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John Charles Facer was a clown with a number of major circus, appearing as "Chuckles the Clown." Also an advance man for shows. Died July 5, 1984 at Fairfield, Iowa, age 49. Circus Report, December 10, 1984, p. 28. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

George F. Facto was on ring stock and drove a six horse hitch in the parades on the King and Cristiani circuses in the late 1950s. Died November 1, 1980 at Bennington, Vermont, age 90. Circus Report, November 24, 1980, p. 4. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

James Fahey was recently killed near New Albany, Ind. He attempted to board a rapidly moving train, but slipped and was caught under the wheels. Fahey was a well-known circus rider and has for years been doing a standing Roman riding act. He was on his way to join the Norris & Rowe Circus at the time of his death. Billboard, April 23, 1910, p. 18. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

I'm very interested in James Fahey for genealogy purposes. My name is Valerie (Fahey) Figart and this is my Great great uncle or grandfather! I found this newspaper clipping in pursuit of my family genealogy that mentions James Fahey and I traced my family line it to him, and would love any further information that you might have on James Patrick Fahey thank you!

Elmore Fain, for years assistant to Clyde Ingalls, has left the circus business, and become interested in an enterprise in his hometown, Lexington, Ky. Billboard, March 30, 1918, p. 29. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Thomas R. Fairchild, a circus performer, died March 29 [1903], at Chicago, from pneumonia, aged forty-one years. He spent the greater part of his life in the circus business, and started his career with the W. C. Coup Shows. He was connected with the Sells Bros.' Circus for fourteen years, and later with Washburn and Robinson Shows. He leaves a wife, mother and brother. Interment was at his home in Washington, Ind. New York Clipper, April 11, 1903, p. 170. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Steve Fanning was an elephant trainer with a number of circuses, including King-Cristiani and Cristiani-Wallace. He made news when he took the Bailey-Cristiani elephants to Alaska in 1954. In later years he was with the James E. Strates Shows. Died February 15, 1982 at Milton, Wisconsin. Circus Report, March 15, 1982, p. 7. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Farfans, Armando, Gino and Tato, aerialists, were in the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1978. Gino Farfan, Armando's son, at age 14, was made a member of the Junior Hall of Fame for his successful execution of the triple somersault. He also completed a three and one-half somersault. Son Tato, at age 9, performed a double somersault. Southern Sawdust, No. 96, August, 1978, p. 22. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Julio Farias, aerialist. By the time he was eight years old, he joined his family's flying act. He began working on the triple somersault at age ten and started throwing it on the Ringling Blue show in 1976. In 1978 he added the quadruple somersault to the net; and in 1980 he performed the 3 1/2 somersault. The family trapeze act included his father Fidel, mother Rosalba, sister Carmelina, and brother Tata. Died June 30, 1980 at age 16, from a fall while practicing the 3 /13 somersault at Tucson, Arizona. Circus Report, July 21, 1980, p. 18. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

I am Pedro Farias. That the brother I never met and both my parents are still living. I have been looking for any film or documents on my family in the circus. Can you help me out?

Donald Farnsworth (Kandy Kid), second man and assistant manager of the Barnum & Bailey annex, is now doing his bit for Uncle Sam. Billboard, June 29, 1918, p. 25. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Al Faulk and wife, wild west riders, Hagenbeck-Wallace 1924. White Tops, Vol. 16, Nos. 3-4 (Feb-Mar), 1943, p. 7. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Al Faulk worked at the Hagenbeck Wallace circus from at least 1918 to 1924 along with his wife Lena Hays Faulk. They were both passengers on the circus train involved in the Hammond, Indiana train wreck of 1918.
    Albert August Faulk was born in rural El Paso, Illinois December 26, 1883. His parents were Theodore and Eliza Maier Faulk. Al attended a one room country school near El Paso and worked on farms owned by his grandparents and parents.
    Around 1896, Albert joined Kemps Wild West Show. The Kemp family lived in El Paso, Illinois and Al was a friend of one of their sons. Al married Lena Hays in Greene County, Indiana March 7, 1908. In later years he worked with his wife in the Hagenbeck Wallace Circus and eventually worked at a riding academy in Cleveland, Ohio. Albert died September 30, 1968 in Cleveland. - Dennis Faulk.

Faust Family, re-engaged with Al. G. Field for next season. Billboard, June 2, 1900. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Tom Fay, a well-known boss canvas man, died at his mother's home at St. Charles, Minn., March 13, from heart failure. He had been ailing for the last two years, and had to leave the Campbell Bros.' Show last season, on account of bad health. He was born at Portland, Maine, March 27, 1852, and in 1872 he cast his lot in the show business, joining the Great Eastern Circus as canvas man. In 1876 he was with L. B. Lent's Circus; in '78 he was with W. W. Cole's Circus; in '79 with Forepaugh's Show; in 1880 he became boss canvas man with Burr Robbin's Circus. Since that time he has been with all the leading shows as a boss canvas man. His wife, one daughter, mother, two sisters and three brothers survive him. One brother is Wm. Fay, long known as a circus train master. New York Clipper, March 30, 1907, p. 166. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Anita Feeley, equestrienne, Ringling Bros., 1901.(1) Principal rider, Barnum & Bailey, 1903.(2) 1. Reno (NV) Evening Gazette, August 17, 1901. 2. Daily Review (Decatur, IL), September 23, 1903. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Mickey Feeley, acrobatic tumbling, vaudeville, 1905.(1) "Mickey" Feeley, rider, Norris & Rowe, 1908.(2) 1. Oakland (CA) Tribune, November 15, 1905. 2. Centralia (Washington) Daily Chronicle, June 1, 1908. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

R. E. Felton, bandleader, Gollmar Bros., 1910. Iowa City (IA) Daily Press, May 24, 1910. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

W. E. Ferguson (Bob), general agent, Pawnee Bill Shows, 1900. Billboard, June 23, 1900. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

George Ferrel, special agent for Sun Bros.' Circus last season, has located at Findlay, O. Billboard, February 16, 1918, p. 32. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Theodore Ferris, lion tamer, boss animal man, just returned from Orrin Bros., City of Mexico, takes charge of the animals with the Great Wallace Show, 1900. New York Clipper, March 17, 1900. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Al G. Field, minstrel magnate, used to be a clown in the Sells Bros.' and Wallace shows. Billboard, January 19, 1918, p. 29. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Josh Filkins, clown, John H. Sparks Shows, 1909. Gettysburg (PA) Times, June 21, 1909. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Henry Fillmore, trombone player, composer. Said his first circus job was to repair a broken down calliope, then became a member of that circus' band. When a performer became ill, Fillmore filled in riding a bicycle down an incline and leaping the gap. "Wallenda Tent of Madison, Wisconsin Honors Former Circus Bandmasters," White Tops, Vol. 14, Nos. 4-5 (Feb-Mar), 1941, p. 10. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Mlle. Fini, rider, Norris & Rowe, 1908. Anaconda (MT) Standard, June 30, 1908; Centralia (Washington) Daily Chronicle, June 1, 1908. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Harry Fink celebrated his 95th birthday in September 1979. In his early days he was in charge of the privilege car on Buffalo Bill Wild West and later Miller 101 Ranch. Was also with Hagenbeck-Wallace, Sells-Floto and Barnum & Bailey. Circus Report, September 17, 1979, p. 17. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

C. W. Finley, contracting agent, Forepaugh-Sells, 1911. Newark (OH) Daily Advocate, April 11 & 25, 1911. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

P. J. Finn, billposter, John Robinson circus, 1911. Fort Wayne (IN) Sentinel, May 13, 1911. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

George Fisher, 24 hour man, Buckskin Bill's Wild West, 1900. Billboard, May 21, 1900. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Charles W. Fish is perhaps the most widely known circus performer in the entire world. Mr. Fish has rode his superb acts of equestrianism in almost every civilized country of the globe, and everywhere has been acknowledged the champion of bareback riding. Among his noted European successes was his appearance before Queen Victoria and royal household at Windsor Castle. He has also appeared before many of the crowned heads and nobility of the Continent. Mr. Fish possesses a number of accomplishments that distinguish him in many ways. He is a very well-informed linguist and an artist of considerable ability. Many of his sketches portraying scenes of travel are acknowledged to be gems of art. Mr. Fish is also a literary genius and the author of a number of poems and other literary efforts that show him a man of remarkable natural literary ability. In addition to these, he is an amateur musician of much cultivation and capability and particularly delights in the dulcet tones he wins from the violin. Offical Route Book of Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Railroad Shows, Season of 1893, Buffalo, NY: Courier Co., 1893.

It is eminently fitting that Charles W. Fish, whose death occurred in Chicago on May 5, 1895, should have a place on these pages. For three seasons he was a feature of this show, and had he lived would have been with the show during the season of 1895. [Ringling Bros.] Mr. Fish was one of the most widely known circus performers in the world. He had during his long career visited every civilized country, and his marvelous ability as a somersault equestrian won him the well-deserved title of champion wherever he appeared. He was especially proud of the fact that he had appeared before Queen Victoria and the royal family at Windsor by the Queen’s especial command, and though he was intensely American in spirit, he always recalled his visit to the English sovereign with pleasure. He also appeared before many of the continental crowned heads, and received many marks of royal and imperial favor. He was a fine linguist, and an artist of considerable ability. A number of his sketches appeared in Ringling Brothers’ Route Book for 1894. As a literary man, Mr. Fish would have taken prominence if his life work had not been directed into a more active channel. His clever little poem, “A Light House by the Sea,” which appeared in the Route Book in 1893, was always much admired. Mr. Fish was buried at Troy, New York. From: With the Circus. A Route Book of Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Railroad Shows, Seasons of 1895 and 1896, St. Louis: Great Western Printing Co. By Alf T. Ringling. All information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Clyde V. Fisher & Emily Vecchi. A "Ringling romance" was the marriage of Clyde V. Noble, professionally known as Clyde V. Fisher of the Five Flying Fishers, aerialists, and Emily Vecchi of the Kaufmann troupe of cyclists. Even so, the strict rules which governed the conduct of unmarried performers of the circus at the beginning of the 20th century, made their courtship difficult and perhaps more prolonged. As Mr. Noble now recalls: "It was almost impossible for a young man and a young lady with the show to do much courting, as it was strictly against the rules of the show, and although both the Flying Fishers and the Kaufmann troupe were featured acts, it made no difference. We did get a chance to at least see each other ones in a while by slipping away from the lot. But Emily was solo rider in the act and the troupe depended upon her. For this reason, she was looked after pretty closely as Mr. Kaufmann did not want to lose his principal rider."
          The Flying Fishers had joined the Ringling show when it first went on rails in the early 90's, and Clyde became a member in 1904 when he was still in his teens. It was the same season that John Ringling took over the booking of new acts and his first foreign importation was the Kaufmann troupe managed by Nick Kaufmann, which was signed for the 1904 and 1905 seasons. So it was during their first year with the Ringling show that Clyde and Emily met on the lot and their romance began to bud. But Emily went back to Europe at the end of the 1905 season to join an all-girl troupe Kaufmann had organized and the courtship was confined to an exchange of letters for the next three years, during which Miss Vecchi traveled with her troupe through Russia, Germany. France, Belgium and England, while young Noble and his Five Flying Fishers, which he inherited on the death of his brother Charles, with Ringling Brothers, Adam Forepaugh-Sells Bros, and Barnum & Bailey circuses, all then owned by the Ringlings. At the end of the 1908 season, Miss Vecchi left the troupe and came hack to the United States, being married to Mr. Noble on November 10, 1908, in New York City.
          It was at the end of the 1918 season just as World War I was coming to the close, that Mr. and Mrs. Noble retired finally from circus business and returned to his birthplace, Bloomington, Illinois, to make their home. In the 32 years that have passed since they quit the land of sawdust and canvas, they have been prominent and useful citizens of Bloomington. Through the foresight of Mr. Noble's mother, he was apprenticed to a jeweler to learn the jewelry engraver's trade when he was 13 years of age, and he spent four years in the store doing so. So when the Nobles quit show business, he started a jewelry store in his home town and Mrs. Noble served as clerk. They operated the store until 1941, and have since lived in retirement in their beautiful home, spending their winters in Florida. Both have been active in civic and social affairs. Mr. Noble was long a member of the Rotary club and a member of the board of directors. In 1932 he was president of the Young Men's Luncheon club and during World War II, served as county chairman of the Red Cross. As a director of the Association of Commerce, he was chairman of the retail interests committee for several years. He was one of the founders of the Community Players, a dramatic club, and was for three years president of this group. He was the first makeup man with "The American Passion Play", of nationwide fame, produced by the Consistory in Bloomington, and presented throughout the country. Both Mr. and Mrs. Noble are members of the Bloomington Country club.
          He maintains a close connection with his old profession, for Bloomington is today as it was half a century ago, the home of most of the flying return acts traveling with American shows. During the winter months, scores of aerial performers who call Bloomington home, return there to practice for the new season and Clyde Noble is a frequent spectator, reminiscing with former fellow performers on the old days, and marveling at the intrepidity of the youthful fliers, many of them born since he retired from the profession.
          It was back in 1875 that first enthusiasm for the circus in Bloomington was generated, that led eventually to Clyde Noble becoming a featured aerialist. Two grammar school lads, Fred and Howard Green, were en route to school one morning when they came to a barn on which appeared the first circus posters they had ever seen. They became enthusiastic over the prospects of seeing the wonders pictured on the multi-colored banners, and when the circus came to town, they were among the first on the lot and the last to leave. In a matter of months they had learned a Roman ladder act and traveled with circuses in this country and in Europe. Having heard of the Hanlon brothers' passing trapeze act while abroad, they came home with the idea of doing a similar act. They practiced in their father's hayloft and went on the road as the LaVan brothers. Quite a few Bloomington youths became interested in circus acts, including Charlie Noble, and he was soon on the road with Harry Green in a horizontal bar act. Another lad, Fred Miltemore. watching Noble and Green in practice, conceived the idea for the first flying return act, in which a catcher, hanging head downward from one trapeze, catches a flying partner leaving a trapeze bar, and returns him to the bar. He and Charlie Noble built a rigging and used a fishermen's net for safety. It was from this net that they evolved the name Fisher Brothers for their professional title. The act was first presented with Cook and Whitney Circus, and was with the Great Wallace and King and Franklin shows before they went with the Ringlings in the early 90's, when that circus first became a railroad show. Fred Miltemore suffered a broken leg and retired, and Charlie Noble took over the act, which had three members. It was in 1904 then that Clyde Noble joined his brother. The act remained with Ringling Brothers until 1909, and Clyde Noble became owner when his brother, Charlie, died in 1908.
          Mrs. Noble was born on Church street in the heart of the theatrical district of London, daughter of Enrico and Emily Knoles Vecchi. Her father operated a hotel only a few blocks from the Hippodrome theatre and a few doors from the Shaftsboro Avenue theatre. When six years of age, Emily attended Nolan's dancing school, made famous by the fact that Adeline Geanea, England's greatest ballet dancer, had been a pupil of the school. When Emily was eight years of age, Ben Greet, one of England's greatest tragedians, was looking for a child to take a part in his Shakespearian plays, and he visited Nolan's studio, where he selected Emily to join his troupe. From the Greet Players, she went to the English pantomime, Sir Cooper's "Robinson Crusoe" and later appeared at the opening of the London Hippodrome in "Giddy Ostend." It was while playing this engagement she joined the Kaufmann troupe of cyclists and went on to become one of the world's greatest lady cyclists, appearing before practically all the crowned heads of Europe.
          After the Nobles' marriage in the fall of 1908, they left the Ringling show, and the Flying Fishers, now reduced to three members, were booked in parks and at fairs for outdoor engagements by the Barnes & Caruthers booking agency in Chicago. In 1910, Mr. Noble arranged for his wife's two sisters, Roma and Margareta Vecchi, who had been members of the Kaufmann troupe, to come to the United States and the three sisters and Mr. Noble developed a bicycle act which played the Keith and Orpheum vaudeville circuits as the La Petite Emilie Troupe. Mrs. Noble's sisters returned to England after the 1911 season and in 1912, Mr. Noble reorganized his flying return act for foreign engagements. They were booked in England, opening at the Leicester Square Empire theatre in August, 1912, for an engagement of 16 weeks. While there, Mr. Noble contracted five years of bookings in Europe, but when World War I broke out in 1914, the troupe returned to the United States and played vaudeville and outdoor engagements during the war years, preceding their final retirement from the field late in 1918.
          Mr. and Mrs. Noble have numerous scrapbooks filled with pictures and clippings having to do with their triumphs under the big tops and on the vaudeville stage of many years ago and Mr. Noble has written the history of Bloornington as "The Home of the Man on the Flying Trapeze." The Nobles, in their middle 60's, have had lengthy careers in both the show world and in business. Dignified in appearance, but congenial and pleasant, they have many friends in their home town and a visitor can spend no more interesting and entertaining evening than with the Clyde V. Nobles of 507 South Moore street, Bloomington, Illinois. - A. Morton Smith, "Circus Stars of Yesteryears, V. Clyde V. Fisher & Emily Vecchi" Hobbies, November 1950, pp. 24-25. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Gottleib J. Fischer and his wife toured with the Ringling-Barnum Circus as the "Tallest Married Couple." Born in Germany, 1907, died October 7, 1988 at Sarasota, Florida, age 81. Circus Report, May 8, 1989, p. 34. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Minnie Fisher, the original, has returned from a three months' engagement with the Santos & Artigas Circus in Cuba, and is at home in Beaumont, Tex., where she will remain until the opening of the John Robinson Circus, her third season with the Ten Big. Next winter Miss Fisher contemplates returning to the island with a three-girl revolving act, as well as her single act and slide for life. Billboard, March 16, 1918, p. 28. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Dode Fisk
    Dode Fisk, late circus owner, has a traveling dance orchestra on the road in Wisconsin. His home is at Wonewoc, Wis. Billboard, February 9, 1918, p. 31.
    Dode Fisk, proprietor, Fisk's Great Combined Shows, died December 31, 1940 at Columbis, Ohio. Rev. William S. Waddell ("Doc") told the nearly 300 attending the funeral to heed the placard hanging above the coffin: "No crying or whispering. Laugh! Talk! Walk around and have a good time." "Dode Fisk Had Unique Funeral," White Tops, Vol. 14, Nos. 4-5 (Feb-Mar), 1941, p. 2. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Herman A. Fistler, formerly a circus performer, died at his home in Milwaukee, Wis., from the effects of heat, July 18 [1905], aged seventy-two years. Mr. Fistler had been an artist for the past thirty years, being one of the earliest poster engravers in the country. He was said to have been fabulously rich at one time, having made and lost a fortune in the circus business. John Hamlin was at one time part manger with him in a circus which toured America and Europe. In his day he was noted as one of the best clown and minstrel performers before the public. Two years ago it was necessary for him to have one of his legs amputated, and since that time he has been failing. He, however, continued in the employ of the American Show Print Co., at Milwaukee, with which he had been for the past ten years. Mr. Fistler was one of the charter members of the Elks, and held a membership in Chicago Lodge No. 4. He was married twice and had a large family of sons and daughter. Interment was at Milwaukee. New York Clipper, September 9, 1905, p. 730. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this person.

