and on December 20, 1898 it was mustered out.
A number of men went to the front from Bridge- port, enlisting in companies outside the city. It is believed 150 were so registered.
[ 75]
1836
THE
STORY OF BRIDGEPORT
1936
THE GREAT BARNUM
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
A TINY little fellow scarce four feet high dashed into the master bedroom of the great house at Seaside Park and rushing over to the kindly faced man in the deep leather chair, pumped his hand up and down crying out excitedly :
"We are engaged! We are engaged! Lavinia and I are engaged!"
The tiny little fellow was Charles S. Stratton, otherwise known as General Tom Thumb, and the big, kindly faced man was Phineas Taylor Barnum, best beloved showman on earth and mayor of Bridge- port in 1875.
Panoramic chapters mirror the life of "P. T.": Barnum as a boy, attending his father's funeral in borrowed shoes; as a young man, in jail for a libelous editorial in his "Herald of Freedom;" on the dock greeting Jenny Lind, famed Swedish singer; officiat- ing at the wedding of General Tom Thumb and Lavinia Warren; reconstructing his museum after the great fire; assembling his menagerie for the "greatest show on earth"; delivering his famous "dry" speech when mayor of Bridgeport; presenting this city with land to form a park at Seaside; heading the parade for "Jumbo", largest living elephant; calmly making plans for a brand new circus after the terrible fire at the winter headquarters in Bridgeport had destroyed $250,000 worth of animals, buildings and equipment.
Bethel was the birthplace of Phineas T. Barnum, July 5, 1810. He was the son of Philo Barnum and the grandson of Ephraim Barnum, a captain in the Revolutionary War.
The boy attended the district school in winter and worked on farms in the summertime. Because he so heartily disliked farm labor, his father established a store in Bethel and installed him as clerk. September 7, 1825 his father died, leaving his mother with five children of whom Phineas, at fifteen years of age, was the eldest. The family had nothing, and so poor was "P.T." that it was necessary for a neighbor to loan him a pair of shoes before he could attend his father's funeral.
During succeeding years, the youth worked as a clerk in the employ of a mercantile firm at Grassy
Plain for six dollars a month, then in a grocery store in Brooklyn, and later in a porter house (where porter and other malt liquors were sold) in New York. He returned to his native town and with a capital of $125, established a retail fruit and confec- tionery store.
The lottery business, then legal in Connecticut, next attracted the young man's attention and he opened a lottery office in Bethel in 1829. Two years later he tried his hand as a book-auctioneer, then opened a country store in Bethel with his uncle, Alanson Taylor. Next he tried the newspaper business.
The "Herald of Freedom" founded October 19, 1831 brought young Barnum much trouble. Three times he was prosecuted for libelous editorials and finally a judgment of $100 was obtained against him and he was jailed for 60 days. His freedom, at the end of that time was celebrated by the Bethel towns- people with a parade, music, speeches and the firing of cannon.
In 1834, Barnum sold his paper and removed to New York where he was employed in several stores. In May, 1835 he opened a private boarding house.
During the following summer, P. T. Barnum com- menced the business which later made him famous throughout the world. He did not start with a circus or even a museum, but rather with an entertainment on the order of a sideshow. He purchased a negress named Joice Heth, then on exhibition in Philadelphia. This negress was said to be 161 years of age and the former nurse of George Washington. Barnum com- menced showing her around the country and was doing very well, when she suddenly died. She was buried in Bethel.
The young showman then engaged an Italian sleight-of-hand performer. Later he joined Aaron Turner's traveling circus as ticket-seller, secretary and treasurer. Still later, he formed his own com- pany and traveled about the country, but made little money.
Rather discouraged, Barnum returned to New York to enter a "respectable" business. After vari- ous ventures he purchased the American Museum in
[ 76 ]
1936
F BRIDGEPORT
1836 THE STORY
New York City in 1841 for $12,000. He was now on the high road to success. The following year he "discovered" Tom Thumb.
