History of Fairfield County, Connecticut

I'hinetis Taylor I! iriilim was horn in the town of tere-1 in a lii-ocery-slore. r.ethel, Ftiirlii'ld (':... ('oiiii.. .luly •',. l.slo. He i- the The siiinmerof 1.^:;'. wa- an important e]Kn.h in the son (if I'hilo nariinm. and ■irandsiin of I'.pliraim liar- eaieer of P. T. Itarnum. In that year he Infantile mini, who was a captain in the war of the Ivevolutimi. hnsiness w liicli has made him fainoiis ihroii^hout the lie commenced his education at the dis'.rict school til civilized world. an ctirly a^c, and worked al farm hdn.r diirino" the He piinliased a ni-.^re— nam.-.l .loiee lleth,lhen on suininer season and attemled school in the winter. exhihilion in rhiladelpliia. -aid lo he one hiindred As he orew older his tivcfsion to farm l.ihor hecam.' and -ixly-one years of at^c and the niir-e of W'ashino:- nianifest in \ariiius ways, and his lather limilly eslah- Ion. and exhihiled her ahoiil the country. She lived lishcil a store in Bethel, installinn- him as tderk. I)ii hut a short time aft.r her pnieha-e hy .Mr. Ilainiiin, the 7th nf Septemher. ].S:2."i, his father died, leaving; and was huried at Hctlud, ill this colinly. He then his mother and five children, of wliiini I'liineas T., at eiiLiaucd an Italian sleight-nf-haiid perldnner, and fifteon years of ajre, was the eldest. lie was Irnsled soiili joined ,\:iron riirner's travelino' ciri'ii ; as lieket- for a pair of shoes to tittend the funeral of his father, sidler, secretary, and treasurer. He snoscipicntly tlms starting in life with one ptiir of shoes less than lia\eleil extensively thronghoiil the coiinlry wilh a nothing. I'jioii the settlement of the estate it was show, of which he was sole pr.pric'.or. iounil to he insolvent, and P. T. was left without ;i Tlie occupation not proving partiiailarly r, intiner- 140 lllSTOllY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT. ative, and being desirous of hiivinjr a permanent re- spectable business, lie finally, alter various discour- agements, purchased the American Museum in New York for twelve thousand dollars, and succeeded in paying for it from the jirofits in one year. He was now on tlie liigli-road to success. His wonderful suc- cess with the museum, with (ten. Tom Thumb, and with the .Jenny Lind enterprise, is too well known throughout the world to need repetition in this sketch. The latter was bold in its conception, com- plete in its development, most iLstounding in its suc- cess, and brought a fortune to its adventurous progen- itor. As high as six inin<lred and fifty dollars was paid for tickets, and the receipts for ninety-five con- certs aggregated seven hundred and twelve thousand one hundred and sixty-one dollars and thirty-four cents. With (ien. Tom Thumb, Mr. Harnum ap- peared three times before Queen Victoria and the royal court of Kngland. as well as the princii)al po- tentates of Europe then living. In 18.51 he organized the Great Asiatic Caravan, Museum, and Menagerie; in 1852 became part-owner of the first illustrated i)aper jmblished in New York, and about this time also was president of the Crystal Palace Association. In 18.51 he purchased a tract of land consisting of several hundred acres, where now is located the thriving city of East Bridgeport, laid out the entire property in regular streets, lined them with trees, reserving a beautiful grove of six or eight acres, which he inclosed and converted into a pub- lic park, which he jiresented to the city, and began the sale of lots, thus becoming the founder of one of the leading manufacturing cities in New England. Through his instrumentality a clock company from Litchfield, Conn., was removed to the embryo city and reorganized as the " Terry & Barnum Manufac- turing Company," and in 1855 he received a ])roi)o- sition from a citizen of New Haven that the Jerome Clock Conij)any, then reputed to be a wealthy con- cern, should be removeil to East Bridgep')rt. The result is briefly told. He advanced a large sum of money to the company, the rotten concern finally came down with a crash, and V. T. Barnum was a ruined man. .So at the age of forty-six, after the acquisition and loss of a handsome fortune, he was once more nearly at the bottom of the ladder, an<l was about to begin the world again. The situation was certainly dis- heartening, but he had energy, experience, health, and ho|ie. In 1.