Daniel J. Fitzgerald was assistant manager of the Walter L. Main circus. Born in Massachusetts in 1852 with a longing for the show business. Married in 1882 to Carrie Mueller, professionally known as "Carrie Armstrong." He was a well-known showman and among the enterprizes, of some importance, with which he was connected, were Barnum and Bailey, Royal Italian Circus, W. W. Cole, Sherman and Hinman, Reynolds' Enterprises, Walter L. Main's circuses and Denby's Trans-Continental. He was a partner in the circus conducted and known as Friar, Gaylord and Fitzgerald. In the course of his career as a showman he travelled extensively in Europe, Asia, Australia, South America, Canada, Mexico and the United States. He died August 6, 1904. Circus Scrap Book, No. 11 (Jul), 1931, p. 21. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Frank Fizzell was an elephant man with Ringling-Barnum and train master with Dailey Bros. Circus. After he retired, he worked as a commercial decorator. Died March 3, 1977 at Houston, Texas, age 63. Circus Report, April 18, 1977, p. 6. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

George Flatt, cornet player, formerly with B. & B. and Santos & Artigas Circus in Cuba, has opened a tailor shop in Reading, Pa. Billboard, March 8, 1919, p. 30. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Chas. A. Flemm.
    Charles (Shorty ) Flemm, the Hebrew clown, has been working vaudeville circuits, but this summer will again be with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus. Billboard, March 2, 1918, p. 29.
    Chas. A. Flemm, clown, Hagenbeck-Wallace 1924. White Tops, Vol. 16, Nos. 3-4 (Feb-Mar), 1943, p. 7. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Florence Troupe, acrobats, Hargraves' Big Railroad Shows, 1904. Bucks County Gazette (Bristol, PA), April 28, 1904. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Thelma Clydia Floyd, "Babe," was a member of the Riding Guices for 25 years, traveling with John Robinson, Sells-Floto, Sparks and Ringling circuses. Died May 9, 1982 at Jacksonville, Florida, age 80. She was the wife of William Ray Floyd. Circus Report, June 21, 1982, p. 12. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

My Grandmother Thelma Clydia Floyd did not die in Jacksonville, Fl. She was living with her daughter Avis Hart in St. Augustine, FL. - Clydia Hart Jacobsen

Jack Foley is the oldest jockey with the Ringling Bros. show, or rather, he has been with the show more years than any other in his line. He rides against the other jockeys with an enthusiasm that helps make this feature of the hippodrome a “hot ’un,” and in the Roman standing races is equally eager for the flag of victory. He is a resident of Indianapolis, Ind. Offical Route Book of Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Railroad Shows, Season of 1893, Buffalo, NY: Courier Co., 1893. Foley was still with Ringlin Bros. in 1907, 1908. Oakland (CA) Tribune, September 2, 1907; Decatur (IL) Daily Review, August 18, 1908. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Two Ford brothers, of Oregon (IN), in the band with Gollmar Bros., 1911. Fort Wayne (IN) Journal-Gazette, May 20, 1911. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Alford Ford, "Shorty," well known in the circus world as a candy butcher, died November 24 at East St. Louis, Ill., age 36. He spent the greater part of his life with circuses, having been with Prairie Lillie and Nebraska Bill's Shows, Sig. Sautelle, Welch Bros., Wyoming Bill, Barton & Bailey, two years with Cole Bros., and the past season with Hugo Bros. Shows. His home was at Frankfort, Pa. Billboard, December 14, 1918, p. 29. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Dick Ford, clown, Cole Bros., 1909. Daily Independent (Monessen, PA), April 28, 1909. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Lee Ford, wild west rider, Hagenbeck-Wallace 1924. White Tops, Vol. 16, Nos. 3-4 (Feb-Mar), 1943, p. 7. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Walter Ford, formerly on the Cole Bros.' advance, is advertising agent at the Gayety Theater, Baltimore, Md. Billboard, March 16, 1918, p. 30. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Whitey Ford, "Duke of Paducah," radio comic, purchased half interest in Lewis Bros. Circus in 1942. To be featured with the circus. "Buys Interest in Lewis Show," White Tops, Vol. 15, Nos. 3-4 (Feb-Mar), 1941, p. 14. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Adam Forepaugh Sr., proprietor of the well known circus and menagerie known as Forepaugh’s Aggregation, was born in Philadelphia, Feb. 28, 1831. He began life as a butcher boy in the employ of one John Hinkle, at a salary of four dollars a month and his board. At the age of sixteen he ran away from home and went to work with John Butcher, a butcher in Cincinnati, who by the way, is still living in Crawfordsville, Indiana. Young Adam remained in his employ for a year and a half receiving fifty dollars for the first month and one hundred dollars a month the rest of his term. Leaving Cincinnati, he entered the employ of John Gray, a butcher and horse dealer. Returning to Philadelphia, he was in the butcher business up to 1848, when he embarked in running stage lines, and continued therein up to 1854. While in the omnibus business, Mr. Forepaugh dealt in horses and cattle, and bought and sold in a single year as many as ten thousand horses. In 1861 he sold to John O’Brien, who was running a small wagon show, sixty-two horses for $9,000 and took as part payment an interest in the show. At this time Mr. Forepaugh had no idea of permanently embarking in the show business, but visiting the O’Brien show in Pittsburg, he purchased the same, and buying Jerry Mabie’s menagerie, combined the two which formed the nucleus of the now leviathan proportioned great Forepaugh Show. The Mabie purchase consisted of two elephants and eight animals, for which he paid $42,000, and the property was delivered to him at Twelfth and State streets, Chicago, on the very day of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Desiring a name to attract patronage, Dan Rice was secured, at a salary of $1,000 a week for thirty weeks, and at this figure he remained in Mr. Forepaugh’s employ for three seasons. For eight years the earning of the show were invested in its enlargement. Mr. Forepaugh increased the number of cages on exhibition until they numbered twenty when the veteran managers declared that he was on the road to ruin. Next the number was increased to thirty, and at last to forty-four. Up to 1876 the Aggregation had moved by wagon, but having now reached such gigantic proportions, he had constructed his own trains of sleeping coach, flat, box and stock cars, as well as a specil car for the transportation of his business agents and advertisers. Of late years Mr. Forepaugh has increased his menagerie each season by direct importations from the wild-beast dealers of Europe. It is his boast that he "owns, controls and exhibits more wild animals and individually possesses more show property than any other single person or firm in the world." During the past Winter his establishment was entirely refitted and repainted, and the features of the procession increased by three new tableau-cars of elegant design, and massive proportions. It is a remarkable fact that during Mr. Forepaugh’s managerial career he has never suffered a financial reverse, but during the past fifteen years has continued to add to his fortune. He is a large real-estate holder in Philadelphia and Brooklyn, and in the former, his native city, he owns nearly one hundred houses, making his real-estate possessions. Manager Forepaugh is eminently a practical man. During the traveling season he is rarely absent from his show, paying the greatest attention to even the most minute details, and giving everything his personal supervision. Possessed of a stalwart frame, perfect health, and a sanguine temperament, he despatches business without fatigue or a thought that it is work. His great hobby is the menagerie, and no sum of money is too great if the exigency incites him to outdo a rival. At this writing, in addition to a very large and valuable collection of animals, his menagerie contains no fewer than eleven elephants. The name of Adam Forepaugh the showman may well be added to the roll of self-made men of whom America is so justly proud. Beginning life as a butcher boy, working for four dollars a month, he now counts his fortune by the hundreds of thousands, and fills a worthy mission by furnishing employment to hundreds and amusement and instruction to the nation. Clipper, July 31, 1880. Information should be checked with additional sources

Adam Forepaugh, whose fame has reached the limits of every continent, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., February 28, 1831, and died at his home in that city, on January 22, 1890. He received only such tuition in his earlier years as was at that time afforded the children of the poor.
       He began his career as a butcher’s apprentice at the meagre salary of four dollars per month and board. At the age of sixteen he went West and worked in the meat market of Mr. John Butcher, in Cincinnati, who still lives in the thrifty little city of Crawfordsville, Indiana. He remained with his new employer for a year and a half, receiving fifty dollars for the first month and one hundred dollars a month the remainder of the time. Returning to Philadelphia, he went into the butcher business for himself and in a little time obtained an interest in a stage line. After that he started new lines, and in 1854, was sole owner of the whole business.
       While in the omnibus business, Mr. Forepaugh bought and sold horses and cattle, selling as many as ten thousand horses in one year. For this occupation he was especially adapted and like the Sells Brothers, Ephriam, William Allen, Lewis and Peter, Uncle John Robinson and Benjamin E. Wallace, was known to all horse dealers the country over. It was said at this time "there was no better judge of horseflesh living than Adam Forepaugh." At a single glance he could tell the age, disposition, and good or bad qualities of a horse. In 1861, he sold Mr. Daniel Timms, a showman, $8,000 worth of horses and took a mortgage on the concern in part payment.
       At this time he had no idea of ever embarking in the show business and it was the turning point in his life. The showman failed to pay the obligation, and after some months of delay, Mr. Forepaugh went to Pittsburg, Pa., where he bought the entire concern, a small affair, to save the debt it owed him. He managed it for awhile with some degree of success, but as certained after a little time that it was too small an exhibition to please the public and win success. He then at once bought out the then well known Jerry T. Mabies Menagerie, which boasted of two elephants and a few animals, paying $42,000 in cash. This was considered a large amount in those days and would now outfit a small circus at this day’s writing. The two shows were consolidated. He then secured the services of the veteran jester, the original and only Daniel (Mac Larren) Rice, the most famous showman and Shakespearean clown of his day, at a weekly salary of $1,000. This salary has never been equaled by any living or dead clown or any circus performer. The business was instantly enormous, and Dan Rice was the card for three seasons.
       The entire earning of the first eight years were appropriated to the enlargement of the show. There were twenty cages, then forty, and finally forty-four, requiring hundreds more of horses, employees, etc.
       I might say right here that just taking "five special features" out of the many that the show developed outshined those of any other traveling competitors.
       First, he displayed 40 dun colored horses hitched to a band wagon and driven by one man; horses placed four abreast. A beautiful spectacle.
       Second, twenty-eight horses in the ring at one time, driven by one man.
       Third, twenty-four elephants, 12 in each ring, giving a military drill, both rings being captained by Mr. Adam Forepaugh, Jr., standing outside of and between each ring. This act has never been equaled by any present day circus company.
       Fourth, parade was led by two beautiful fill-blooded zebras, hitched to a specially constructed riding trap.
       Fifth, Adam Forepaugh, Jr., "Blondin" horse, trained to walk a tight rope, first appeared in 1886.
       Mr. Forepaugh was also the lessee of Madison Square Garden for six years. This place is known as the greatest money getting show grounds in the world.
       There were rival managers in those days the same as now, that insisted that it was absolute and certain ruin to the ambitious manager, but Mr. Forepaugh devoting all his energies to his vocation, did not fear for the future. He knew, and was the first to demonstrate it, that the public is willing and anxious to reward great effort. Up to 1876, the Adam Forepaugh Shows, the acknowledged leading exhibition enterprise of the New World, had moved over the country, traversing every state east of the Rocky Mountains with wagons. It had, however, assumed such tremendous proportions, that its now opulent proprietor concluded to originate a more efficient mode of transportation. He contracted for and had expressly built on his own plan, forty cars, each car measuring sixty feet in length. Henceforth the show traveled exclusively by railroad, thus nearly every year reaching and exhibiting in almost every city in the Union.
       Adam Forepaugh, as a man amongst men, was known as being shrewd, incisive, intense and cyclonic, as well as logical, philosophical and thoroughly informed. Facts fill his historical magazine of useful works. He used to smile at his own success. "I know," he would say, "how to select my associates."
       It is natural for a big showman, though his army of employees to find that the development of mankind must be sudden so that the "make good one" shows an almost instant exposure upon the film of circus life, and it was here that Adam Forepaugh excelled over many competitors. He practically introduced to the circus world’s work such men as George Steel, Frank Hyatt, Charles Davis, Robert G. Campbell, Jay Rial, Charles Brooks, J. E. Warner, John Justice, Theo. A. Moore, Dave Watts, W. W. Durand, George W. Goodhart, George S. Cole, Charles W. Seely, Fred Fisher, George Fish, William Dale, Albert Reil, Charles H. Day, John B. Doris, Adam Forepaugh, Jr., Louis E. Cooke, S. H. (PoP) Semon, Hugh Coyle, Richard P. Jones, and numerous others.
       Now I do not wish to be misquoted or misunderstood in the above statement claiming that the first services of all the above named gentlemen who have become famous in their different lines of duty began with the Adam Forepaugh Shows, but I do know that it was under the "4-Paw banner" that their greatest life lessons were taught, which enabled them to accomplish the work that gave to each man his "sesame" to their present high and noble positions. No matter with what companies these gentlemen may now be employed.
       The brightest days of the Barnum Shows can not possibly outshine those of the famous 4-Paw company, in fact, to tell the truth, the "4-Paw’s," as a money-maker, simply eclipsed them all. Without fear of contradiction it may be said that at the time of Forepaugh’s sale of his Twentieth Century Colossus Menagerie and Hippodrome Circus to the Bailey and Cole business interests, the menagerie alone afforded an opportunity for a close, practical study of zoology, for it was the finest selection and collection of rare wild beasts in existence and was offered to an intelligent public as a living encyclopedia of natural history. . . .
       During the traveling season Mr. Forepaugh was always found with the show. Seated in an arm-chair behind his doorkeepers, his ruddy face and genial smile affected the scene, as does merry sunshine. Possessed of stalwart physique, perfect health, tremendous powers of endurance, an great industry, he dispensed business rapidly and without fatigue. Happy at home with a brigh and cheerful family, worth millions, admired by the public, and respected and beloved by his friends and neighbors, Adam Forepaugh lacked no essential to make him envied.
       The late Judge H. P. Ingalls, of Bellefontaine, Ohio, had the first museum, now called side shows, with the Adam Forepaugh’s Show and after leaving the show business in the seventies, he became superintendent of the Cincinnati Zoological Gardens, under the management of Julian Dexter, the president. Mr. Forepaugh’s only partner was John O’Brien, who, on account of the enormous salary paid the famous Dan Rice, withdrew from said partnership.
       In 1881, there was a tri-cornered battle of real evens in the circus field. The contestants being W. C. Coup’s circus with a hippodrome, Barnum, Bailey and Hutchinson, the first year of this firm, and the first that Mr. Bailey has secured the Barnum name. Adam Forepaugh had the $10,000 beauty, Louise Montague.
       B. F. Keith, his first appearance in show business, was a great friend and advisor of Mr. Forepaugh.
       There was a continuous clash in all the large cities for nearly forty weeks by these three institutions, two of them merely circuses and menageries, the other a great show, Coup’s Hippodrome. Adam Forepaugh not only breasted the continuous hurricane, but topped one million dollars, ($1,000,000) in receipts, the first company to ever reach that figure and the only one since, in a single season. For the sale of the beauty’s photographs alone the sum of $150,000 was realized.
         Messrs. Fifer an Phillips, of Bloomington, Illinois, were Adam Forepaugh’s lawyers. They caused the Barnum people to pay $5,000 damages to Forepaugh, $2,500 their fees, and an agreement to divide the circus territory in future, to release their people who were then detained in jail for four days. Thus ended the greatest circus war of the past gone days. Will history repeat itself to the coming generations? I wonder.
       John Worland, leaper, with the Adam Forepaugh Circus, at New Haven, Conn., accomplished the triple somersault, October 9, 1884. - Traber, J. Milton, "Adam Forepaugh’s Life," Billboard, October 8, 1910, p. 13. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Theabald "Theo" Forstall died on August 7, 1973 at the age of 80. He was an outstanding circus accountant and secretary, having been with such shows as Howes Great London, John Robinson, Lee Bros., Gentry-Patterson, Al G. Barnes, Arthur Bros, and Ringling-Barnum where he worked for fifteen years. In the early 1960's he was with the Beatty-Cole Circus and in recent years was concession secretary for the Century 21 carnival. A graduate of Lehigh University in 1916, in 1917 he joined the Rutherford Greater Shows, a carnival owned by Harry Polack, as the manager and talker on a girl show. He toured a vaudeville troupe in 1917 under the title of Mack & Forstall's Mirthmakers. Survived by his wife, Peggy, and two daughters, as well as many dear friends including C. A. Sonnenberg. Bandwagon, Vol. 17, No. 6 (Nov-Dec), 1973, p. 43. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Doc Foster. Chicago, Feb. 2. "Doc" Foster, lecturer and side-showman, assistant manager of the Sells-Floto sideshows the past season, is now filling a position in a similar capacity in Chicago. "Doc" is assistant to manager Dan Reed, of the St. Francis Hotel. "Doc" is an oldtimer in the outdoor show business. Billboard, February 9, 1918, p. 30. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

L. D. Foster, formerly of the John Robinson, Dakota Max, Buckskin Bill and other Wild West shows, a roper, trick and fancy, and bronk rider. He is now serving the colors at Fort Oglethorpe, Ga. Billboard, September 28, 1918, p. 72. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Fosters, trapeze, vaulters, Forepaugh-Sells, 1910. Bedford (PA) Gazette, April 29, 1910; Charleroi (PA) Mail, April 28, 1910; New Castle (PA) News, April 29, 1910. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Alphonse Fournier was an acrobat who started his career with Ringling-Barnum in 1927. He also toured with Hagenbeck-Wallace and was in vaudeville. Died October 27, 1974 at Holyoke, Massachusetts. Circus Report, December 9, 1974, p. 9. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Bobby Fountain and Mrs. Johnnie Dunn, known as Sunshine, the Saxophone Girl, were married at Hope, Ark., September 20. Both are with Al G. Barnes' Circus. Billboard, September 28, 1918, p. 28. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Andre J. Fox was a horse trainer and rider with Ringling-Barnum and other circuses. Born in France, he came to the United States in 1949. He married trapeze artist La Norma. By 1970 he was assisting his wife in her aerial act, designing and building the mechanism and operating the act's equipment. Died February 12, 1986 at Sarasota, Florida, age 67. Circus Report, March 3, 1986, p. 20; St. Petersburh Times (Florida), May 20, 1970, p. 3B. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Frank Fox, contracting agent, Cooper & Co. Circus, 1900. Billboard, June 30, 1900. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Patsy Frank (Patricia Burger) was a horse show rider who first married William Tompkins, second, Tama Frank. Patsy and Tama presented trained horses and dogs, trick riding and roping and a knife throwing act. They toured with a number of circuses and operated their own Rodeo Circus Attractions for many years. Patsy retired during the 1960s-197s, then returned to work with carnivals. Died November 23, 1982 at Fayetteville, North Carolina, age 65. Circus Report, February 1, 1983, p. 22. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

W. E. Franklin, Great Wallace show, 1900; Sells-Floto, 1909, 1910. Billboard, August 11, 1900; Yuma (AZ) Examiner, April 16 & 17, 1909, April 23, 1910. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Franks, double swing, Forepaugh-Sells, 1910. Bedford (PA) Gazette, April 29, 1910; Charleroi (PA) Mail, April 28, 1910; New Castle (PA) News, April 29, 1910. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Bob Frazer. Long Branch, New Jersey, "Bob" Frazer, once noted as a pantomime clown, is preparing a children's carnival for the Ocean Hotel . . . The same Mr. Frazer, by the way expectes to introduce the Georgia wonder, Miss Hurst, to Long Branch during the coming week. New York Times, July 14, 1884. Bob Frazer, the clown, is a night watchman in the Custom House, Philadelphia. New York Clipper, April 14, 1894, p. 85. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