Recounting that first meeting with the midget, the showman, in his "Struggles and Triumphs of P. T. Barnum" written by himself said:
"In November, 1842 I was at Bridgeport, Connec- ticut, where I heard of a remarkably small child, and at my request, my brother, Philo F. Barnum, brought him to the hotel. He was not two feet high; he weighed less than 16 pounds, and was the smallest child I ever saw that could walk alone; he was a per- fectly formed, bright-eyed little fellow, with light hair and ruddy cheeks, and he enjoyed the best of health. He was exceedingly bashful, but after some coaxing, he was induced to talk with me and he told me that he was the son of Sherwood E. Stratton of Bridgeport, and that his own name was Charles S. Stratton. After seeing him and talking with him, I at once determined to secure his services from his parents and to exhibit him in public." (Note: both Tom Thumb's parents were normal in size.)
Tom Thumb was four years old at the time Barnum first saw him. He was born in Bridgeport although there is some controversy about just where in the city. Some of the relatives of Tom Thumb (Charles Stratton) maintain he was born on the site of the present Lyric Theater; others that he was born on Tom Thumb Street. The Tom Thumb Conser- vatory, 956 North Avenue, is the same house, re- modeled, which General Tom Thumb built for his bride, Lavinia. At the time it was considered a mansion.
"I engaged him for four weeks at three dollars a week," continued Barnum "with all traveling and boarding charges for himself and his mother at my expense. They came to New York Thanksgiving Day, December 8, 1842, and I announced the dwarf on my museum bills as 'General Tom Thumb'."
(Note: Thanksgiving was not always in Novem- ber in those days. The governor set the date by proclamation.)
"I took the greatest pains to educate and train my diminutive prodigy, devoting many hours to the task by day and by night, and I was very successful, for he was an apt pupil, with a great deal of native talent, and a keen sense of the ludicrous.
"I afterwards re-engaged him for a year at seven
dollars a week, with a gratuity of fifty dollars at the end of the engagement, and the privilege of exhibit- ing him anywhere in the United States, in which event his parents were to accompany him and I was to pay all traveling expenses. He speedily became a public favorite, and long before the year was out, I voluntarily increased his weekly salary to $25, and he fairly earned it."
During succeeding years, "General Tom Thumb" was exhibited before staid and stolid dignitaries, yet the crippled children in the hospitals knew him; be- fore most of the crowned heads of Europe, yet the ragged urchins on New York's east side were given a chance to know and love him. Tom Thumb brought fame and fortune to himself and to Mr. Barnum.
Three years were spent in Europe. Mr. Barnum, while in Paris, attended an auction sale of the effects of a Russian prince who had just died. He purchased a gold tea-set and a silver dining service, "sold for their weight only." Fortunately, the Prince's initials were P. T. so that, as Barnum said, he had only to add the "B" to the "P. T." and he was the possessor of "a very fine table service", already initialed.
Back to New York came Mr. Barnum, General Tom Thumb, his parents and his tutor in February, 1847. A short time later the little General exhibited for two days in Bridgeport, and receipts amounting to several hundred dollars were presented to the Bridgeport Charitable Society.
A second dwarf was added to the Museum in 1861, in the person of George Washington Morrison Nutt, son of Major Rodnia Nutt, a farmer of Manchester, New Hampshire. It was said of him that he had "a splendid head, was perfectly formed and was very attractive." But the terms on which the showman engaged him for three years were so large that he was christened "the $30,000 Nutt." Mr. Barnum con- ferred on him the title, Commodore.
Just a year later, in 1862, the showman heard of another dwarf, this time a girl, Lavinia Warren, who lived with her parents in Middleboro, Mass. Miss Warren joined the museum and shortly thereafter the well known romance between Lavinia and the General commenced to bloom. During a weekend Lavinia spent in Bridgeport at the home of P. T. Barnum, General Tom Thumb proposed and was accepted. He introduced his prospective bride to his parents and then proudly showed her around the city
[ 77 ]
1836 THE
STORY OF
BRIDGEPORT
1936
where he owned considerable property and several houses.
In the background of this picture must not be for- gotten Commodore Nutt, the jealous suitor. He, too, wished to marry Lavinia but she considered him much too young. It was suggested that the Commodore might marry Minnie Warren, a fourth midget in the Barnum show and sister to Lavinia, but he declined.
Nevertheless, when Lavinia Warren and General
death and weighed 75 pounds. His widow, Lavinia, lived on for a good many years, later remarrying, when she was known as the Countess Magri. She died at the age of 75 years. Both Mr. and Mrs. Tom Thumb are buried in Mountain Grove Cemetery, Bridgeport.