*<.57 he again .set sail for England, taking with him (rcn. Tom Thumb, where he remained several years, and accumulated considerable money. He also, while abroad, delivered his fannms lecture on "The -Vrt of Money-* tetting" in London and various other cities, and was finally offered six thousand dol- lars for the manus<'ript by a publishing-house, which he refused. In 18-59 lie returned to America, and, haviuL' re- deemed his propertj', on the 31st of March '" Bar- nuni's Museum" was reopened under the management and proprietorship of its original owner. Barnum was on his feet again, and congratulations poured in from friends at home and abroad. The museum was continued by Mr. Barnum with great success until .July l.'J, 18(55, when it was totally destroyed by fire. Although his old friend, the lamented (ireeley, of the Tribune, advised him to " accept this fire as a notice to quit and go a-fishing," he failed to accept the ad- vice, and soon after leased the premises 5.'55, 537, ami .53!) Broadway, New York, known as the Chinese Mu- seum buildings, and in less than three months had converted the building into a coniniodiou< museum and lecture-room. He soon after made arrangements with the renowned Van Amburgh ^Icnagerie Com- pany to unite their entire collections with the mu- seum, and the comj>any was known as the Barnum & Van Amburgh Museum Com|)any. This was also a success, and the monthly returns made to the collector of internal revenue showed that their re- ceijits were larger than those of any theatre or other ])lace of amusement in New York or America. The fire fiend again visited him, and on the morning of March 3, 1808, the museum was totally d&stroyed. He then followed Mr. Greeley's advice to "go a-tish- ing," and for about two years retired from active business, though he wa.s still more or less interested is numeroiLs enterprises. He traveled extensively, and seemed happy in the contemplation of the fact that he wiis a gentleman of elegant leisure. But nature will a.ssert itself To a robust, healthy man of forty years' active business life something else than "elegant leisure" is needed to satisfy. He could no longer remain inactive, and so in 1870 began the organization of an immense es- tablishment, comjn'ising a museum, a menagerie, car- avan, hippodrome, and circus of such proportions as to require five hundred men and horses to transport it through the country. In 1871 and '72 this already largest traveling show in the world was reorganized and greatly augmented, and to move it required seventy freight-cars, six passenger- ^-an. and three engines. Additions and attractive novi'llies have since been added, and " Bariium'i^ own ami only greatest show on earth" of 1880 is, indeed, the largest combination of circus, menagerie, and museum ever exhibited on either continent. Jlr. Barnum's ambition h.as always been to exhibit the greatest novelties at whatever cost, and to com- bine instruction with amusement. He never adver- tises attractions which he does not exhibit, thereby forming an honorable exception in his profession. He is careful to secure the best possible assistants, — honest, competent, and, like himself, clear-headed. .\t this present writing, although he has pa.ssed his seventieth birthday, he has just formed a combina- tion with The London Circus and ^lenagerie, the L'r.:i((-l show in tin- world except his own, and en- BKIDGEPOKT. 141 tiTod into a contract liimliiii; his licirs and executors for niiicty-iiine years to coiitiiuu' this immense cmii- bineil moral and refined travelina: sliow, — thus, as he says, hoping to trratif'y future generations witli a siglit of "Barnnm's greatest show on earth." At the present writing Mr. Barnum has all tlie vigor of middle life. and. having made arrangements which he thinks will sccnre the permanency of his great traveling nuiscum, UK'nagerie, and circus for many years after he is goni', he, in the summer of 1880, erected in Bridgeport huildings covering five acres of land for the headi[uartcrs and especially the wintering of his great show. Among these buildings is an "elephant house," containing a ring for the training of elephants, horses, ])onies, and otliir ani- mals, as well as for the ]iracticing of his circus-riders. Long rows of iron cages in adjoining buildings, heated by steam in winter, contain many huinlreds of the most valuable and rare wild beasts and birds in cap- tivity in any country. Politically, Mr. Barnum was a Democrat previous to the breaking out of the lielicUion, but since that time has acted with the Kcpublican party. He was elected to the General Assembly of Connecticut from the town of Fairfield in lS(io, and from Bridge]Mirt in 1877. In 1878 he again received the nomination for the same offi<'e. and. altlmngh in a l>enLocratii' <'ity, he was elected by a handsome majority. In 1875 he was elected mayor of Bridgeport, and, as he always has the best interests of the city at heart, it is needless to add that his administration was eminently .successful.