C. B. Fredericks (Butch), special representative of the Sparks Circus, got his start in the show game working in the cookhouse with the Sells Bros. back in 1875. Billboard, May 11, 1918, p. 45. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Emmelina Fredericks, a circus performer, died Sept. 14, from typhoid fever, at the Sisters' Hospital, Spokane, Wash., aged thirty years. She was a native of England, and was a daughter of William Fredericks, a well known circus proprietor. She came to this country from Australia four years ago, and, with her husband, Frank Schadel, has been engaged with the Ringling Brothers' Circus, doing a balancing trapeze act and principal riding act. Her husband and a five year old daughter survive her. New York Clipper, September 27, 1902, p. 677. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Sam Freed, with LaTena the past four seasons, has joined the Biff, Bang, Bing Burlesque Company. Billboard, March 16, 1918, p. 30.   Sam Freed, who was with the LaTena Circus the past three seasons and the past winter with Biff, Bing, Band Burlesque Show, is now at Camp Hancock, Augusta, Ga., a mess sergeant. Billboard, June 15, 1918, p. 27. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Forrest Dean Freeland was a freelance artist for newspapers, movies and circuses. He was art director for the Detroit Free Press, then joined the Fox Theaters. In 1939 he worked for Ringling-Barnum, designing posters and advertising. Later he worked for a number of circuses and carnivals. Died May 29, 1975 at Miami, Florida, age 76. Circus Report, June 23, 1975, p. 10. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Ethel Freeman, "Mickey," was an aerialist and bareback rider with a number of circuses, including Ringling-Barnum. Born in Queensland, Australia, she married Freddie Freeman. Died April 16, 1983 [see below] at Sarasota, Florida, age 77. Circus Report, May 30, 1983, p. 21. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Researcher note: I am a Family Tree researcher working on my Family Tree which includes Ethel Freeman (aka Mickey). "Mickey" was born Ethel Eleanor FOUNTAIN in Mount Morgan, Queensland on the 19 Feb 1906 (refer to Australian Birth Index, 1788-1922). Ethel married Bare-back Rider Frederick (Freddie) E. FREEMAN during 1922 in Sydney, Australia (when Ethel was only age 16). Immediately after the wedding they travelled to the USA to find work in the American Circus scene. “Mickey” worked from 1922 to 1945 with various Circuses (including Barnum & Bailey, Ringling Bros, Cole Brothers plus others) – with a period with world famous May Wirth. Later Ethel and husband Freddie Freeman (Bare-back Rider and later Clown) returned to the Circus (around 1948) with Ethel moving on to "Wardrobe Mistress" in later years. Ethel died on the 26th April 1983 in Sarasota, Florida (refer to the Florida Death Index, 1877-1998). - Bart Jones, Wellington, New Zealand

Freddie Freeman was with a number of major shows, working in riding acts and later as a clown. He retired from Ringling-Barnum in 1966. He was married to Mickey Freeman. Died September 30, 1977 at Sarasota, Florida. Circus Report, February 20, 1978, p. 6. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Researcher note: Possible relationship to Briggs Freeman mentioned in reference to Melbourne Zoo carousel? Briggs family name - brothers worked individually and as a group - generational changes of names of those related and still working with sideshow equipment etc. From - Jonathan Lewis, Berowra, NSW, Australia

Researcher note: Freddie Freeman - Born On Circus Lot, Still Famous Clown. Now With Polack Western. Hobby Bandwagon, Vol. 4, No. 6 (July), 1949, p. 3 states: "In 1913, they journeyed to Australia via South Africa and he was with the Wirths Circus until 1922, when he married Ethel Wirth, the adopted daughter of Philip Wirth, part owner of the Wirths Circus in Sydney, Australia." (This information about Ethel “WIRTH” is incorrect). Freddie married Ethel Eleanor FOUNTAIN during the early months of 1922 in Sydney Australia – refer to the Australian Marriage Index 1788-1950. It is likely that Ethel was a bare-back rider for Wirth’s Circus at this time – she was 16 years old - but there is little doubt that Ethel was not “adopted” as other documentation indicate that her Birth-Mother remained as her Mother). NOTE: Fredddy's elder brother James (Jimmmy) was "PIMPO" the Clown in Great Britain. On Sunday 4th February 2001 the "Worlds Fair Circus Awards Committee" named Jimmy FREEMAN "Pimpo" as "British Performer of the 20th Century." - From Bart Jones, Wellington New Zealand - email: bart.jones@xtra.co.nz

Max Freeman, band leader, King & Tucker Circus, 1910. Cambridge (IN) City Tribune, March 7, 1910. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Mlle. French, bicycle on tight wire, revolving ball on spiral, Wallace Shows, 1900. Billboard, June 16, 1900. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Kimiko French, acrobat, was a member of the Yokoi family who were with Hamid-Morton Circus in the mid-1950s. An earlier generation of this family, the Yokoi Trio, were with the Walter L. Main Circus in 1928. When she was young, Kimiko, her brother George Yokoi, and other family members were cyclists with a number of circuses, including Ringling-Barnum. Kimiko died January 8, 1990 at North Bergen, New Jersey, age 51. Circus Report, January 29, 1990, p. 28. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Frezio, German age 23, daredevil act, slides down ramp from dome of Madison Square Garden head first, turns somersault and lands on feet, Buffalo Bill's Wild West, 1909. San Antonio (TX) Light and Gazette, May 26, 1909 Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Lowell E. Frisbie, "Curley," was a sideshow performer, at one time holding a record for sword swallowing. He began at age 15 with his family's circus. He worked on the Ringling sideshow as the "World's Youngest Sword Swallower." He was with Monroe's 10-in-1 Shows, Hennen's Hells Belles Show, Dean Potter's Circus of the Fantastic, and Jeff Murray's Worlds Fair Freaks. Died May 19, 1987 at Fresno, California, age 60. Circus Report, July 6, 1987, p. 8. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Sig. Frisco. Among the vast number of performers who “act up” in the rings of the Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Show there is only one Mexican artist. Sig. Frisco is an aerialist of wonderful nerve and accuracy, and performs his difficult acts on the trapeze and on the pendulating perch with an abandonment and apparent fearlessness of danger that carries the audience with a thrilling enthusiasm not usually produced even by such danger-defying acts. Offical Route Book of Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Railroad Shows, Season of 1893, Buffalo, NY: Courier Co., 1893. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Max Fritts (Fritz), who was connected with the Hagenbeck-Wallace and Sells-Floto circuses, died February 15 at his home, Pittsburg, Kan. He was born in Paragould, Ark., August 25, 1893. Billboard, February 23, 1918, p. 74. Max Fritz, on the advance of the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus for several seasons, and engaged as special agent with the show for the coming season, died at Pittsburg, Kan., February 15, of double pneumonia. His funeral was held in Pittsburg, his home town. Billboard, March 9, 1918, p. 29. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Hyatt Frost was born March 4, 1827, in South East, Putnam County, N. Y., the home of so many shows and showmen. In 1835, Turner’s Circus, of Danbury, Connecticut, and Howe’s, of South East, exhibited in his native town. Of Turner’s establishment, Mr. Frost Says: "The circus then had just nine horses and four wagons. Eight hauled the entire show, and one very fine ring horse was led over the road. The bandsmen put up the tent and the performers made the ring. The artists dressed at the hotels and made a procession on horseback. The admission was twenty-five cents, children half price. Nathan Howes soon followed Turner with a larger and more gorgeous show. Size of then, sixty feet round top; seats four tiers high, twenty foot dressing room, and a four horse band wagon. Howe and Mabie’s establishment in Patterson, N. Y., was the next to arouse the youthful Frost’s ardor to become a circusite; and he was about to run away from home and become a showman when his father died, and the family moved to Connersville, Indiana. This for a time put a stop to his ambition. In 1845, Rockwell and Howe came West and wintered in Cincinnati, and the next year Raymond & Company’s Menagerie (A. Hunt, manager, with Herr Driesbach as lion king) quartered in the same city. The circus fever again struck young Frost, and he joined out with the latter to "travel and see the country." From that day on he was connected with the same organization, although the firm and title had many changes. During his managerial career, Mr. Frost had many connections in amusement adventures. In 1868 he was a partner in the Barnum, Van Amburgh & Company Museum in New York, which was destroyed by fire entailing a loss of $300,000. The proprietors also owned Van Amburgh and Company’s Great Golden Menagerie, Herr Driesbach’s Menagerie, Indians and Circus, and Van Amburgh & Company’s Floating Palace on the Mississippi River. Mr. Frost estimated that during his career he traveled over 100,000 miles in a buggy. His last managerial venture was in association with the Reiche Brothers, animal importers, in 1885. He died at Amenia, N. Y., September 3, 1895. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

James H. Frost, well known among circus people, died in Connersville, Ind., April 13, of heart disease. He was a son of Charles Frost and a nephew of Hyatt Frost, both of the Van Amburgh Show. He was twenty-six years old, and left a wife and child. New York Clipper, April 23, 1881. [Note: according to the 1880 Census for Connersville, Indiana, James Frost, a showman, and his wife Mattie, were living with Mattie's mother, Sarah McPherson. They had a daughter Alice, born circa 1879.] Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Frank Frost, Buckskin Bill's Wild West, 1900, previously with Pawnee Bill Show. Billboard, July 21, 1900. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Fugo Fuguda is the very bright little Japanese girl who performs on the top of a bamboo perch in the dome of the canvas with all the ease and indifference of an American child performing on the ground. She has been in America some two or three years, and is the best versed of any of the Japanese Troupe company in the English language. Ringling Bros. 1893. Offical Route Book of Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Railroad Shows, Season of 1893, Buffalo, NY: Courier Co., 1893. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

John Fuller, trained horses, Hagenbeck-Wallace, 1908. Daily Courier (Connellsville, PA), May 16, 1908. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Furino's Grand Oriental Troupe of acrobats, juggler and equilibrists, which for a number of seasons was a feature with Sells Bros.' Circus, has been playing successful engagements at the vaudeville theatres in San Francisco, 1894 . . . troupe intend to revisit the East in the near future. New York Clipper, April 7, 1894, p. 69 Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Franz Furtner (Unus), an Austrian equilibrist and became a sensation performing a one-finger stand atop a lighted globe. Born October 19, 1907 in Eichgraben, he began performing in 1933. When performing in Brussels in 1948, he was spotted by John Ringling North and immediately hired. He entered the big top in hat and tails, always wearing white gloves. He died August 22, 1994 in Sarasota, age 86. White Tops, Sep-Oct, 1994, p. 47 Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Howard Arthur Furlong was a show carpenter for the Beatty-Cole Circus for many years. Was with Sells-Floto and Hagenbeck-Wallace. With Cole Bros.-Clyde Beatty Circus before coming to the Clyde Beatty Circus, where he also took tickets at the sideshow. Died circa 1981 at age 65. Circus Report, August 24, 1981, p. 6. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

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James Gaddis, last season on the No. 3 car of the Ringling Brothers' Circus, is a winter resident here. [Norfolk, Va.] Billboard, February 2, 1918, p. 30. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

John W. Gagne did promotion for the Royal Hanneford Circus, was a billposter on Beatty-Cole and Famous Cole, did concessions on Beers-Barnes and was a clown on Zell Bros. With John Frazier and Floyd Bradbury, operated the Sterling & Wallace Circus tent show. Died November 30, 1986 at Port Huron, Michigan, age 45. Circus Report, February 23, 1987, p. 20. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Fred G. Galette, Giacomo's monkey actors, signed for season with Sells Bros., 1900. New York Clipper, March 17, 1900. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Mario Gaona was a flyer and aerialist with Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros., Ringling-Barnum, Circus World, Hoxie Bros. and Carson & Barnes. Died November 20, 1984, at Haines City, Florida, age 50. Circus Report, December 17, 1984, p. 8. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Garcenettis, Sells-Floto, 1911. Oakland (CA) Tribune, April 28 & 30, 1911. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Cheerful Gardner, one of America's greatest trainers of elephants. Death occured in Los Angeles on Monday, March 17, 1952. Cheerful came to Peru more than 35 years ago, to work for Ben Wallace on the Hagenbeck-WaIlace Circus. Later he worked for the American Circus Corporation. He was the first American ever to put his head into an elephant's mouth, and then swing like a pendulum as the bull carried him around the ring. He later worked for several other circuses, and had also done work in the movies. One of the outstanding pictures that he worked on, was one of the Tarzan pictures, starring Johnny Weismuller. Cheerful Gardner was 71 years old, and is survived by the widow, Mary Tucker Gardner. He was buried at Venice, California, on March 21, 1952. Bandwagon, Vol. 7, No. 3 (Mar), 1952, p. 8. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Daniel Gardner, the "oldest living circus clown" during the latter years of his life, died at Atlantic City Thursday afternoon of paralysis in the sixiy fourth year of his age. He was born in New York in 1816, and when a boy was put to work with his father and brother in David Bruce's printing establishment. A passion for the circus seized him and he ran away from home and joined Archie Maddern's circus as a singer of comic songs and wench dancer. He remained with Maddern fonr years, and then joined Howe's circus, which was then just start ing on its career. His next change was to Welsh's Show at Ninth and Chestnut streets which he left to go with Lent's circus. Soon after he formed a co-partnership with Richard Hemming which continued for twelve years and he then joined his fortunes with Forepaugh. His next appearance in the circus arena after severing his connection with Forepangh was as equestrian director of Cooper & Hemming's Show in 1871, which was the last season he ever traveled with a circus. His last appearance in public was three years ago at the benefit to Captain Townsend at the Grand Central theater. On that occasion he sang two comic songs and danced a hornpipe. He was married three times, the present Mrs. Gardner being a Miss Mary Cornell, who was formerly engaged in the dramatic wardrobe business. He had several children one of whom, Dan Gardner Jr., is a clown of some celebrity and was formerly with Cooper and Bailey's London circus. One of his daughters is a well kuown burlesque actress and is professionally known as Eliza Kenyon. For several years past Mr. Gardner resided in this city and it was at his house on Twelfth street below Chestnut that Edwin Adam died. He was a man of genial and kindly disposition and had numerous friends in all branches of life. For several seasons he had kept the Columbia House at Atlantic city. He will he buried at Mount Vernon cemetery on Monday. Philadelphia Times, October 8, 1880. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Ed W. Gardner, formerly a circus agent, is now engaged in the paste manufacturing business in Philadelphia. New York Clipper, January 26, 1877, p. 351. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Gardner Family, six in number, high horizontal bars, Norris & Rowe, 1904; four in number, mid-air performers, Norris & Rowe, 1905; Gardner Bros., five in number, Norris & Rowe, 1909. Woodland (CA) Daily Democrat, April 21, 1904, April 11, 1905; Lethbridge (Alberta, Canada) Herald, June 2, 1909. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

         
Frank, Cora and Lea Lulu Gardner

Frank A. Gardner, the South American circus proprietor, was born in Oswego, N.Y., March 30, 1855, and soon developed a taste for athletic pursuits. He could ride a horse when but a mere child, and entered the circus business in 1869, under James T. Johnson, riding a principal pad act the first year and bareback in 1870. Mr. Gardner enjoyed the distinction of being champion of America in double somersault leaping, distance and height combined. He accomplished a double somersault over thirteen horses and a pyramid of men in 1872, beating Mr. O’Brien, the then champion; defeated William Batchellor in Wheeling, W.Va., August, 1877; twice performed a double somersault over five elephants, five horses and three camels, the centre elephant being on a five foot pedestal, and the objects measuring thirty-one feet six inches according to James Robinson, at Madison Square Garden, in 1878; did a double somersault over thirty-two horses and made great success in a jockey act in 1880; won the champion belt offered by the Barnum show, open to all comers, in a leaping contest in 1881, and performed a double over twelve elephants, five being on pedestals; beat Mr. Batchellor in a week’s leaping contests in Cuba in 1882, and, in Virginia City, executed a double over six elephants, eight camels and five horses, covering a distance of thirty-three feet. In January, 1881, Mr. Gardner married Cora Mildred Mossburg, by whom he has had one child, Lea Lulu. As a performer Mr. Gardner had engagements with Dan Rice and Warner and Regan in 1872; with C. W. Noyes, 1873; Van Amburg, ‘74; Burr Robbins, ‘75; W. W. Cole, ‘76-80; Barnum at a larger salary than had ever been paid a leaper, ‘81; R. H. Dockrill, in Havana, ‘81-82; W. W. Cole, ‘82-83; Sells Brothers, ‘84-85. Mr. Gardner has not played an engagement since 1888. He was associated with John S. McMahon in a successful tour of Central and South America, ‘83-84. James Donovan and Harry Lambkins were partners in Gardner & Co.’s Circo Americano, which was organized in the fall of ‘84, and proved remunerative in that and the succeeding year. Mr. Lambkins died in 1886. Frank Gardner and Nick Roberts’ show toured the United States in 1887; Gardner and Donovan’s, Central and South America, summer of 1888. After three months’ profitable co-operation in the fall of that year, James Sturges sold his share of their joint venture to Mr. Gardner, who has since that time been at the head of the popular Gran Circo Gardner. He is now in this country selecting performers for his show, with the intention of making it larger and better than ever. The tour of 1889 included the West Indies, and lasted one year and eight months; that of 1890 lasted one year and two months, and commenced with the longest jump on record, from New York, June 10, across the Isthmus of Panama and then direct to Guayiquil, Ecuador. The show consisted of thirty-six artists, twenty-eight horses, ponies, etc., one 110 foot round top and a fifty foot middle piece, and the season was one of immense profit. The Frank Gardner family information is from: New York Dramatic News, August 15, 1891. Information should be checked with additional sources
      Cora Mildred Gardner was born in Barnesville, O., March 25, 1861. She made her debut June 20, 1882, in Evansville, Ind., with W. W. Cole’s Circus, in a trick menage act. She has traveled with all the principal circuses in the United States, and is one of the foremost menage riders of the high school. She has a magnificent physique, and is acknowledged to be the most elegant dresser in the ring. Mrs. Gardner accompanies her husband on his travels and carefully watches his interests, taking the entire management of the front of the circus. She is highly educated, speaks several languages fluently, and is deservedly popular everywhere.
         Lea Lulu Gardner, known through South America as La Petite Lulu, was born May 9, 1887, in San Tiago, Chili. She is a beautiful girl, possessed of great talent, and without a rival as a child artist. Miss Gardner is an accomplished dancer, dialect singer, banjoist and reciter, and a favorite with all who know her. Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

W. H. Gardner, a circus agent of wide repute, long experience and vast popularity. He has traveled with all the big tent shows, and his record is unblemished. This season he is on the staff of Barnum & Bailey Circus. Mr. Gardner was born in this city July 19, 1842, and commenced his career as an advertiser with Gardner & Hemmings’ Circus in 1861. He was agent for them during 1862-3-4, and in 1865 was advertising agent of the Chestnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia, under Col. W. E. Sinn’s management. He became part owner of Gardner & Hemmings’ Circus in 1866, and continued so until 1867. He sold his interest to Harry Whitby in the Fall of 1867, and in 1868 managed Gardner & Kenyon’s Circus and Menagerie. During 1870 and 1871 he was agent for John O’Brien, and in 1873 was agent for James E. Cooper & Co. He was an agent for Cooper & Bailey in 1873 and 1874, and was interested in the privileges with Cooper & Bailey during 1875 and 1876. He went to Australia in 1877 with Cooper & Bailey as assistant manager, making a tour of Australis and South America, and returning to New York in December, 1878. In 1879 he was agent of one of the Sell’s Bros.’ shows; in 1880, general agent of the Forepaugh Show. He joined Barnum & Bailey in 1881, and has continue with them up to date. New York Clipper, February 23, 1889. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Bradley Garland was a billposter, 24 hour man and concessionaire the the 1950s-1960s. Was with Sells & Gray, Hagen Bros., Famous Bartok and other shows. Died January 6, 1981 at Neptune, New Jersey, age 48. Circus Report, February 2, 1981, p. 18. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

C. C. Garnett (Doc), formerly of Ringling Bros. and Sells-Floto advertising car, is with 144th Field Artillery. Billboard, May 25, 1918, p. 25. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Francis Garrian, "John Hix the Advertiser," held positions on a variety of circuses, including working as the jam man, legal adjuster, agent. Career was as far back as the old Shell Bros. Circus. Died in early 1980 at Monrovia, California. Circus Report, June 16, 1980, p. 18. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Mike Gasca was a wire walker, juggler, clown and rola bola performer with a number of circuses. Born in Mexico City of a circus family, died March 2, 1978 at Donna, Texas, age 67. Circus Report, April 3, 1978, p. 13. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Albert Gaston, the veteran clown, is visiting his home, Columbus, IN, having closed a ten month's season with M. L. Clark's show in Texas, 1900. New York Clipper, January 19, 1901, p. 1046. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Joe Gattus, late of the La Tena Shows was enroute from Norfolk, Va., to New York City to join the B. & B. advance staff. Billboard, March 16, 1918, p. 30.   Joe Gattus, late of Barnum & Bailey advance car No. 1, is now in the army services, Camp Lee, Va. Billboard, July 27, 1918, p. 27. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Fred L. Gay, clown, is making ready to leave for another tour with the John Robinson Circus. Billboard, March 16, 1918, p. 29. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

J. B. Gaylord
    The Independence Conservative says: ". . . Among Mr. Gaylord's papers was found the following skeleton outline of his business connections, serving to suggest the great scope of his travels: 'First went as agent of Orton Brothers' Circus in, May, 1868; route, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin. In 1869 was with Miles Orton; route, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Indian Territory and Texas. In 1870 was in Mexico with circus; was robbed and lost everything. Returned to Texas and went ahead of H. M. Smith's circus. Went to New Orleans and joined the W. W. Cole show; was with Cole 1871-'72-'73,'74-'75; routes, from the lakes to the gulf, and from Maine; to California. Went with the Cooper & Bailey show, 1876. Went ahead of them to Australia, then Java, then South America, 1877 and 1878. Returned to the United States December, 1878. Went with Cole, 1879, 1880, 1881. Took him to Australia. Was with W. C. Coup, 1882, till August, then went to work for the Barnum show as foreign and purchasing agent. With them 1882, 1883, 1884. Route, Europe, Asia, Africa, America. In 1885 he went in with Robert Fryer; had a trained animal show; route, California, Honolulu, Australia, Java, Siam, Singapore, New Zealand, South America, returning to the United States, December, 1887. In 1888 took another trip to Australia in advance of Sells Brothers, and as partner of Hicks colored minstrels; also George C. Miln and Patti Rosa. Returned to America in 1888 and took over the Silbon troupe. Returned to America; June, 1889, and was home during 1890. In 1891 went in advance of Van Amburg show. In March, 1892; left for Singapore, after a cargo of wild animals, which I landed in San Francisco in September, 1892. Returned to Singapore in December, 1892, after animals. Landed in New York in March 1893; with with a big lot of animals. Left for Singapore again the following September. Landed in New York, March, 1894. Left again for Singapore, April, 1895, via the Canadian Pacific route. Landed in New York the following November with a large lot of animals. That was my last trip. . . ." Waterloo Courier (Waterloo, IA), June 14, 1900, p. 5.