Commodore Nutt, the second midget acquired by Mr. Barnum, died May 25, 1881 at the age of 33; Minnie Warren died July 23, 1878 at the age of 29.
-
THE WEDDING OF MR. AND MRS. TOM THUMB
The marriage of the most popular midget couple in the country took place in Grace Church, New York in 1863. The bridal party, reading from left to right included: Commodore George Washington Morrison Nutt, Mr. and Mrs. Tom Thumb (Charles Stratton and Lavinia Warren) and Miss Minnie Warren.
Tom Thumb were married in Grace Church, New York, February 10, 1863, the Commodore and Minnie attended them.
Mr. and Mrs. Tom Thumb enjoyed many happy years together. Mr. Thumb meantime put on weight and became quite rotund. Death came to the General after an apoplectic attack suffered in Middle- boro, Mass., July 15, 1883. The midget was then 45 years of age. He was four feet high at the time of his
Photo, courtesy of Frederick Downs
But to return to the life story of P. T. Barnum. Having heard great tales of the magnificent voice of Jenny Lind, known as the "Swedish Nightingale", the showman determined to bring the singer to this country and give to America the highest type of en- tertainment he could visualize.
After some difficulty Barnum succeeded in en- gaging Miss Lind. But before she came to this country, he advertised and publicized her as only
[ 78 ]
1836 THE
STORY 0
上 BRIDGEPORT
1936
P. T. Barnum could, so that by the time she was due in New York, the whole country was in a fever of excitement. Thousands of persons covered the piers and wharves the morning of September 1, 1850 and when Miss Lind set foot on the gang plank, to the roar of a dozen martial bands and cheers from a thou- sand throats, she was almost mobbed. The crowd became so wildly enthusiastic that one young man fell overboard and had to be "fished out" again.
Jenny Lind's concerts in this country were a huge success. The young woman won instant popularity, not alone with her voice but with her personality and her charitable endeavors.
Receipts for the 95 concerts given in this country under the direction of Mr. Barnum totalled $712,161.34, the highest price paid for one ticket being $650 at auction.
Jenny Lind died in London, November 2, 1887.
In 1851, Barnum organized the Great Asiatic Caravan, Museum and Menagerie. The following year he became part owner of the first illustrated paper published in New York.
In 1851 Barnum purchased a tract of land in East Bridgeport and with W. H. Noble laid out streets, lined them with trees, reserved a grove of six or eight acres for a park, and commenced the sale of lots on the east side.
Through his efforts, a clock company from Litch- field was removed to the embryo city and reorganized as the Terry and Barnum Manufacturing Company. In 1855, the showman advanced a large sum of money to a second clock company, the Jerome Clock Company of New Haven to bring the firm to Bridge- port, but the concern got into financial difficulties and P. T. Barnum was a ruined man.
At the age of 46 the showman found himself vir- tually penniless yet he was eager to start over again. Nothing could down him for long. He sailed for England, taking with him General Tom Thumb and remained abroad for several years, accumulating considerable money. While in Europe, he delivered his famous lecture on "The Art of Money-Getting" in London and in various other cities and was finally offered $6000 for the manuscript by a publishing house. He refused.
Barnum returned to America in 1859 and re- opened Barnum's Museum which he continued with great success until it was gutted by fire July 13, 1865.
Although Barnum's old friend, Horace Greeley of the Tribune, advised him to "accept this fire as a notice to quit and go a fishing", he wouldn't do it and soon after leased the prem- ises at 535-37-39, Broad- way, New York, known as the Chinese Museum buildings. In less than three months he had con- verted the building into a commodious museum and lecture room. The place was later known as the Barnum and Van Am- burgh Museum Company. Once again the fire fiend visited Barnum and on the morning of March 3, 1868 the museum was totally destroyed. This time "P. T." followed Mr. Greeley's advice to go "a-fishing" and for about two ycars retired from all active business.
In 1870, the showman, unable to longer cnjoy be- ing "a gentleman of elegant leisure" began the organi- zation of an immense establishment, comprising a museum, a menagerie, caravan, hippodrome and circus of such proportions that it required 500 men and horses to transport it through the country. The following year the equipment had increased to such an extent that it required 70 freight cars, six passenger cars and three engines to move the com- pany. The circus prospered. In 1879 the firing of Zazel from a cannon was introduced. In 1880, Barnum's "Greatest Show on Earth" was allied with the "Great London Circus" managed by Cooper, Bailey and Hutchinson, the new combination opening as "The Barnum and London Circus", March 18, 1881 in New York.