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"Irish" Joe Geary is in New Jersey. After leaving the Sells-Floto Show the past season, he made a few fairs in Iowa with his girl show. Following that he went with Frank Hoy's Days of '49 and Monkey Speedway. Billboard, January 19, 1918, p. 29. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Professor Gehrlach, band leader, John Robinson's 10 Big, 1911. Alton (IL) Evening Telegraph, May 13, 1911. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Tom Genaro, in private life Tomas Garner, formerly of the circus act, Genaro and Theo, with Ringling Bros. and other circuses for a number of years, died October 16, 1918 in Waco, Tex., of pneumonia. The remains were laid to rest in Corsicanna, where Mr. Garner was born 50 years ago. He retired from circus life several years ago and engaged in the picture show business at Corsicana for a couple of years and was engaged in the same business in Waco when he died. Surviving are his widow, a son, daughter, a brother, a half brother, and three sisters. Billboard, October 26, 1918, p. 58; November 9, 1918, p. 32. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Richard Geogia was a contracting agent for Beatty-Cole and worked for Hoxie Bros. died March 4, 1979 at Bingham, New York. Circus Report, April 16, 1979, p. 12. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Mlle. Geraldine and George Leopold, world-renowned male and female gymnasts, after a successful tour of California, Mexico, Central America, South America via Panama, Peru (Callao and Lima), Bolivia, Chili (Valparaiso and Santiago), Buenos Ayres, Montevideo, Brazil (Rio Jeaniro, Bahia, Barnambuca and other towns), Venezuela, West India Islands, Havana, Cuba, etc., are disengaged for their double trapeze, character dances, single trapeze, flying rings, leaps, horizontal bar, and Lulu jump. Mlle. Geraldine, being the first and only lady that has performed this act, would like to arrange with a variety company going to South America for the latter end of September or beginning of October. Would take a share in it, or will find a company and sell a hall interest in its. Address care of Clipper office. [Advertisement] New York Clipper, June 16, 1877, p. 96. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Fred Gerner, all around athlete and ice skater, late of the New York Hippodrome will join the Pubillones Circus for the winter season. In addition to his engagements at the Hippodrome, he has been seen with the Buffalo Bill and Pawnee Bill Shows for several season each, and will do the same high jumping act with horses and dogs with Pubillones. He will also do his ice skating act, one of the features of which will be jumping over a horse on ice skates. Billboard, November 16, 1918, p. 52. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

D. S. Gibbonoise, contortionist, is disengaged. Biz.: aerial rings, 1 act; contortions, 3 acts. Address Martin Co., Ind. [Advertisment] New York Clipper, April 14, 1877, p. 23. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Tom Gibbs was an elephant man touring with a number of tented shows, including the old Might Haag Circus and Page Bros. Shows. Died December 3, 1978 at Nashville, Tennessee, age 84. Circus Report, December 18, 1978, p. 30. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Frank E. Gillette, a member of the theatrical profession for twenty years, died in New York City, June 24 [1902], from pneumonia. His real name was Walter Edwin Cullen, and his home was in Cleveland, O. He was born in Birkenhead, Eng., thirty-two years ago. When quite young his father, a sea captain, decided to bring his family to this country, and settled at Cleveland. He spent his boyhood days there, and started his professional career very early in life as an acrobat. For over ten years he traveled with Forepaugh's, Barnum & Bailey's, and other large circuses. He also filled important engagements in all the large European cities, and in South America, Cuba and Mexico. At the age of sixteen he was presented with a large gold medal for his acrobatic work by the management of the Palace Theatre and prominent citizens of St. Louis, besides having received many other medals for his ability as an all around gymnast by athletic clubs in this country and abroad. He retired from the acrobatic field after the conclusion of a six months' engagement at the Teatro ___, in Havanna, and for the following three seasons he was with Eugene Tompkins' "Black Crook" and "Babes in the Wood" companies. He then entered vaudeville, and he remained in it almost continuously up to 1900. His last engagement was with Mrs. Leslie Carter, in "Du Barry," at the Criterion Theatre, with which company he closed three weeks before his death. His mother and two children survive him. He had frequently written articles on his travels, the training of acrobats, and circus life in general for different magazines and newspapers in this country. The remains were cremated at Fresh Pond, L. I., in compliance with his wishes. New York Clipper, July 5, 1902, p. 416. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this person.

L. C. Gillett, contracting agent, John H. Spark's, 1909. Evening Times (Cumberland, MD), May 15, 1909. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

A. J. Gillingham, one time circus adjuster, is now in the moving picture business in Michigan. He has houses all over the State, with headquarters in Detroit. Billboard, March 9, 1918, p. 29. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

William Gilman
    William Gilman has "divorced" himself from the circus game and will venture in the dramatic stock business. The company will be known as Gilman's Big Stock Company. Mr. Gilman has been in the advance of circuses for a number of years, and last season was in charge of one of the John Robinson cars. Billboard, March 16, 1918, p. 28.
    W. M. Gilman has leased the Gehling Theater, Falls City, Neb. He has not circused this year, but has been connected as car manager and contracting agent with many organizations, including Howe's Great London, Campbell Bros., Great Sanger, Norris & Rowe, LaTena, Walter L. Main, Cole Bros., Jones Bros. and John Robinson Shows. Billboard, October 4, 1919, p. 45.

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Gilmore. Moore & Gilmore Family, Ed. F. Davis Shows, 1900. Billboard, June 9, 1900. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Skinny Gilson, clown, Norris & Rowe, 1908. Woodland (CA) Daily Democrat, April 20, 1908. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

William Gilson, rider, Norris & Rowe, 1908. Centralia (Washington) Daily Chronicle, June 1, 1908. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Joseph P. Ginty, musician, Barnum & Bailey, 1909. Lowell (MA) Sun, April 6, 1909. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Donley Glasscock, see Dan Leon

Glenfield, clown, Frank A. Robbins, 1907. Portsmouth (NH) Herald, June 6, 1907; Bandwagon, Nov-Dec, 2001, p. 33. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

John Glennon, lithographer, Wallace Shows, 1900. Billboard, August 11, 1900. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

W. H. Godfrey, adjuster, Sells-Floto, 1910. Yuma (AZ) Examiner, April 23, 1910. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

James Golden, attendant, Campbell Bros., 1908. Cedar Rapids (IA) Evening Gazette, September 19, 1908. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Hehime Goldschmidt. New Haven, Conn., Jan. 26. Hehime Goldschmidt, bicycle rider, said to be the first to do the loop-the-loop act, died here Wednesday of accidental gas poisoning. He was 39(?) years old, and was born in Germany, where he joined the Barnum & Bailey Circus. Mr. Goldschmidt came to this country with the show and did his loop-the-loop stunt at Madison Square Garden in New York. A fall in which he sustained severe injuries, forced him to retire from the circus game. Billboard, February 2, 1918, p. 32. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Goldsmith Bros., trained dogs, Grotto Circus, 1941. "Conn. Fans Buck Snow to Attend Indoor Circus," White Tops, Vol. 14, Nos. 4-5 (Feb-Mar), 1941, p. 8. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Mirza Golem Family, acrobats, Ringling Bros., 1908. Evening Tribune (Marysville, OH), April 23, 1908.
    My grandfather was Al Golem who was part of the troupe. When Al was 18 years old he asked the Shah of Persia to release he and the troupe from his private court, which he did. He met my grandmother who was part of the Riccobonne Circus performers that had an act called the Good Night Horses. They traveled throughtout Europe and settled in Berlin until they were discovered by Oscar Hammerstein who then brought the troupes to New York. Eventually they were bought by Ringling and performed in the US until 1927 (although that date may be incorrect) Both of my grandparents Emilia Riccobonno and Alfred Weyhe (changed from Al-Golem) settled in Kingston, New York. - Dodie Weyhe, Eugene, Oregon
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Jose Gonzales, bull fight act, 1941. "Los Angeles Shrine Had One Night Circus," White Tops, Vol. 14, Nos. 4-5 (Feb-Mar), 1941, p. 4. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Robert D. Good was a performer and pharmacist. He graduated from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. In 1926 he joined Ringling-Barnum as a trainer and equestrian. In 1939 he was president of Circus Model Builders Association. Died May 9, 1974, age 70. Circus Report, May 27, 1974, p. 8. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Walter Goodenough, formerly of the John Robinson Circus, has been called to the colors, and is at Camp Beauregard, Louisiana, 1918. Billboard, June 29, 1918, p. 27.
    Walter Goodenough and wife. Walter, clown; Mrs. Goodenough, ladder, menage. Hagenbeck-Wallace 1924. White Tops, Vol. 16, Nos. 3-4 (Feb-Mar), 1943, p. 7. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

George Goodhart is one of the recent additions to the Ringling Bros.’ celebrated corps of advertisers. His wide experience as a car manager and advertiser, however, have been such that he has readily amalgamated into its systematic and thorough composition. Mr. Goodhart is agent of Car No. 2, and in this important branch of the advance adds a vast amount of billing to that done by Car No. 1. Many of the handsomest publications of the show are issued from Mr. Goodhart’s car, and after he has completed his part of the work, what is termed the “regular billing” of the show may be said to be completed, the following cars working for special purposes, such as the excursion and billing of a like nature. Offical Route Book of Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Railroad Shows, Season of 1893, Buffalo, NY: Courier Co., 1893. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Richard G. Goodwin, formerly a billposter with the Gollmar Show, is doing his bit for Uncle Sam at Paris Island, S.C. Billboard, August 31, 1918, p. 27. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

William Gordon, drives 35 thoroughbreds around the arena at a gallop, Forepaugh-Sells, 1900. Fitchburg (MA) Sentinel, June 1, 1900. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

James Goston (Coston?), advance, Hagenbeck-Wallace, 1911. Lima (OH) Daily News, May 15, 1911. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Gothard Bros., acrobats, Howard Damon Australian Shows, 1909. Charleroi (PA) Mail, May 25, 1909. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Emanuel Goudsmit, known as Nolly Tate, was born in 1900 on his parents' circus in Germany. The family came to the United States in 1914 and joined Ringling Bros. Circus. In the 1920s Nolly left the family to go out on his own. He married Asta (Polly) in 1930 and they toured with a number of shows for many years. Died in 1985 in California. Circus Report, June 19, 1985, p. 8. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Curtis Gowdy, 1905: Shelbyville, Illinois, Colonel Curtis Gowdy, veteran showman died Friday afternoon. Advance man for Forepaugh's, Sells Bros. and other big shows. He was age 55. Daily Review (Decatur, IL), February 18, 1905. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Dr. Grabell, circus medical staff. Barnum & Bailey, 1910. Gleaner (Kingston, Jamacia), April 1, 1910. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Ralph L. Grable, formerly bass player in the band with Howe's Great London Show, has joined the colors and is stationed at Camp Zachary Taylor, Ky. Billboard, October 12, 1918, p. 27. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Pat Graham and his wife Vivian toured with Ringling and owned their own Graham Bros. Circus. Later they were unit managers for the Foley & Burk Shows. Circus Report, March 18, 1985, p. 24. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Lew Graham started as a ticket seller, then became a sideshow talker, manager and finally the announcer for Barnum & Bailey and Ringling-Barnum. Died September 19, 1935 at Middletown, New York, age 73. Circus Report, October 23, 1978, p. 5 (insert). Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Doc Grant, late of Grant & Mick, of The Quaker and the Girl fame, who were on the Mugivan & Bowers Show for several consecutive seasons, and the past three years on the Sparks Show, is at Panama City, Fla. Billboard, March 16, 1918, p. 29. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Jean Francois Gravelle (Blondin)
    Blondin, high-rope performer, was performing in Lima, Peru, in December last, and was to go from there to Santiago, Valparaiso, and then into Chili for two months. New York Clipper, January 20, 1877, p. 343.
    Con Colleano, the "Wizard of the High Wire" is a young Spainard. He does a reverse somersault from the wire to the wire. In the olden days they called it a "tight rope" performance, and perhaps the greatest for daring was Blondin, a Frenchman, whose right name was Jean Francois Gravelle. He crossed Niagara Falls on a tight rope 301 times, doing all sorts of stunts while on the middle of the rope. In 1860 he crossed on stilts. He never had a fall, because his forearms were as strong as a gorilla's which enabled him to carry a balancing-pole of great weight, some of them weighing nearly fifty pounds. He always carried three sets of ropes, two inches in diameter, with a body of steel bound around with hemp. Circus Scrap Book, No. 14 (Apr), 1932, pp. 19-20.
    Blondin has, since his return from the Antipodes, been performing on the high rope at the Crystal Palace, London, Eng. The rope extended, at a height of 70 ft., to a length of 250 ft., and the most sensational of his performances was carrying a man on his back from one end of the rope to the other, the first to become a burden to the mid-air artist being Frank Pastor, the American equestrian. New York Clipper, November 3, 1877, p. 250.

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Harry Graves, for several seasons with California Frank's Wild West Show, and Tina Ihrmark, of Rice's Water Circus on the Rice & Wortham Caravan, were married May 20 at East St. Louis, Ill. Billboard, June 8, 1918, p. 24. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Jammie Graves performed on the trapeze on the Sparks Circus in 1928. She also worked in an elephant act with the show. Southern Sawdust, No. 82, February, 1975, p. 9. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Charles L. Gray, known among sideshow managers by reason of his connection in the past with Hagenbeck-Wallace, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey last season, signed to go as general utility man with the Mighty Doris Shows. Billboard, March 1, 1919, p. 33. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Gil G. Gray was a circus owner and producer. He joined a minstrel show as a song and dance man at age 15. Was with I. J. Pollack and Milt Holland in late 1920s to early 1930s and was a fixer for Al G. Barnes and Hagenbeck-Wallace. He owned the Gil Gray Circus from the late 1940s to the early 1970s. He also produced the Dr. Pepper Circus at the State Fair of Texas from 1963 to 1985. He produced the first circus presented at Disneyland. Born in 1904, died May 29, 1989 at Longview, Texas, age 85. Circus Report, June 19, 1989, p. 5; June 26, 1989, pp. 6, 10. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Harry Gray, clown, Frank A. Robbins, 1907. Portsmouth (NH) Herald, June 6, 1907; Bandwagon, Nov-Dec, 2001, p. 33. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Gray. Harry and Ella Gray, marionette manipulators, have signed with the Barnum & Bailey Show for the coming season, 1896. New York Clipper, February 1, 1896, p. 761. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Miss Gray. Miss Gray and Miss Baker, menage, Frank A. Robbins, 1907; Miss Gray, menage, Frank A. Robbins, 1908. Portsmouth (NH) Herald, June 6, 1907; Bandwagon, Nov-Dec, 2001, p. 34.; Bandwagon, Jan-Feb, 2002, p. 24. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

M'lle Grazeuse, bareback rider, Dode Fisk Combined Railroad Shows, 1909. Oelwein (IA) Daily Register, September 30, 1909. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

A. E. Greene (Willie), for the past five years with the Sparks Shows as advertising solicitor, is now in the army. Billboard, May 11, 1918, p. 45. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Shorty Green, stock, Sells-Gray, 1900. Billboard, May 21, 1900. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Joe Greer, known as Silver Joe, rough rider, last season with the Coop & Lent, is at Bloomington, Wis., his home. Billboard, February 9, 1918, p. 31. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

William Greer, advance, possibly billposter, John Robinson circus, 1911. Fort Wayne (IN) Sentinel, May 13, 1911. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Greggs, cyclists, have something new, they claim, in the way of a sensation producer. It is a double somersault auto which turns two complete revolutions in midair; two people sit in the car. Billboard, March 2, 1907, p. 26. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

C. J. Gregory. Wingfield and Gregory are prepared to negotiate with managers for the coming tenting season for their specialties: horizontal bar, "equilibric trapeze," and the "magic barrel," and the "dancing cross." John Wingfield, late of Washburn's Last Sensation. C. J. Gregory, late of the Russian Athletes. Direct letters to Clipper office. [Advertisement] New York Clipper, January 13, 1877, p. 331. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

William Gregory

Gregory Family, six in number, aerial bars, Frank A. Robbins, 1905, 1909. Bucks County (Bristol, PA) Gazette, August 6, 1909; Bandwagon, Jul-Aug, 2001, p. 37. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Carmeno Geo. Gresaeff is a Cossack rider with the John Robinson Circus, 1918. Since his arrival in this country in 1901, he has been connected with several circus and Wild West attractions, including Buffalo Bill, Ringling Bros. and Miller Bros.' 101 Ranch Shows. Billboard, September 7, 1918, p. 25. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Dr. De Garmo Grey, to have a circuit of indoor circuses next winter in larger cities, 1900-01. Billboard, June 2, 1900, p. 5. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Louise Griebel, aerial, menage, Hagenbeck-Wallace 1924. White Tops, Vol. 16, Nos. 3-4 (Feb-Mar), 1943, p. 7. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

John Griffen, fixer, resided at Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Billboard, May 1, 1900, p. 6. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Raymond A. Griffin made clown shoes for about 70 years. He took over his father's shoe business in 1925 and produced clown shoes, all hand-sewen. It was estimated that he made shoes for some 4,000 clowns before he retired in 1975. His grandson, John Buckholtz, Jr., continued to operate the clown shoe business after Raymond's death. Died November 10, 1978 at Florence, South Carolina, age 82. Circus Report, November 27, 1978, p. 14. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Lillian Grish, wife of George Grish, aerial performer, died at her home in Long Branch from Spanish influenze, October 17, and was buried in Glenwood Cemetery. For a number of years Mrs. Grish was connected with the Barnum & Bailey Show. She is survived by her husband. Billboard, November 2, 1918, p. 26. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Victor Gronquist, after trouping for a number of years, has decided to stay off the road this year. He has accepted the management of the newstand for the Van Noy-Interstate Company, at Mitchell, S.D. Mr. Gronquist joined the Carl Hagenbeck Trained Animal Circus in 1905 and has since been with the Kit Carson, Young Buffalo, Coop & Lent and R. T. Richards shows, closing with the latter circus last October. Billboard, May 25, 1918, p. 26. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Groths, the Graceful, six in number, contortion, Norris & Rowe, 1904. Woodland (CA) Daily Democrat, April 21, 1904. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Mable Groves. Chicago, Jan. 26. Mable Groves, who was with California Frank's Wild West last season, married Albert Tigh, a Mildred (Mont.) ranch owner, Wednesday, in this city. The bride's name, on the marriage license, is Mabel Flewelling, but she is known in the show world as Mabel Groves. Billboard, February 2, 1918, p. 32. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Alex Guerin, comedy mule act, Shipp's American Circus, 1909. Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica), February 9, 1909. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Guice Troupe. Guice Troupe, Sells-Floto, 1911; John H. Sparks, 1913; riders, Gollmar Bros., 1916; bareback riders, R. T. Richards, 1917. Oakland (CA) Tribune, April 28 & 30, 1911; Ad. Marshfield (WI) Times, June 11, 1913; Stevens Point (WI) Daily Journal, August 5, 1916; Farrell, F. M., "A Season With R. T. Richards Circus 1917" (second installment), Bandwagon, Vol. 1, No. 7 (May), 1942, p. 1. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Elizabeth Guice, equestrienne, Sells-Floto. Colorado Springs (CO) Gazette, June 26, 1910. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Walter Guice
    Walter Guice is in vaudeville, working the horizontal bars with his wife and a partner. Billboard, February 16, 1918, p. 31.
    Walter Guice, rider, Flora Bedini, equestrienne, Sparks World Famous Shows, 1918. Clearfield (PA) Progress, May 20, 1918.
    Walter Guice Troupe, Winter Thrill Circus (George Hamid, Bob Morton show), 1941. White Tops, Vol. 14, Nos. 4-5 (Feb-Mar), 1941, p. 7.

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Joseph Guilmette, who left the John Robinson Show in Terre Haute, Ind., July 23, 1917 and enlisted in the army, has become a sergeant. He was also with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Shows for seven years. Billboard, June 8, 1918, p. 27. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

H. H. Gunning, formerly of the advance forces of Barnum & Bailey and other circuses, has located as manager of the paint and posting department of the Erie Poster Advertising Co., of Erie, Pa. Billboard, September 28, 1918, p. 30. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Margarete Gutsche-Gutis performed in an acrobatic act with her husband Erich and her son Charlie. Later she was the stooge in their Original Gutis comedy act. Was on Ringling-Barnum and Polack Bros. Retired in 1968. Died September 25, 1980 at Hamburg, Germany. Circus Report, October 27, 1980, p. 8. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Kenneth Gwinnell, "Sheik," was with Ringling-Barnum for several decades. Was with Clyde Beatty Circus in the late 1940s, going with Ringling in 1947, where he held various positions. When Ringling-Barnum was under canvas he was in one of the ticket wagons and in charge of the pass exchange window. At one time he was a chauffer for the North brothers. He also had the main novelty stand on the circus for several years after the show went indoors. Circus Report, September 3, 1979, p. 15. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Top

H

John Hadley
    Notice to circus or menagerie manager. John Hadley, King of Animal Men, can be engaged for the coming season to break or perform any den of animals. Also an elephant performer. Address, North Twenty-second street, Philadelphia. [Advertisement] New York Clipper, January 5, 1878, p. 323. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

"Spot" Hadley, 1908: center on the Lancaster team [polo], has signed a contract with the Van Amberg [sic] circus for the coming season, after he has finished his polo season. He has been with them two years as ticket seller. The show will travel as Adam Forepaugh's. Coshocton (OH) Daily Times, January 18, 1908. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Hilda Hagenbeck, trained birds, Frauline Hilda bars, Hagenbeck-Wallace, 1908, 1909. Daily Courier (Connellsville, PA), May 16, 1908; Ogden (UT) Standard, June 21, 1909. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Andrew Haight a merchant and drover, was born in Dresden, N.Y., Dec. 25, 1831. After the death of his father he embarked in mercantile business in Dresden, where he successfully conducted two stores. Removing to Beaver Dam, Wis., he became one of the most active business-men in that State. He not only speculated largely in real-estate, but, besides running two large stores, built and managed a hotel, which took rank with the best in the West. At New London, Wis., he had a third store and built a hotel, both of which were managed by his brothers. In 1865 he became the capitalist of the Geo. W. De Haven Show, and for the first time embarked in circus management. In the Autumn of the same year he acquired sole control of the establishment, and with it was the first showman to enter Texas after the War of the Rebellion. The tour resulted in the most satisfactory financial success. The following season he organized Haight & Chambers’ Palace Show and Menagerie to travel on board the steamer Coosa, starting from New Orleans. On account of a great flood all the intermediate stands up the river were missed except Vicksburg, Memphis and Columbus (Ky.), entailing a great loss. At Henderson, Ky., a disaster was added to disaster by the engineers allowing the boilers to burn out, necessitating the employment of two steamboats to tow the Coosa. At St. Louis they were quarantine on account of the cholera. At Pittsburg the unfortunate vessel was run into by a tow-boat and sunk. To crown it all, it was a wet season. Having lost seventy-five thousand dollars by force of unavoidable circumstances, Mr. Haight disposed of his interests in the show and again embarked in the hotel business, in Memphis. In 1869-70 he acted as agent for Stone & Murray’s Circus and organized the Empire City Circus with P. Bowles Wooten in Atlanta, Ga., and made a successful season during the campaign of 1871. In conjunction with R. E. J. Miles and George W. De Haven he organized the Great Eastern Circus and Menagerie,, which existed during 1872-‘73-‘74, making a clear profit the first season of over one hundred thousand dollars. The Great Eastern was one of the most extensively and sensationally advertised shows ever put on the road. Three bands were feature of the procession, and entertainments were given simultaneously in two rings. During its three years’ existence the Great Eastern experienced a constant opposition from rival managers; but where the conflict was the fiercest, there was found Manager Haight erecting billboards of almost fabulous length, and with his right-bower, W. W. Durand, inserting advertisements that occupied whole broadsides of newspapers. Bitter feuds arose and lawsuits and imprisonments followed the clashing of the clans. In 1874 Mr. Haight also controlled an interest in the Great Southern Show. It is worthy of especial note that the Great Eastern ran a continuous season for over two years. In 1875 Mr. Haight and his partners put on the road the American Racing Association - a hippodrome - which was in point of magnitude and attractions one of the grandest organizations ever exhibited. After a resumption of his old calling of a hotel-keeper he returned to the circus business again in 1879, under the banners of Adam Forepaugh, and acted as advance agent for W. C. Coup’s United Shows for the season of 1880. Since then he has been connected with the Barnum-London Show. [Died 1886] New York Clipper, December 23, 1882. Information should be checked with additional sources
         For ten years of his life I was Andrew Haight's friend and associate, and for nearly twenty years we had been personally intimate. Therefore, it seems fitting that I should undertake the sad duty of telling something of his life.
      Haight was born near Penn Yan, N. Y., and was over sixty yeara old. He was for many years a successful merchant in that town. After a time lie was induced to sell out his business, and removed to Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, where he bought and kept the Clark House. He was a most successful and popular landlord, and hotelkeeping was his favorite occupation. About 1865 George De Haven came to Beaver Dam and persuaded Haight to take an interest in a circus known as the De Haven Show. The venture was moderately successful, and satisfied Haight that there was money in the business. He then sold his hotel, separated from De Haven and organized what soon became famous as the Haight & Chambers' Menagerie and Circus, the first show that traversed Texas after the War, and which traveled by boat up and down the Mississippi River afterwards. At first the business was satisfactory, but after a time the show collapsed, probably from insufficient management, Haight being in advance. In the Winter of '69 and '70, Haight, with Boll Wootten of Atlanta, Ga., organized what was afterwards known as the Great Eastern, but then styled the Empire City. The show was an insignificant affair, but traveled from Atlanta to Charlottestown, P. I., and back, making a great deal of money. It has often been erroneously stated that De Haven was a partner. He owned the privileges only, and cleared $30,000. With this money he bought out Wootten, since dead, and the celebrated Great Eastern was organized, wilh Andrew Haight, Geo. De Haven, Jacob Haight and R. E. J. Miles as proprietors. The year of 1871 was an unlooked-for success, but the partners did not agree, and the show was, by common consent, auctioned off among the proprietors, and I was the auctioneer. Haight bought most of the property, and De Haven the balance, paying the enormous price of $10,000 for a small elephant. Miles and De Haven retired, and Andrew Haight and his brother Jacob owned the Great Eastern. The show was enlarged, and made the tour of 1872 with a dash and brilliancy that is a fabled story among showmen. The Barnum Show, then under Coup's management, was met and beaten in fair and open fight. The plan was to obtain its route and play the country first and ahead. In St. Louis, in 1873, the triumph was complete, and two rings were introduced. De Haven had again got into the show with the Haights, In the Pall of '73, the firm again changed, and was Andrew Haight, James D. Torry (the printer) and Jacob Haight. In 1874 the show was divided, and the Southern Show organized with Geo. Middleton as manager, and because of the '73 panic the Great Eastern gave up the ghost at Hamilton, O., in 1874, having made the season in the Eastern and Middle States. The next season, 1875, Haight, De Haven and Miles got up a Hippodrome, opposed to the Barnum Hippodrome, then making a tour of the country. The success of both was indifferent. Much bitterness was engendered between the two shows, and useless and foolish litigation followed, resulting in victory — for the lawyers. After this venture Haight retired to his home, Chicago, where he again went into hotel business. In 1879 Adam Forepaugh employed him as railroad-contractor. He then filled the same position with W. C. Coup for three years. In 1882 James A. Bailey of the Barnum Show employed him, but the contract was canceled through some misunderstanding. The next year he joined the show as railroad-contractor, retaining the position until the hour of his death, and it is safe to say he was more popular with the management of that show than any other man ever in their employ.
         Andrew Haight was the busiest man I ever saw. He was as tireless as time itself. He was the hardest kind of worker, and the most loyal man to his employers. He cared nothing for the legitimate drama, would not endure spectacular plays, save to get an idea of wardrobe for a circus parade, and seldom visited the theatre. Melody to him, however, was most precious, and music thrilled him as it does few men; but he could not sing nor whistle a note. His dress was cut after clerical fashion, which has given rise to the report that he was once a preacher. He wore the dress not through affectation, but because he liked it. Many stories are told about "Parson Haight," most of them untrue. He was a great talker, very suave and most persuasive, which gave him the appellation of "Slippery Elm." He hardly ever failed to make his point with the greatest railroad magnates of the land. He was esteemed and popular everywhere, and received large salaries — $5,000 and $6,000 the last few years, most of which he gave away. I know that he was superbly generous, and he heaped benefits on others which he ought to have kept for his own. He had no bad habits, and neither drank liquor nor used tobacco in any way. He bore no malice, and loved all mankind with a heart as tender as a woman's. His room in hotels was the home of crowds of show people everywhere, and all were made welcome alike, whether manager or canvasman. To sum him up as he really was: He was a great-hearted man, true to his friends and forgiving to his enemies. He left no children — only a sweet-dispositioned wife, who was always at his side — a cheerful companion, angelic in deportment and noble in a hundred sacrifices made for him now dead. Alas, poor, poor Margaret! - W. W. Durand
Girard House, Philadelphia, Feb. 10
         Mr. Haight's funeral occurred at the Briggs House, Chicago, Ill., Feb. 10. Among the sorrowing friends, besides the widow and relatives, were Mr. and Mrs. E. D. Colvin, W. W. Cole, C. E. Kohl, John B. Jeffery, M. D. Broadway, G. A. Treyser, S. B. Jones, Mr. and Mrs. W. Stanhope, I. Epstean, Geo. Middleton, Mr. and Mrs. W. C. Coup, John Rategan and others. Among the floral tributes were a pillow from the Barnum Show, a broken wheel from W. W. Cole, a cross and sickle from John B. Jeffery and a sheaf of wheat and sickle from Kohl & Middleton. Rev. T. N. Morrison Jr. repeated the Episcopal service, and the Imperial Quartet rendered several appropriate selections. E. D. Colvin, W. C. Coup, W. A. Coleman, C. F. White, C. E. Kohl, Geo. A. Treyser and W. W. Cole were the pallbearers. The remains were conveyed to Oakwoods Cemetery. New York Clipper, February 20, 1886. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Joseph Haines, rider, Norris & Rowe, 1905. Daily Nevada State Journal (Reno, NV), April 18, 1905. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

W. E. Haines, press agent, Sells-Floto, 1910. Daily Leader (Eau Claire, WI), July 8, 1910. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Charles L. Haley, "Whitie," was a catcher in a flying act with the Sam B. Dill Circus and later presented and trained lions and elephants. He was with Cole Bros., Clyde Beatty and Dailey Bros. In later years he was a stage manager. Died in March 1988 at San Antonio, Texas, age 74. Circus Report, April 4, 1988, p. 14. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Ernest Haley. “What to eat and how to eat it,” are questions answered in a practical way by Mr. Ernest Haley, the popular proprietor of the Hotel de Ringling. The manner in which he answers these questions can be read in the spacious dining tents at meal hours. That Mr. Haley understands the requirements of the army of employees, who gather around his well-spread boards three times each day, is a story told by the many mouths he feeds. He gives every detail of the cook house his personal attention and the excellent meals and great variety of his bill of fare stamp him as a caterer par excellence. His genial and affable manner have made him a host of friends with the show. Mr. Haley enjoys the distinction of being the crack shot of the show, and when he starts out with his gun and dog he is liable to bring in anything from a sand-hill crane to a quail. Offical Route Book of Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Railroad Shows, Season of 1893, Buffalo, NY: Courier Co., 1893. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Thomas Haley is the assistant superintendent of the Ringling Bros. cooking department. Though both bear the same name, he is not a relative of Mr. Ernest Haley, but his valuable and untiring second. It might not be out of place to call Tom chief day and night clerk, for every hour finds him at his post from the moment the cook house wagons are unloaded, until they are back on the cars again at night, and during the entire day he can be found assiduously superintending the various branches of the culinary departments that come under his control. Offical Route Book of Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Railroad Shows, Season of 1893, Buffalo, NY: Courier Co., 1893. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Albert W. Hall, known as "The Great Halle," got his start at age 16 with Ringling Bros. Circus doing a solo trapeze and high-wire act. When he worked in a cigar factory at Keokuk, Iowa, he spent his lunch hours practicing on his own rigged up equipment. From Ringling Bros. he went with the Cooper & Carol Circus at Jackson, Tennessee, and performed with them until the show closed on one Christmas day in Houston, Texas, when the manager gave the performers the option to take there money in Houston, or the show would take them back to Jackson. Hall took his money, and with 30 other performers stayed in one of the boxcars for a week, trying to decide what to do. He traveled to Nebraska, where he joined another circus, getting top billing. From there he drifted with the Great American Water Circus that traveled down the Ohio River on three barges wired together with a tent above.
    At one time Hall tried his hand at running a carnival - The Hall Carnival Co. that played the Tri-State, but the venture was short-lived. After he retired from the circus he started the Hall Cigar Co., and was fairly successful until prohibition. Cigar factories sold most of their product to saloons. He then did painting and paperhanging for awhile, and finally retired in about 1954.
    Albert Hall died at age 94 in Huntington. He was born May 24, 1873 at Keokuk, Iowa, son of Almond and Priscilla Alden Hall. His wife, the former Theresa Maria Haucke, died in 1960. Information from newspaper clippings provided by Joseph Barnett (January 21, 1964 and 1968 clippings). Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Col. G. W. Hall (Popcorn George) is quite ill at St. Vincent's Hospital, this city, 1894. [New York] New York Clipper, April 7, 1894, p. 70. Link to more information on "Popcorn George," evansvillehistory.net/CIRCUS2.html
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Harold Hall, clown, toured with Robbins Bros., Christy Bros., Sells-Floto, Barnett Bros., Downie Bros., Cole Bros., Clyde Beatty, 101 Ranch, Pan American and Paul V. Kaye circuses. Died March 16, 1977 at Hollywood, California, age 75. Circus Report, March 28, 1977, p. 17. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Lorin Davis Hall started in vaudeville in 1908. He was part owner of the Hall-Latlipp Circus in 1913. He went on to work with a number of shows. Was a contracting agent for Ringling-Barnum. Died January 18, 1976 at Sarasota, Florida, age 87. Circus Report, February 2, 1976, p. 14. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Mabel Hall, manage, Ed. F. Davis Shows, 1900; elephant trainer, Hargraves' Big Railroad Shows, 1904. Billboard, June 9, 1900; Bucks County Gazette (Bristol, PA), April 28, 1904. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Hallett and Carroll have signed with the New Great Syndicate Shows for next season. New York Clipper, February 1, 1896, p. 761. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Charles Halvorsen, musician, Dode Fisk, 1910. Grand Rapids (WI) Tribune, December 21, 1910. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Ethel Hamilton, member of the D'Arcy troupe of female aerialists, 1942. In show business more than 24 years, native of Denver, Colorado. White Tops, Vol. 15, Nos. 7-8 (Jun-Jul), 1942, p. 16. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

John Hamilton is perhaps the oldest man with the Ringling Bros. show and has charge of the sleeping car service. During its early wagon show days he was the boss hostler of the show, but since 1888 has held various other positions. Although nearly sixty years of age, “Uncle John” is one of the most active members of our efficient corps. Offical Route Book of Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Railroad Shows, Season of 1893, Buffalo, NY: Courier Co., 1893.
    John Hamilton, "gets the train over the road," Wallace Shows, 1900. Billboard, May 1, 1900, p. 6. All information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Leo Hamilton, of San Antonio, Tex., late horse, dog and pony trainer with the Sells-Floto Shows, and Ethel Marine were married in Chicago recently. Mrs. Hamilton before her marriage was also with Sells-Floto. Billboard, November 9, 1918, pp. 24, 32. All information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

V. Ray Hampton played in the 1929 John Robinson Circus band and did magic in the sideshow. Later he toured with Seils-Sterling Circus. Circus Report, September 21, 1981, p. 21. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Karl Handley, and his company of German acrobats, Forepaugh-Sells, 1910. Bedford (PA) Gazette, April 29, 1910; Charleroi (PA) Mail, April 28, 1910; New Castle (PA) News, April 29, 1910. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Hanley. Marguerite and Hanley, gymnastic speciality, vaudeville, 1905. (1) Ringling Bros., 1906-1908, 1911:(2) said to be from Germany. ". . . The act of Marguerite and Hanley consists of wonderful exploits demanding nerve and muscle. Hanley holds in his teeth a steel wire, the other end of which is fastened to a pole. A woman mounts the wire and performs upon it. . . ." of European fame. Hanley, Marguerite and Hanley, novelty gymnasts. At the Linden theater, 1912 (Vaudeville).(3) Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

1. New York Times, April 16, 1905.
2. Marion (OH) Daily Star, June 4, 1906; Piqua (OH) Daily Call, April 30, 1907; Centralia (WA) News-Examiner, August 16, 1907; Evening Tribune (Marysville, OH), April 23, 1908; Ad. Fort Wayne (IN) Journal-Gazette, July 15, 1911.
3. Suburbanite Economist (Chicago, IL), March 29, 1912.

Mr. Hanley, advance, Hagenbeck-Wallace, 1909. Perry (IA) Daily Chief, May 22, 1909. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Tom Hanley will put out a small circus without riding shortly. He is organizing at North Adams, Massachusetts, and may be addressed there, care of the Wilson Theater. Billboard, May 21, 1900, p. 5. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Edwin Hanneford, "Poodles," the equestrian clown, was married to Grace White, one of the riders in the Hanneford act, in New York City, August 20, 1919. She has been with the Hannefords for two years or more. They were with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus during this summer, ending their tour in Chicago recently. Billboard, August 30, 1919, pp. 34, 40. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

George Hanneford family, Winter Thrill Circus (George Hamid and Bob Morton show), 1941. White Tops, Vol. 14, Nos. 4-5 (Feb-Mar), 1941, p. 7. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

To H. B. Hanmore, press agent with the Ringling Bros. show, falls the diplomatic task of entertaining the newspaper fraternity along the line of the Big Show’s travel. Mr. Hanmore is a newspaper mnn of many years’ experience. He has been connected with the New York Herald, Times and World, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the St. Paul Pioneer Press. He is very well and popularly known in journalistic circles. He combines with the other necessary qualifications of his position the abilities of a first-class writer and the knack of investing his deseriptives with an unusual degree of interest. Offical Route Book of Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Railroad Shows, Season of 1893, Buffalo, NY: Courier Co., 1893. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Malee Harding (circa 1928)
Photos courtesy of Gregg K. Schrader.