Meanwhile, in the summer of 1880, winter quar- ters for Barnum's circus had been erected in Bridge- port. A ten acre lot adjacent to the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad was enclosed and huge buildings were erected to house all the animals.
The name "Barnum and Bailey" came into exist- ence in the fall of 1887, when Messrs. Hutchinson, Cole and Cooper withdrew from the partnership in order to live a life of leisure. P. T. Barnum and James A. Bailey entered into a new agreement as equal partners under the name "Barnum and Bailey Show.'
November 20, 1887, Barnum lived through his fifth great fire, when all the buildings in the winter
[79]
1836 THE STORY OF BRIDGEPORT
1936
headquarters burned to the ground and the entire menagerie with the exception of 30 elephants and one lion was lost, damages totaling $250,000.
Among the elephants dying in the fire was "Alice" a very famous animal and "the white elephant", equally famous. "Bridgeport", the baby elephant born in 1882 at winter headquarters, and the second elephant in the world to be born in captivity, had al- ready passed on to her "reward" the previous year.
PHINEAS TAYLOR BARNUM
Known to the world as the "Greatest Showman on Earth" and to Bridgeport, as one of its best beloved citizens. Barnum was mayor of the city in 1875.
"Jumbo", the huge seven ton elephant imported from England some years earlier, was not in the fire. He had come to a tragic end two years before, September 15, 1885 in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada, where a freight train struck him. Jumbo died trying to save a smaller elephant which had wandered on to the tracks.
Within eleven days after the devastating fire at
winter headquarters, Barnum and Bailey were al- ready getting together another menagerie.
The fruits of P. T. Barnum's endeavors in the cir- cus world have lived long after him, increasing manifold. In 1907, the Barnum and Bailey circus was sold to Ringling Brothers. Today the circus, called "Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus" is known and loved in every little village in the country. Winter headquarters are no longer in Bridgeport, having been removed to Sarasota, Florida in 1927.
So much for the circus endeavors of the greatest showman on earth.
Barnum built his first home in Bridgeport in 1846, finishing it in 1848. This was the well known "Iranistan" palace which was modeled after the Oriental architecture, the first of this peculiar style to be introduced in America. The house was erected in the vicinity of Fairfield and Iranistan Avenues.
It was at the Iranistan home that Jenny Lind visited soon after her arrival in this country. After walking through the grounds she said to Mr. Barnum :
"I am astonished that you should have left such a beautiful place for the sake of traveling through the country with me."
The place was burned to the ground December 17, 1857.
Next the showman built "Lindencroft" one hun- dred yards west of the site of "Iranistan", where he lived for many years. The third home was "Walde- mere" ("woods-by-the-sea") built in 1868-69 on a delightful spot overlooking Long Island Sound and Seaside Park. In 1889 this house was torn down and the new home "Marina" erected in its place.
November 19, 1873, Mr. Barnum's wife died. She was Charity Hallet, a native of Bethel by whom he had three daughters.
In the Autumn of 1874, Barnum married again. His wife was the daughter of an old English friend, John Fish, Esq.
In 1875, P. T. Barnum was elected mayor of Bridgeport. This did not mark the entrance of the great man into politics, nor did it mark his exit. Ten years previously, in 1865, "P. T." had been named to the general assembly in Hartford from the town of Fairfield. In 1877 he was elected to the general assembly from Bridgeport and in 1878 was re-elected.
[80]
1836 THE
STORY OF BRIDGEPORT
1936
Mr. Barnum was a democrat until the Civil War when he became a republican.
During his term as mayor, P. T. Barnum, a tem- perance man himself, warred vigorously against saloons. He also advocated the employment of con- demned prisoners to contribute to their own support; worked for a better water supply for the city and for better drainage; urged the selling of fruits and vege- tables by weight instead of measure; battled the sale of adulterated food; reduced the city's gas bill by half and last but not least, recommended the inauguration of one or more "floating baths", for the "cleanliness" of the public.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.