    In 1928 Malee’s older sister, Darlene, was with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus. From the photo (right) of Malee (1928, Wild West act, Hagenbeck-Wallace, 1928), she was also with the show, only eight years old. Darlene rode high-school and high-jumping horses in the big show and also did trick and fancy roping. (1)
    When Malee was eleven she was already performing as a trick and fancy rider at the 1931 Red Lodge Rodeo in Montana, considered one of the best rodeo entertainers.(2) She was still performing at rodeos in 1934, where a local Texas newspaper commented on her skills: "One of the amusement features of the rodeo this year is the riding exhibition of Malee Harding, thirteen-year old trick rider who will give exhibitions of fancy horsemanship. She has won championships in big contests and performs many features of trick riding and roping, also gives demonstrations with her high school horse. Her older sister, Darlene Harding will accompany her this year and will show feats of rope spinning."(3) Darlene married the catcher of a trapeze act, Carl Lassiter.
    The next year Malee was a performer with the 1935 Downie Bros. Circus, doing a menage act with her sister Darlene and other riders. Malee also performed in the concert. Western film star Bill Cody, featured on the 1935 show, was working on a circus film and Malee was to be Cody’s leading lady in the movie. It is unknown if the film was ever released.(4) Darlene was a rider on the Tom Mix Circus in 1936.(5) Her husband, Carl Lassiter, a trapeze performer, died in Hawaii, December 15, 1942, when they were performing with an indoor circus.(6)
    In 1939 Malee was with Cole Brothers’ Circus, where she did was one of the women doing the ladders aerial act.(7)
    Malee married Harlan Burkhart in 1937, who was also on the 1939 Cole Bros. Circus, employed as superintendent of tickets. Harlan’s brother, the well-known Noyles Burkhart who held executive positions with circuses, was also with the show. On the 1940 Cole Bros., Harlan was superintendent of reserved seats and Noyles was auditor. Malee did not list herself as employed in the 1940 census.
    Malee and Harlan apparently retired from the circus and resided in Peru, Indiana, where they had the Burkhart riding academy. In September 1946, they put their fifteen saddle horses and an educated trick pony up for sale, due to ill health.(8) However, they purchased the Streamliner lunch and ice cream business in Peru in April 1947. At the time Harlan had been operating a Dairy Bar in Peru, probably a co-owner.(9) Harlan died in 1949.(10)
    Malee died in 1993. Her obituary:
    M. Malee Johnson, Sept. 21, 1919 - Aug. 24, 1993 Margaret Malee Johnson, 73, formerly of Rochester, died at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday at Regency Place Healthcare Center, Indianapolis. She was born in Coldwater, Kansas to Alfred and Bessie Morning Harding. In 1937 she married Harlan Burkhart who died in 1946. On Dec. 19, 1952 in Chicago she married A. C. Johnson who died in 1975. In the 1920s and 30s she performed with the Cole Bros. and Hagenbeck-Wallace Circuses. She and A.C. owned and operated the Modern Dairy Bar and the Streamliner restaurants here for many years. She was a member of Tri Kappa and the Elks Ladies Golf Association. Surviving are a daughter, Mrs. William (Dixie) Blair Browning, Indianapolis, and two granddaughters, Christine Leeann Blair and Amy Diane Blair, both of Indianapolis. Preceding in death were a son, Curt Cole Burkhart, April 21, 1975; a granddaughter, Peggy Kathleen Blair, March 19, 1992 and a sister, Darlene Lasater. Services will be at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at Zimmerman Family Funeral Home, Rochester with the Rev. Jack Hartman officiating. Burial will be in the I.O.O.F. Cemetery. Friends may call after 10 a.m. Saturday. Memorials may be made to Tri-Kappa or the Fulton County Library.(11)

1. Billboard, March 3, 1928, p. 64.
2. Billings Gazette (Billings, MT), March 7, 1931, p. 13.
3. Pampa Daily News (Pampa, TX), June 29, 1934, p. 8.
4. Bandwagon, May-June 1976, pp. 22, 24.
5. Official Route Book, Tom Mix Circus, 1936.
6. Western Star (Coldwater, KS), January 9, 1942, p. 1.
7. Daily Times-News (Burlington, NC), April 14, 1939, p. 2.
8. Kokomo Tribune (Kokomo, IN), September 10, 1946.
9. News-Sentinel, April 15, 1947.
10. Pharos-Tribune (Logansport, IN), June 21, 1949, p. 2.
11. Rochester Sentinel, August 25, 1993.

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J. F. Harper, advance, Barnum & Bailey, 1908. San Antonio (TX) Light, October 4, 1908. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

John Harper, advance, Sells Bros., 1905. With Sells show a number of years. Resided Rome, Georgia. Atlanta (GA) Constitution, March 30, 1905. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

P. W. Harrell, general advertising agent of the Barnum & Bailey Show, is at his home in Edenton, N.C. Billboard, February 2, 1918, p. 30. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Annie Harrington, a performer, died Aug. 21 [1904], at Coney Island, N.Y. She came to this country from England with the Barnum & Bailey Circus and remained with that show for two seasons. She then joined Hanlon Brothers's "Superba," playing with that company for three seasons. Her husband, Louis Peters, survives her. New York Clipper, September 10, 1904, p. 657. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Rodney Harris, musical director. Mrs. Harris, menage, trapeze. Hagenbeck-Wallace 1924. White Tops, Vol. 16, Nos. 3-4 (Feb-Mar), 1943, p. 7. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

W. H. Harris [William H.] was born in Cooksville, Canada West, Feb. 23d, 1841. In the winter of 1854 he became acquainted with Young Berdsall, a neighbor’s son and conceived the idea of becoming a showman, and between them managed to obtain possession of an old sterioptican from a Mr. Johnson, and with four dollars’ worth of printing, obtained on credity, started on their winter tour with a horse and cutter, showing in all the school houses within a radius of fifty miles of their home, with varied success. In 1855 Mr. Harris’ father, with his family, moved to a new portion of the country, and young Harris abandoned the show business to become a merchant, and entered the general store of John McMillan, at Hoonby, as clerk, at a salary of $4.00 per month. The work was hard, but he received a prime business education, which he has never forgotten. After the first year he became bookkeeper, assistant postmaster, and occupied a position of confidence and trust, which had not been misplaced. He remained some three years with McMillan, when he concluded to try his fortune by commencing business for himself. In 1859, at nineteen years of age, we find him in business for himself as a dry goods merchant. In the winter of 1859 he and a Dr. Lawrence organized a minstrel show, and gave a weekly show in the town to pass away the time. In the meantime he had made several trips to Chicago, purchasing grain for the Canadian millers, and on each return trip home, things looked slow. He then concluded to dispose of his business, which he did at a small profit. Bound to try his fortunes in the Great West, he landed in Chicago in the spring of 1861, and immediately thereafter commenced business as a grain and commission merchant at No. 2, Old Board of Trade building, on South Water Street, which was a glorious and short career, for he became ruined in a day by speculating in corn; and in a strange city, employment scarce, too proud to beg and too honest to steal, thus for three months almost on the verge of starvation, he lived on a few pennies a day, when by chance he observed an advertisement in the Tribune, which read as follows: "Agent wanted for a first-class show." He applied and obtained the situation with Prof. W. J. McAllister, the "Wizard of the North," receiving one-third the profits for his services. He worked almost day and night, billing sometimes two and three towns a day, and by this hard work and close economy the show coined money, playing through Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. The contract with McAllister expiring, he concluded to organize a speciality company, and went to Cincinnati, Ohio, and there got a first-class troupe, and started on a tour through Indiana; but the Hoosiers did not take kindly to the show, and it finally went to pieces at Kokomo, Ind. After paying off everybody in full, his entire capital which remained was $5,35. Investing five dollars in a ticket, he started for Chicago, where he landed on a bright Sunday morning in the spring of 1864. On Monday morning bright and early he commenced looking for a job, and obtained a position as packer of glassware. His desperate circumstances emboldened him to ask for the place which was given him. He performed his duties carefully and faithfully, though not very skillfully, while occupying this place, at a salary of ten dollars per week, he made application through an advertisement in the Tribune for a position as check clerk in C. C. Parks & Co.’s Bank, at a salary of $1,500 per year. He was accepted; and after thinking the matter over carefully, declined, not wishing to be a bank clerk the balance of his life. During his show career he had paid out thousands upon thousands of dollars to various bill posters throughout all the large cities in the country. He concluded to embark in the bill posting business, and started in 1864. It is needless to say it was a success from the word "go." After a few months he consolidated his business with that of his opponent, J. H. Broadway, and the firm became Harris & Broadway, one of the best known on the continent. Their profits during 1864, ‘65, ‘66, ‘67 and ‘68 ran from eighteen to twenty thousand per annum. During these years Harris & Broadway were playing most all the shows that came west on a percentage or a certainty, and there is many a manager that owes their success to the kindly help of Harris and Broadway.
       In 1867 Mr. Harris made another venture, and got married to a woman who has not only been a good helpmate but an able adviser, and much is due her for his great success in after years, she being the guardian of the finances. Through her the gents’ furnishing business was established in September, 1869, at 301 South Clark street, which was an electric success, from extensive and persistent advertising. In the following spring a branch store was opened at 112 Randolph street, which was even a greater success than the parent store, the sales reaching nearly $100,000 the first year. In 1870 he disposed of his advertising business to Geo. A. Treyser, of the Milwaukee Sentinel, and the firm became incorporated Broadway & Treyser Company, and is without doubt the largest institution of the kind in the world. In 1871 the terrible Chicago fire laid waste the two stores of Mr. Harris, as well as a newly furnished home. Thus in an hour, his accumulations of years were swept away. Nothing daunted, he again commenced business and paid every dollar in full without compromise or extension a week after the fire, and the business was continued till 1879 without interruption. The business, from a small beginning, had grown to wonderful proportions, orders being shipped to all the western states and territories, which is still continued by his friend and former partner, M. R. Cobb, who was admitted to the firm in 1872. In 1879 Mr. Harris retired from all business, but after a few months, every day being Sunday to him, he longed for active business again, and purchased all the patents and machinery of the National Egg Carrier, which business he still conducts, shipping to every point where hen fruit is produced. In 1882 he built the Nickel Plate Show, which was the first circus and menagerie to penetrate the extreme far west, having visited seventeen states and territories in a single season, and paying out for transportation, what would run most show. It was indeed a great success, and he promises that next season it will be vastly improved in every particular. Mr. Harris is a large property owner in Chicago, is yet a young man, and has in prospect many years in which to enjoy the result of his labors. He is an incessant, untiring worker, and his motto has always been, "Industry, honesty and perseverance will surely win in the end."
       The season of 1884 was started at Roseburg, Oregon and the show has visited all principal towns in Oregon, Puget Sound, British Columbia, Wyoming Territory, Montana, Dakota, Minnesota, Manitoba and Iowa. The Nickle Plate has left a good name behind at all points visited. . . ." Sporting and Theatrical Journal, August 30, 1884. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Elmer E. Harrison, "Jack," white faced clown. For over 50 years with Gill Gray, Clyde Bros., M & M Productions, Orrin Davenport, Dailey Bros. (Ben Davenport), and other shows. Died July 13, 1980 at Dallas, Texas, age 85. Wife Velma, daughters Peggy Zoppe and Helen Smith, grandchildren Roger and Dennis Zoppe and Denise Olmeda. Circus Report, September 8, 1980, p. 20. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Col. Hugh Harrison, once famous side showman, will handle the press with the World at Home Shows. Billboard, March 16, 1918, p. 29. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Jerome Harryman has charge of the candy department of one of the Baltimore (Md.) department stores until spring, when he will again be with the Sparks Circus as pit show ticket seller. Billboard, March 2, 1918, p. 29. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Hart Bros., clowns?, Hagenbeck-Wallace, 1910. Oelwein (IA) Daily Register, June 16, 1910. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Billy Hart, clown, Hagenbeck-Wallace 1924. White Tops, Vol. 16, Nos. 3-4 (Feb-Mar), 1943, p. 7. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Glen Hart, known as Seacow the Clown, started as an usher with Ringling-Barnum. Clowned on a number of circuses, including Cristiani, Rudy Bros. and Beatty-Cole. Died December 10, 1978 at Phoenix, Arizona. Circus Report, January 1, 1979, p. 30. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

John Hart (Jack), formerly of the Cook Bros.' Shows, has signed with the John Robinson Circus. Billboard, March 23, 1918, p. 66. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

James S. Harto and wife are doing their second sight act, and Jim is lecturing with the John H. Sparks Shows. Billboard, June 8, 1918, p. 27. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

George Hartzel, clown, in the business 22 years, lives Philadelphia, with Ringling Bros. this season 1903, revolving ladder with King. See Phil King. With Shipp's Indoor Circus, 1903. Cedar Rapids (IA) Sunday Republican, February 1, 1903. George Hartzell, age 77, former clown, died February 6, 1941 at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Began his circus career with John O'Brien in 1882. Retired from Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey in 1925. "Circus Notes," White Tops, Vol. 14, Nos. 4-5 (Feb-Mar), 1941, p. 4. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Glen Hartzell ("Bones"), clown the past season with Sells-Floto Circus, whose burlesque prize fight brought many a laugh, returned to his home in Dayton, O., where he is a Bell Captain at the Miami Hotel. Billboard, November 2, 1918, p. 27. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Dana Harvey, treasurer of the Sun Bros.' Show, is at home in East Liverpool, O., working in a like capacity at the Ceramic Theater this winter. Billboard, March 16, 1918, p. 29. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

R. M. Harvey, general agent, Hagenback-Wallace 1909. Hometown Perry, Iowa. Was agent with Buffalo Bill's Wild West 1908. Des Moines (IA), Capital, December 4, 1908; Perry (IA) Daily Chief, May 20, 1909. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Hashi & Osai

1939: Jay Gould's outdoor circus of 150 people opened here Friday for a three-day engagement sponsored by the Clear Lake Commercial club. The circus features a number of acts open to the public without charge. Highlighs of the circus include . . . oriental equilibrists, Hashi and Osai. Mason City Globe (Mason City, IA), June 2, 1939.

• Sei "Osai" Sakamoto and Fukuzo "Frank" Hashimoto formed the performing duo of Hashi & Osai. Osai was born in 1897 and was given up for adoption, taken under the guardianship of an acrobatic trainer. She came to Chicago, Illinois in 1905 where she was trained and began performing with the Otaora Family (later Namba Troupe), as an acrobat, contortionist and performer. Fukuzo was born in 1896 in Japan and joined the Fukumatsu Kitamur acrobatic troupe, coming to the United States in 1906. He joined Ringling Bros. Circus in 1907, remaining three years. He then was with the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show and performed in vaudeville. In 1917, with two others, Fukuzo and Osai formed the Fuji Troupe, touring for three years. They were married in 1919 and formed the duo act, Hashi & Osia. Fukuzo changed his name to Frank at this time. Their performance included perch, water spinning, pedestal, tumbling, flip-flops, hand balancing, juggling, and a Risley act. They were with a Shrine Circus in 1932. Their last performance as Hashi & Osai was Christmas Eve, 1941. Osai died on April 28, 1949, and Frank died on July 26, 1986. - From article online at chicagomontreal.wordpress.com/2006/04/10/hashi-osai/ - with more information and photographs.

• Mass for Frank Hashimoto, 90, one of the last members of the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show, will be said at 10 a.m. Tuesday in St. Benedict`s Church, 2215 W. Irving Park Rd. Mr. Hashimoto, of the Northwest Side, died Saturday in Ravenswood Hospital. He was a vaudevillian and acrobat for 40 years. After coming to the United States in 1906, he toured with such circuses as Ringling Bros. and Barns & Carruthers. Mr. Hashimoto was an agent for the Oriental Show at the opening of the Chicago Stadium in 1920 and was a member of Show Folks of America and the Japanese-American Service Committee. Survivors include his wife, Audrey Delores; a son, Francis Dean; 3 stepsons, Donald Narsh, Noel Owano and Luis Owano; 3 stepdaughters, Margot Owano, Danna McGlashing and Diana St. Laurent; 19 grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren. Chicago Tribune (Chicago, IL), July 28, 1986.

• Frank's second wife, Audrey Delores Baity, born September 1, 1908, died April 9, 1987, the year after Frank's death. They were married in 1950 [undocumented]. Cook County, Illinois Death Index, 1908-1988; Social Security Death Index.

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Don Haven, "Whitey," was with a number of circuses in the 1930s and 1940s. Was superintendent of elephants and transportation with Sparks Circus in 1947. He and his wife toured with the Wirth Circus in Australia and he was electrician on Kelly-Miller Circus in 1953. After retiring he operated his own trucking firm. Died September 23, 1977 at Phoenix, Arizona, age 62. Circus Report, October 31, 1977, p. 9. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

George W. Hawk, Jr. was my great-grandmother’s brother. His obituary states he was a trapeze artist with Rhodes and Whitely. I thought you might be interested in the following - Phil & Kathi

Orbit: George W Hawk, son of George W Hawk and Sarah Jane (White) Hawk, was born in Harrison county, Missouri, Feb 13, 1884, in the little town of Bridgeport. He, with his parents, moved ot Bethany, MO, where he attended the Bethany school and grew to manhood.
He became a trapeze performer and was known as the "Flying Hawk." He joined the Rhodes and Whitely show and later the Wild Bill show and traveled over the United States with these shows. It was on one of these tours, at Atwood, KS he met Miss Lilly Shaffer. Later they were married and came back to Harrison county to set up housekeeping on a farm in the Prairie chapel neighborhood. Later they moved to Bethany and New Hampton vicinities to live before moving to St. Joseph, MO.
To this union seven children were born, one daughter dying in infancy -- Rodney Lee Hawk, Moline, IL: Mrs. Herbert (Beryl) Webb, Vina Calif; Russell Hawk, Rochester, Minn: Ronald Hawk, St. Joseph, MO; Roy Hawk, New York City, NY; and Mrs. Bill (Beverly) Maugh, St. Joseph, MO.
After moving to St. Joseph, he worked at the freight yards until his retirement a few years ago. He had been in ill health the last few months and passed away in the early morning of Saturday, Feb. 15, 1958, at the age of 74 years and two days. He was proceeded in death by his parents, one sister, Tricy Hawk, his wife, Lilly, who died in 1950, and the infant daughter.

Budd Hawes is another dealer in startling metaphor and business-winning phrases, who occupies a stand at the left entrance to the museum door. “Up one isle and down the other, one continual round of pleasure,” “The Orient, the Occident, the lands of eternal summer and the regions of perpetual snow all combined in making this grand museum a universal archipelago of wonder-crowned wealth,” are among the mild expressions of this modern Cicero of the side-show orator’s rostrum, and that emanate copiously and incessantly from a strong voice and powerful lungs. Mr. Hawes is an orator and ticket-seller of great energy and perseverance, and when the closing hour arrives at night his grip invariably empties a wealth of shining lucre into the ticket-wagon. Ringling Bros. 1893. Offical Route Book of Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Railroad Shows, Season of 1893, Buffalo, NY: Courier Co., 1893. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Curtis Hayes, formerly of the Jess Willard-Buffalo Bill Shows, is residing at Muncie, Ind. Billboard, April 20, 1918, p. 28. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Leonard A. Hayes worked lions and tigers with the Tom Mix Circus. Later worked for Comberland Valley Shows. Died July 21, 1975 at Chattanooga, Tennessee, age 60. Circus Report, August 25, 1975, p. 5. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Harry Hayner, aka "Dick Walton," performer, died at Strasburg, Virginia, 1908, home was Greenfield, Ohio. Was with John Robinson Circus. Washington Post, August 17, 1908. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Dr. John E. Healy, who once conducted a circus at the Aquarium, New York City, is largely interested in real estate at New Haven, Connecticut. His former partner, Charles Bigelow, is president of the Kikapoo Indian Medicine Company. Billboard, May 21, 1900, p. 5. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Richard Hearne (circa 1909 - 1979), circus acrobat known as "Mr. Pastry." Born to circus parents, began as a hand balancer. Later interested in paantomime, musical comedy and television, where he had his own series. Was a featured performer with Chipperfields Circus in the 1960s. Died in September 1979 at his home near Maidstone, Kent, England. Circus Report, February 18, 1980, p. 6. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

The Heath Family have closed with the sideshow on the W. P. Campbell Circus, and will play fairs, picnics and parks in Indiana. They are located at Evansville, Ind., where they have opened a large rooming house. They have contracted for free act dats and will open at Cook's Park, Evansville, in their Hindoo act. Billboard, June 22, 1918, p. 26. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Charles Hebel, animal trainer, Wallace shows. "Logansport, Ind., May 19 - Driven from the circus life by the hatred of the elephants, Charles Hebel, old animal trainer with the Wallace shows for years, has entered the show business in this city. Hebel incurred the hatred of one of the performing elephants and It soon spread to the entire herd of pachyderms. At the sight of the old trainer the big beasts would become infuriated and the management was forced to release Hebel to prevent rampages among the animals." Fort Wayne (IN) Journal-Gazette, May 20, 1911. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Johanna Hebert performed in a bicycle act with her brother in Germany, called the Shyrettos. They came to the United States in 1939 and for 20 years worked a number of theatres, circuses, fairs, etc. Johanna was considered one of the foremost woman unicyclist in the world. She met and married E. H. Hebert, "Dick," in 1950 while performing with Polack Bros. Circus. Died in 1988 at Chico, California, age 71. Circus Report, November 14, 1988, p. 20. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

L. H. Heckman (Less H. Heckman), advance, John Robinson's, 1905; contracting agent, John Robinson's Ten Big Shows, 1910; advance, John Robinson's, 1911. Coshocton (OH) Daily Age, April 14, 1905; Evening Tribune (Marysville, OH), April 4, 1910; Mansfield (OH) News, May 10, 1911. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

George Hedges Jr., circus advance man, has signed with T. W. Ballenger, general agent of the Sparks World Famous Shows, to serve as general contracting agent. Mr. Hedges was for several seasons identified with the Barnum Show under Louis E. Cooke, and in recent years one of the members of the R. M. Harvey staff of the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus as brigade agent and car manager. Billboard, March 16, 1918, p. 29. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Lewis M. Hedges, "Chicago, May 8. - Lewis M. Hedges, one of the most widely known old time showmen and for years manager for the late P. T. Barnum, died at his home yesterday. He had been ill for about a year." Syracuse (NY) Herald, May 8, 1911. Slout's Olympians has Louis. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Jack Joseph Heeney, known as Jack Healy, joined an acrobatic act in 1914 and later toured with Hagenbeck-Wallace, then touring in vaudeville. Married Naomi Garnella and they toured on the Keith Circuit and nightclubs. When Naomi retired in 1960, Jack began clowning with circuses, his last engagement with the Omaha Shrine Circus in 1976. Died December 5, 1985 at Coldwater, Michigan. Circus Report, January 6, 1986, p. 29. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Arthur Heller, "Mack," was a band leader and calliope player with Seils-Sterling Circus for 20 years. Died in October 1974 at Sheboygan, Wisconsin, age 71. Circus Report, November 11, 1974, p. 3. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

John Helliott, animal trainer, Hagenbeck-Wallace, 1908, 1924. Daily Courier (Connellsville, PA), May 16, 1908; White Tops, Vol. 16, Nos. 3-4 (Feb-Mar), 1943, p. 7. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

John Joseph Heney was a band member and band leader who began in 1921 playing drums for Sells-Floto. He toured with Ringling-Barnum, the Royal Scotch Highlanders and the John Philip Sousa band. He was also a composer. Died September 1, 1978 at DeLand, Florida, age 75. Circus Report, September 18, 1978, p. 6. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Wm. Henman Troupe, bicyclists, Hagenbeck-Wallace, 1910. Evening Telegram (Elyria, OH), May 24, 1910. Could be Heuman. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Hennessey Brothers, concert, comedians, Sells-Floto, 1908. Anaconda (MT) Standard, May 31, 1908. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

J. R. W. Hennessey, proprietor, manager, Cooper & Co. Circus, 1900. Billboard, May 1 and June 30, 1900. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Henricos, three in number, will be at liberty for the tenting season. Business: cannon balls, Spanish tranca, horizontal bar, double trapeze, comic stilts, juggling, balancing, etc. J. Henrico, Boston, Mass. [Advertisment] New York Clipper, March 24, 1877, p. 416. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

D. H. Henry, an oldtimer, formerly with the Robinson, Wheeler, Haag and other circuses, for the past two years has been employed in the ammunition plant of the Peters Cartridge Company at Kings Mills, Ohio. He is now an inspector of shells and cartridges. Billboard, September 14, 1918, p. 62. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Glen Henry, animal trainer, performer, manager, toured with his family with dogs and ponies on a number of shows. At times produced his own shows. Owned elephants, horses, dogs, chimps, etc. Was on the Gil Gray Circus and Dawn Bros. in 1967. His last circus was American Continental. His father operated Henry Bros. Circus for 50 years. Died December 29, 1983 at Gainsville, Texas. Circus Report, January 23, 1984, p. 18; February 6, 1984, p. 12; February 27, 1984, p. 20; March 12, 1984, p. 12. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Herbert Brothers, three in number, acrobats, dressed in white suits, Frank A. Robbins, 1906-1907, 1910-1911. Bandwagon, Sep-Oct, 2001, p. 30.; Portsmouth (NH) Herald, June 6, 1907; Bandwagon, Nov-Dec, 2001, p. 33; Bandwagon, May-Jun, 2002, p. 23; Bandwagon, Jul-Aug, 2002, p. 28. Margaret Potteiger, acrobat, is said to have been a member of the Herbert Troupe. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Herr Herckenrolt, performing animals, Wallace Shows, 1900. Billboard, June 16, 1900. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

William Herman, carnival and circus man, having been associated with Ringling Bros., Sells-Floto, Al G. Barnes, Nat Reiss, H. W. Campbell, Nigro & Loos and other attractions, better known as "Opie," will be with the Reiss caravan this season. Billboard, February 15, 1919, p. 37. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Earl E. Hern, of this city, with Norris & Rowe, reserved seat concession and license adjuster, 1908. Moberly (MO) Weekly Democrat, March 24, 1908. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Manuel Hernandez was the father and founder of the Hernandez Troupe of teeterboard artists. Died November 10, 1984 near Bradendon, Florida in a car accident. Circus Report, December 10, 1984, p. 26. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Herr (or Daredevil Herr), daredevil, performs 'Leap to the Moon,' bicycle down incline, crosses a space, leaves wheel and ascend to a trapeze, Frank A. Robbins, 1909. Bucks County (Bristol, PA) Gazette, August 6 & 13, 1909. Possibly Slavo in 1907. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Heuman Troupe, trick bicycles, father, mother, and son, Frank A. Robbins, 1905, 1907.(1) Cole Bros., 1909.(2). Could be Henman. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

1. Portsmouth (NH) Herald, June 6, 1907; Bandwagon, Nov-Dec, 2001, pp. 34, 42; Bandwagon, Jul-Aug, 2001, p. 37.
2. Daily Independent (Monessen, PA), April 28, 1909; Ad. Iowa City (IA) Citizen, June 28, 1909.

William Heyer came to the United States circa 1937 when he was head horse trainer for Ringling-Barnum. Born in Holland, he died January 2, 1977 at Sarasota, Florida, age 88. Circus Report, January 24, 1977, p. 18. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Charles F. Hildera, known as Carlo the Clown, joined the circus at a young age. He was an aerialist, contortionist, juggler and bareback rider. In later years he turned to clowning. Died in August 1974 at Monterey, California, age 91. Circus Report, August 26, 1974, p. 5. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

W. K. Hill, advance, Buffalo Bill's Wild West & Pawnee Bill's Far East. Middletown (NY) Daily Times-Press, May 28, 1909. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

New York, March 2. William J. Hillar, for years with Barnum & Bailey Show, and last season side show manager with Hagenbeck-Wallace, has retired from the circus business and accepted a permanent position on the New York staff of the Billboard. Billboard, March 9, 1918, p. 28. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Molly Hillman, "Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Dec.: 23. — Molly Hillman, who for years appeared in this country and Europe as one of the foremost circus performers, died in the poor-house at Greenfield, near here. She was ninety-two years old. In her day she was a star in both the Barnum and Forepaugh circuses. She was marred four times, and each husband met a violent death."(1) "She was the daughter of William Cook, a blacksmith of Newark, NJ, her mother was a great-gread daughter of a chief of the Oneida tribe. Mrs. Hillman played every season for 50 years."(2) Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

1. Tyrone (PA) Herald, December 24, 1908.
2. Lowell (MA) Sun, December 28, 1908.

James Hilton, Sr. worked as a timekeeper on Ringling-Barnum in the late 1940s, working in the yellow ticket wagon. His cousin was Eddie Howe, press agent. Died April 28, 1985 at Yucaipa, California, age 56. Circus Report, June 10, 1985, p. 8. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

George H. Hines, representative, Great Wallace Shows, 1900. Billboard, August 18, 1900. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Hines-Kimball Sisters, high trapeze, carnival, 1905; acrobats, Shipp's American Circus, 1909.(1) Forepaugh-Sells, 1910, 1911, show claimed they were Germans, 1910 first season in America.(2) In 1912 Mayme Fay Harvey was said to be a young woman with the Hines-Kimball troupe of acrobats. Also see Kimball Sisters, Jennie Kimball. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

1. Waterloo (IA) Daily Courier, May 25, 1905; Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica), February 9, 1909.
2. Bedford (PA) Gazette, April 29, 1910; Charleroi (PA) Mail, April 28, 1910; New Castle (PA) News, April 29, 1910; Newark (OH) Advocate, May 1, 1911.

Melvin Hinkle was a dwarf clown, starting his career in the 1930s. He was with the Pete Cortez sideshow, the Clyde Beatty Circus through 1974 and in 1976 toured Canada with Sam Alexander's sideshow. Died in March 1977 at Tampa, Florida when he was in his 60s. Circus Report, May 16, 1977, p. 6. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Vanderbilt Hite, known to showfolks as Leo Collins, a high diver, paralyzed, is at the State Hospital at Little Rock, Ark. He states that he worked on Sun Bros. Circus, Sparks Circus, Downie Shows and several others. He is anxious to get enough money to pay his way to his home in Kentucky. Billboard, July 20, 1918, p. 63. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Robert E. Hitson, known as "Bob-O the Clown, was with a number of circuses including the Carden shows, local west coast show. Died November 10, 1983. Circus Report, December 12, 1983, p. 16. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Hobsons with Ringling Bros. the coming 1903 season. Mr. Hobson from an old show family. His brothers have a show of their own and are traveling the south at the present time. The Hobsons do a double carrying act and a double jockeying act. With Shipp's Indoor Circus, 1903.(1) Sells-Floto, 1911; Miss Hobson, Sells-Floto, 1913.(2) Mrs. Estella Hobson, the Riding Hobsons, home in Chicago, with Sells-Floto, 1916, two sons, 15 yr. old, one age 5. Hobsons had been with Ringling Bros. in past.(3) Miss Stella Hobson, rider, & Riding Hobsons, Sells-Floto, 1917, 1919.(4) Riding Hobsons, with "Noodles" Hobson, Sells-Floto, 1920.(5)
    Mr. and Mrs. Homer Hobson, bareback riders with the Sells-Floto Circus, who also present an Indian troupe act in the big show, celebrated their silver wedding anniversary on July 29 at Shenandoah, Ia.(6)

1. Cedar Rapids (IA) Sunday Republican, February 1, 1903.
2. Oakland (CA) Tribune, April 28 & 30, 1911; Manitoba Morning Free Press (Winnipeg, Canada), July 5, 1913.
3. Logansport (IN) Tribune, May 28, 1916.
4. Daily Courier (Connellsville, PA), August 27, 1917; Indianapolis (IN) Star, May 5, 1919.
5. Lowell (MA) Sun, June 9, 1920; Fort Wayne (IN) Journal-Gazette, August 25, 1920.
6. Billboard, August 10, 1918, p. 24.

Maude Gollmar Hocum, widow of E. V. Hocum, and daughter of Jake Gollmar, died on February 10th in Baraboo. She was a member of the Hocum bareback riding act. After her marriage she and her family, consisting of a son, Ray, and two daughters, Gladys and Lucille, were with Walter L. Main and Andrew Downie and other shows and appeared before Grand Stands of Fairs and parks. In 1933 Mrs. Hocum and the children operated a motorized circus, Hocum-Gollmar, for a short time. Surviving are the son and the two daughters as well as a brother of Rochester, Minn. Bandwagon, Vol. 1, Jan-Feb, 1956, p. 15. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Eugene Hodgeman, billposter, was with Ringling-Barnum in the 1930s-1940s under Babe Boudinot. Died on April 26, 1980 at Los Angeles, California while working as a grip on the Mike Douglas television show. Circus Report, May 19, 1980, p. 3. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Eleanore Hodges, see Eleanore Hodgini.

James G. Hodges was a purchasing agent for Hoxie Bros. Circus for about 20 years. Died January 17, 1979 at Miami, Florida, age 65. Circus Report, February 26, 1979, p. 10. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Hodginis Daisy Hodgini, bareback rider, equestrienne, somersault rider, Ringling Bros., 1907-1911, 1913.(1) Sells-Floto, 1917; juggles while riding, including with a lighted lamp, Sells-Floto, 1919.(2) Hodginis, Ringling Bros., 1910: In hospital, Mrs. Albert Hodgini, Austrian, age about 22, gave premature birth, a rider, does the "upside down" bell ringing act. Mrs. Hodgini has two sisters, a brother, and a brother-in-law in the circus. Family home is in Berlin. Mr. Hodgini is an Englishman, bareback rider, dressed as a woman in his riding act.(3) Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

1. Piqua (OH) Daily Call, April 22, 1907; Ad. Nebraska State Journal (Lincoln, NE), June 28, 1908; Ad. Hippodrome, NYC. New York Times, January 26, 1908; New York Times, March 26, 1909; Daily Press (Sheboygan, WI), August 3, 1910; Abilene (TX) Daily Reporter, September 17, 1911; Fort Wayne (IN) News, July 10, 1913.
2. Sheboygan (WI) Press, June 19, 1917; Sandusky (OH) Star Journal, July 25, 1919.
3. Waterloo (IA) Evening Courier, September 2, 1910.

Eleanore Hodgini (Eleanore Hodges) came to the United States in 1904 with her family's Mannello-Marnitz equilibrism act that was featured in the Ringling circus through 1941. She married Albert Hodgini and began riding bareback. The Hodgini riding act was a feature on Ringling, Sells-Floto, 101 Ranch and Cole Bros. In 1915-16, Albert and Eleanore owned and operated Hodgini Bros. Great European Shows. In the winter months they were on the vaudeville circuit as "Eleanore and Roberto." They retired at the end of the 1936 season. Died February 14, 1981 at Chicago, Illinois, age 99. Circus Report, March 23, 1981, p. 23. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Hanna Hodgini was an acrobat and trapeze performer with Sells-Floto and other circuses. Was a seamstress for Hagenbeck-Wallace. Died March 6, 1984 at Nokomos, Florida, age 72. Circus Report, March 26, 1984, p. 18. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Barry Hodskin, clown. Norris & Rowe 1908. Woodland (CA) Daily Democrat, April 20, 1908. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Ora Hoffman, advance, Yankee Robinson. Fort Wayne (IN) Journal-Gazette, April 8, 1911 Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

William H. Hogan, "Col.," ". . . the well known circus man of this city, has signed with Costello & Graves circus and will start at once. He will go ahead of the show and do the general contracting. . . ." Auburn Bulletin (Auburn, NY), May 27, 1905. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Edward Holder, "Lion Trainer from Richmond, Ind. Richmond, Ind., Feb. 2 - Edward Holder, of this city, widely known as an animal trainer and circus man, has sold his holdings here to become head trainer for the Barnum Bailey Circus at Bridgeport., Conn. Mr. Holder will not accompany the circus, but will train the animals for their acts and then turn them over to others."(1) Prof. Ed. Holder, owner, Hoosier Circus. Played Canada for 20 weeks, then Minnesota, wintered at Wabash, Indiana.(2) "Robison Park. Extra Free Attractions. Holder's Hoosier Circus. The largest and most novel open air show . . ."(3) "In the Winter Quarters. Fort Wayne's Road Show is Preparing for Summer. . . . Hoosier Amusement Company. . . . one of the largest concerns of its kind in the country. . . . shows, tents, 'rides' and concessions . . . merry-go-round . . . ferris wheel . . . "(4) Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

1. Hamilton (OH) Telegraph, February 10, 1910.
2. Cambridge (Indiana) City Tribune, April 9, 1908.
3. Fort Wayne (IN) Evening Sentinel, July 28, 1906.
4. Fort Wayne (IN) News, April 12, 1913.

Ed S. Holder, formerly of the Barnum & Bailey and John Robinson shows, lately in vaudeville with his Ham Tree Mule, is now connected with the transportation department of Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia. Billboard, April 6, 1918, p. 30. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Hollands. To circus managers. The Hollands, three in number, can be engaged. Business: lady equestrian act, principal somersault act, bounding jockey, principal tumbling and leaping. Address George Holland, Delavan, Wis. [Advertisment] New York Clipper, March 10, 1877, p. 399. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Austin Holland. After an eight-season connection with the Ringling interests as billposter, Austin Holland this season will work in a like capacity with the Sparks Circus. Billboard, February 16, 1918, p. 31. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Ed G. Holland will return to the circus field this season. He signed contracts to again be twenty-four agent with the John H. Sparks Circus, his third season in that capacity. Billboard, February 15, 1919, p. 61. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

John Holland. Although a quiet, unassuming man, respected and loved by all who formed his acquaintance, probably no showman and ring or acrobatic performer was so well and universally known in every State in the United States, as John Holland. "The Holland Family" were household words in almost every town in the United States. The family were not satisfied with their travels and exhibitions in the United States, but extended them through all the West India Islands, England, Ireland and the European Continent. The following is but a meagre epitome and abridgment of the busy, active and industrious life of this distinguished gladiator and acrobatic performer: John Holland was born in London, Eng., in Nobember 1815, and at the time of his death, Oct. 27, at his residence in Delavan, Wis., of consumption, was nearly 72 years old. Both his father and mother were residents of London. John Holland commenced his career as a performer at the Victoria Theatre, London, when quite yung, where he distinguished his early exhibitions as the originator of the pantomime and numerous acrobatic, classical feats before unheard of and unknown to the theatre-going people of London. Mr. Holland, after exhibiting a high order of talent in his profession, traveled all over England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and the Continent. He then returned to Ireland, spent several years in engagements in Dublin, Cork, Belfast and elsewhere in Ireland. It was there that he became acquainted with Honora Connington of Ballinstoe, County of Galway, Ire., to whom he was married. Shortly after Mr. Holland's marriage, the then young star emigrated to the United States, New Orleans being his objective point. His first performance was in the old french Opera house, New Orleans. After completing his engagement in New Orleans, he traveled all through the West Indies. After his return he traveled as a star and manager through New York, after which Seth Howes engaged him in the circus then owned and managed by Mr. Howes. While engaged for exhibition in New York and Brooklyn, his performances were witnessed by Jerry Mabie. Edmund and Jerry Mabie of Putnam County, N.Y. had engaged in the show and circus business, and Jerry Mabie was sent to New York to "spy out the land," with the view of finding the best artist and performers. Jerry Mabie was not long in coming to the conclusion that the man he was in pursuit of had been found in the person of John Holland. Shortly after the Mabies engaged the services of Holland, the Mabie Circus came west to Wisconsin, then regarded as the western boundaries of settlement and civilization. . . . The Mabies have long since passed away, leaving a rich legacy to their surviving friends. Soon after Mr. Holland's advent in Delavan he purchased a farm of the Mabies. Mr. Holland for the nine years after his settlement in Delavan, traveled and performed in the Mabie Circus and Menagerie. AFter the termination of Mr. Holland's nine years serves with the Messrs. Mabie, he organized a variety show with J. E. Mosher. The latter show had a short duration, owing to some of the component elements. After the unfortunate termination of the Mossher & Holland Show, Mr. Holland and family entered the show of S. S. Babcock and Harry Buckley. This last named show traveled in the United States and the West India Islands and was generally a success. Mr. Holland and family engaged their services to the George W. DeHaven Circus, which lasted only some three months, when Mr. Holland and family opened the Bowery Theatre in St. Louis, Mo. From St. Louis they went to Memphis, Tenn., and performed under canvas at the various camps of the Union soldiers then stationed in Memphis. From Memphis they went to Little Rock, Ark, then in possession of the Union army, and hardly had the showmen raised their tents or canvas when the place was attacked by the Rebel army, and the showmen had to make a hasty retreat. From Little Rock they went to Pine Bluffs, and at that place Sol(?) Smith made his first appearance. After this Mr. Holland and family started the Colosseum, which lasted two years, and confined its travels to the United States. Then the Holland Family joined the Carroll & McGinley Circus, and remained with it two seasons, when the family accepted service with Haight & Chamber's Circus, and remained with this show until it broke up in Texas. The next season this celebrated family joined Col. C. T. Annis' Circus, and was with it two seasons, and left it in Charleston, S. C. After leaving the last named, the Holland family were at Titusville, Pa., engaged by "Yankee" Robinson, and remained with him three years; then after a most satisfactory closing with the "Yankee Robinson" Show, Mr. Hollands' closing and last performances, together with the other members of the Holland family, were with the celebrated Dr. E. Backenstow in 1874. It will thus be seen that Mr. John Holland had a very busy life. Mr. Holland passed away quietly and peacefully. He was a member and communicant of the Roman Catholic church, and received the offices and sacrament at the hands of Reb. Father Smith, pastor of St. Andrew's Church. Mr. Holland leaves four children, Mrs. Geo. Madden, Geo. and Ed. Holland, and Mrs. Chas. Hollister. New York Clipper, November 19, 1887, p. 570. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Mrs. Orrin Hollis, of the Orrin Hollis Troupe of Riders, was burned to death in her home at Sylvania, O., March 11. A lighted lamp, which she had lifted from a bracket in the wall of the kitchen, slipped from her hands, igniting her clothing. Billboard, March 23, 1918, p. 160. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Hollis Riding act, 1935 on Barnett Bros. Circus, consisted of Melvin Hollis, Bessie Hollis, Flo McIntosh, Helene Rogers and Pat Knight. Circus Report, December 4, 1972, p. 5. Information should be checked with additional sources Do you have more information on this show? Email your documented information for the show or persons.

James Holloway, English acrobatic clown, late of Hengler's Cirque, Liverpool, will arrive in this country about March 29(?), and can be engaged through Caverly & Ireson, sole agents, Eighth street, New York. [Advertisment] New York Clipper, March 9, 1878, p. 395. Information should be checked with additional sources Do you have more information on this show? Email your documented information for the show or persons.

Ross Holmes, of Humeston, Iowa, musician clarinet, returned home, Yankee Robinson's, 1909. Humeston (IA) New Era, November 10, 1909. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

William Ellsworth Holmes. St. Louis, Mo., Aug. 30. William Holmes, a circus man for many years, died at his residence in Pickett Springs Tuesday evening after a long illness. He had been a resident of Montgomery for the past six years. He spent most of his life with the Barnum & Bailey Circus with his wife, Leota Holmes. He was born at Plymouth, Mars.(?), August 29, 1851. Besides his wife, he is survived by a daughter. Interment in Oakwood Cemetery. Billboard, September 6, 1919, p. 86. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Nathaniel Homer, former well known circus and minstrel man, died in Cincinnati, O., Nov. 23. He was born in 1846, and made his debut on the trapeze with "Governor" John Robinson Jr., while a boy in his teens. He won fame as the "King of the Air," and for years was one of the stars of the Robinson Shows. He was a brother-in-law of Billy Emerson, the minstrel, a matrimonial alliance that was made after Homer joined Emerson and Hooley, in a burnt cork enterprise. Homer's body was cremated, and his ashes laid by the side of his wife, at Spring Grove Cemetery. New York Clipper, December 8, 1906, p. 1114. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this person.

Frank L. Hoose, musical director, Sells Bros., 1905 (touring Europe two years). Probably resident of Syracuse, NY. Was musical director same show in 1904. Post-Standard (Syracuse, NY), March 23, 1905. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

H. Hope, excursion, Welsh Bros., 1900. Billboard, June 30, 1900. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Harry Horner, head lithographer, Welsh Bros., 1900. Billboard, June 30, 1900. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Horton & Linden, burlesque bar performers, aerial and horizontal bar, said to be from Germany, Ringling 1908. Evening Tribune (Marysville, OH), April 23, 1908; La Crosse (WI) Tribune, July 4, 1908; Des Moines (IA) Daily News, July 6, 1908. See Linden. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

W. H. Horton. The lithograph ticket agent of a modern big show is somewhat of a latter-day adjunct to the advance force. Mr. W. H. Horton is the able representative of the Ringling Bros. in this department. He inspects the work done by the lithographers of the several cars and makes a complete report of every sheet posted and of all lithographs remaining. The show is thus protected against imposition from people renting window privileges and not protecting the paper posted. Offical Route Book of Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Railroad Shows, Season of 1893, Buffalo, NY: Courier Co., 1893. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Edward M. Hoskinson operated pony rides and concessions on circuses and carnivals. At one time he was a partner in the operation of H & L Circus. He also built props for circus acts. Died May 7, 1978, age 68. His son Paul had Hoskinson's Amimals of Distinction and son Lyle was at one time a clown and announcer on thrill shows. Circus Report, August 28, 1978, p. 13. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

H. F. Hosler, whose meritorious work on the tuba has kept him constantly employed, is a resident of Mattoon, Ill. He began his professional career in 1881 with Prof. Gleason’s Equine Paradox. Ringling Bros. 1893. Offical Route Book of Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Railroad Shows, Season of 1893, Buffalo, NY: Courier Co., 1893. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Nick Howard, formerly with Sautelle's circus, died trying to perfect a feat running an automobile down a steep incline, turns a somersault out in space, returning to the ground. Died at Sellsville, Ohio. When he was with Sautelle, used the name "Cycle." He was said to be the originator of the cycle whirl, the cup and saucer trick and other well known acts of daring. His wife was formerly Miss Olga Reid, one of Sautelle's equestriennes. Howard probably a resident of Homer, New York. Post-Standard (Syracuse, NY), December 7, 1905. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Thomas Howard announces that he has retired from the profession and settled at Columbus, Ind. He was formerly of the Howard Bros., acrobats. New York Clipper, April 20, 1889, p. 97. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

A. Howe, bill poster, L. W. Washburn, 1894. New York Clipper, April 7, 1894, p. 71. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Eddie Howe started his circus career in 1936, selling cotton candy on the Tom Mix Circus. The next year he was a candy butcher on the Barnes-Floto Circus. By 1938 he was in charge of the ponies on Hagenbeck-Wallace, and in 1939 he joined Cole Bros. Circus. In 1947 he was with the front door crew on Ringling-Barnum, then became the only WWII veteran to learn press agentry under the Veteran Administration's on-the-job training program. He was contracting press agent on Cole Bros., 1948-50, then went with the Beatty Circus in 1950-51. He was publicity director on Polack Bros. in 1952; field agent for MGM Pictures, 1953. He was press agent with Ringling-Barnum, 1954-55; Polack Bros., 1956; Kelly-Miller, 1960; King Bros., 1964; Carson & Barnes, 1966; James Bros., 1968. He worked for movie studios, Broadway touring shows and managed several southern California theaters. In 1974 he was and editor for Amusement Business. His son, Eddie Jr. worked for Ringling-Barnum's transportation department in 1974. Circus Report, August 19, 1974, p. 5. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Edward J. Hoyt, known as "Buckskin Joe," died at his home, Los Angeles, Cal., April 20. He was born near Magog, Canada, in 1841. When the Civil War broke out he was with a circus, but abandoned it and joined the Union Army. Following the war he was a government scout during Indian outbreaks. For some time he traveled with Pawnee Bill's Wild West Show, but in 1892 started his own show in Crescent Park, Providence, R.I., playing a year. For two years he was a deputy United States marshal and then went back to the show business, which he later left to prospect for gold. He had lived in California since 1900. His widow and two daughters survive him. Billboard, May 11, 1918, p. 74. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Mrs. Bertha Hubbard, seven years a member of the Haag Shows, died February 4 at the Schrumprt Sanitarium, Shreveport, La. She is survived by her husband, H. D. Hubbard, and her infant daughter, also by two brothers and a sister. Billboard, February 16, 1918, p. 66. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Barr Walter Huddleston was a candy butcher on a number of motorized shows, including Bailey Bros., King Bros., Cristiani, Wallace Bros. and Clyde Beatty. Died November 4, 1978 at Charlotte, South Carolina, age 54. Circus Report, November 20, 1978, p. 9. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Circus people now in the carnival business: Joe Hughes, one time general agent for Frank A. Robbins, with Williams Standard Shows. Billboard, June 8, 1918, p. 27. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Marvin Hulick (circa 1901 - 1980), traveled with carnivals and the Dailey Bros. Circus, working as a clown, training dogs and with the elephants. After leaving the road, amassed an extensive collection of circus memorabilia. Died at Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in February 1980. Circus Report, February 25, 1980, p. 22. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

George A. Hulme, "Bumpsy Anthony," clown, joined a horse and wagon show at age 16, then performed in vaudeville where he formed his pantomime act with a break-away bicycle. He was with Cole Bros., Cristiani Bros., Sparks, Tom Mix in 1937 and Ringling-Barnum until he retired in the 1960s. Born in 1900, died January 12, 1989 in Florida, age 89. Circus Report, January 30, 1989, p. 22; February 6, 1989, p. 3. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

John Hummel, manager, Sells-Gray, 1900. Hummel was manager when Mr. Sells was absent from show. Billboard, May 21, 1900. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

John Humphreys, a veteran circus bandmaster, died Sept. 19 [1901], at the National Military Home, Wis. He had been connected with the show business for many years, having toured the country with the leading circuses. He continued in the profession until a few years ago when old age forced him to retire, and he entered the home where he died. He leaves a son. New York Clipper, October 12, 1901, p. 718. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Charles T. Hunt, Sr., owner. In 1892, when he was age 19, framed a small show with partners W. C. Brainard and Eugene Feralto. Brainard was business manager and made the openings. Feralto was known as the Skeleton Giant and strongman. Hunt did tight wire, juggling slack wire and roman ring acts. Hunt married in 1892, the same year he started in the circus business. In 1941 Hunt's wife worked the front door; daughter Charlotte performed perch and iron jaw acts; son Charles Jr. was equestrian director, bareback, trapeze; wife of Charles Jr., menage, aerialist; son Harry, assistant manager, legal adjuster; Harry's wife, ticket wagon; son Edward, bareback, clown, roller-roller. Earlier, Hunt's mother did the front door, his father the purchasing agent, fixer and ticket seller. Hunt celebrated 50 years in the business in 1942. Hunt claimed he was a descendant of Colonel Thomas Hunt, who was said to have come to America in 1628. "Eastern Fans to Meet with Hunt Show at Opening of 50th Year," White Tops, Vol. 15, Nos. 3-4 (Feb-Mar), 1941, pp. 3-6. Information should be checked with additional sources

       Charles T. Hunt, Sr., Dean of American Circus Owners, died September 11, 1957. Death occurred at the home near Burlington, N. J. Mr. Hunt was 84 years old on September 7, and had operated a circus for 65 years. He was a native of Kingston, New York and had taken out his circus in 1892. He is survived by two sons, Harry and Charles, Jr. and a daughter Charlotte LeVine, as well as 3 grandsons and a granddaughter.
       Charles Hunt was well known to all fans, and had many many friends in all walks of life. He will be missed by his many friends as well as by his family. Charles Kistler and Jim MacInness attended the funeral, as representatives of The Circus Historical Society, on Saturday, September 14. Burial was in a cemetery only 2 blocks from the Hunt home and winter quarters.
       Charles Kistler writes to tell of the funeral as follows: "The flower tributes were out of this world, and filled 2 rooms in the house. There were 2 outstanding floral tributes. The one marked "Father" showed 4 poles, aluminum, erected - but the one pole was broken. The flags on the poles were "Hunt", "Brothers" and "Circus". It was a large piece and the 3 ring curbs were made of pink flowers, and the lot was all flowers. It was certainly an outstanding piece. The other large piece was the Menagerie Tent, up but not side walled. The top was made of white flowers, and in the tent were horses, elephants, etc. Again the lot was made of flowers. "Father Sullivan was there from Boston, and made some very nice remarks. The Presbyterian Minister was in charge of the services.
       "They had a new tent erected, not side walled, with the reserved seats inside to sit on. The orange-ade machine was set up, and filled with ice water, so that all could refresh themselves, as it was a very hot day. The "donecker" was set up some distance from the house, for the convenience of all. After the funeral there was a buffet supper in the cook house.
       "The Hunts certainly did everything to make folks feel at home. They used a loud speaker in front of the house, so that the services might be heard by everyone in attendance. When they carried Charlie out, the fans, performers, etc. lined up on each side of the walk.
       "I have certainly lost another good friend, and this will be felt in my future visits to the show." Bandwagon, Vol. 1, No. 4 (Sep-Oct), 1957, p. 11. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Charlotte Hunt, see Charlotte LeVine.

Dick Hunter, advance, Gollmar Bros., 1900. Hunter left the Sells-Gray show to go with Gollmar. Billboard, June 16, 1900.   Dick Hunter, years ago in the circus business with Barnum & Bailey, is recently of Foley & Burk Shows on the Pacific Coast.   San Francisco. Dick Hunter claims he has definitely forsaken the show game and has left for New York to complete arrangements for a tire agency which has been offered him here. Billboard, June 15, 1918, pp. 5, 40. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Robert Hunting, an old time circus clown, died at the Soldiers' Home, Erie, Pa., on April 21 [1902], of apoplexy. He had been connected with Barnum's, Forepaugh's and other circuses, and was financially wrecked in putting a circus of his own on the road. The remains were sent to Philadelphia for interment. New York Clipper, May 10, 1902, p. 251.

1900: Robert Hunting, a once famous circus proprietor, was sent to the Soldiers' and Sailors' Home at Erie, Pennsylvania, in a paralyzed condition. He failed in 1896, when operating the Hunting Circus. It is said that he is almost utterly helpless, and there is no hope for his recovery. Billboard received this letter from Mr. Hunting, dated December 10: "I am afflicted with paralysis, which is incurable. The disease got ahold of me about two years ago. I can walk about a little bit, but not very far, as my left side, from my hip to my left foot, has partially lost its feeling. I fooled along with the doctors until they had got about all the cash I had, but they did not do me any good. So here I am in the Soldiers' and Sailors' Home. It is the finest place of its kind in the country. You get everything you want; plenty of good, wholesome food.
    "My sons are doing well, they are with Fulgora's European and American Stars. Louis, my oldest boy, is married to Mollie barry. She is a fine performer. . . . I have a little money left, and the boys send me some every now and then, so I get along nicely. You are probably aware that my wife died about a year ago, of heart failure. The shock brought on a second stroke of paralysis. It is a very fortunate thing for me that I was in the navy." - Robert Hunting. Billboard, December 15, 1900, p. 14.

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Albert Huntington, candy stands, Gollmar Bros., died Oct. 26, 1909 of typhoid fever at Darlington, Wisconsin. Republican Farmer (Darlington, WI), October 27, 1909. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Anna McCaddon Hutchinson, sister of the late Mrs. James A. Bailey, of Barnum & Bailey, and mother of Charles and Fred Hutchinson, died at her home in Bridgeport, Conn., January 29. Billboard, February 15, 1919, p. 74. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

        
Left, Charles R. Hutchinson. Right, Fred Bailey Hutchinson

Hutchinson, Charles R. and Fred B. The Billboard this week publishes the first photos of the new powers of the Barnum & Bailey "Greatest Show on Earth" - the new circus kings who have succeeded to the throne occupied by the late James A. Bailey.
       George O. Starr is now the chairman and managing director, and Charles R. Hutchinson has been appointed a director to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Mr. Bailey. Mr. Starr, as chairman of the directorate and next in command, having been with the show twenty-nine years, and incidentally the second largest stock holder, has succeeded to the chieftaincy of the show.
       Mr. Starr is one of the best known and diplomatic circus men in the world and his occupancy of the managerial chair, lately held by James A. Bailey, has met with unanimous approval of all the stockholders of the organization. For the past few years be has been in Europe as the chief foreign representative of the "Greatest Show on Earth," and also attending to the business interests of the Buffalo Bill Show, he having arranged for the present tour of the Wild West abroad. The show is now enjoying immense business in Italy. Mr. Starr will travel with the Barnum & Bailey Show , and is thoroughly versed in every detail and is held in the highest esteem by every employee of the Big Show, having always enjoyed the greatest popularity with the staff. With Mr. Starr as managing director, the last wishes of Mr. Bailey, which were to perpetuate the show were well instructed and assured when placed in the hands of the new circus king. It was Mr. Staff who discovered the "Dip of Death" and other thrilling acts that have become famous through their exploitation by the Barnum & Bailey Show, and much of the credit for the present wonderful organization can be attributed to the new managing director who piloted the enterprise through the foreign channels of state while it was abroad, a feat which stamped him as a diplomat of the first class.
       The other continuing member of the board of directors is Frederick Bailey Hutchinson. who is manager of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. The progress of this young man has been one of the interesting bits of circus history. He joined the Adam Forepaugh Show in 1892 as Mr. Bailey's personal representative, and remained in that capacity for two years, after which, he was transferred to the Buffalo Bill Show, to occupy a position of greater responsibility and importance in the Bailey interests. He remained In this country until 1902 when the Cody organization went abroad, and since 1898 Mr. Hutchinson has been manager of the Buffalo Bill Show. At the age of thirty-one this brainy young man occupies a position in the amusement world that testifies to big wonderful ability and magnificent future.
       Charles R. Hutchinson, the new director. has been with the show for some time in the capacity of general treasurer, and is one of the most brilliant showmen to the business, with a popularity in the Barnum & Bailey Circus covering every department. In 1891 he forsook commercial pursuits and joined the Adam Forepaugh Show, remaining with them until 1895, when Mr. Bailey placed him with the Buffalo Bill Show as treasurer. He held this position for two years, and in the spring of 1897 the Barnum & Bailey Show, having assumed such gigantic proportions, Mr. Hutchinson was transferred to the "Greatest Show an Earth" as treasurer, succeeding M. F. Young, who died that spring. Since 1897 he has been associated with the "Big One" in the capacity of chief of the financial department. a position which only one of great ability could occupy, and in a manner that has received the unanimous endorsement of the directorate.
       Mr. Hutchinson has made a substantial reputation as a brilliant financier, and is universally popular among the people with the show, being extremely fair and considerate to every one. He is thirty-seven years of age, married, and with his wife and four children reside during the off season in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
       Charles R. and Fred B. Hutchinson are nephews of the late Mr. Bailey, who specially educated them for the amusement business. They both have been hard and faithful workers, and their rapid advancement has always been deserved.
       The staff this year for the "Big Show" is George O. Starr, managing director; Fred B. Hutchinson, associate director; Charles R. Hutchinson, director and general treasurer; Geo. Arlington, business manager; Lewis E. Cooke, general advance manager; R. W. Ivers, physician; Edward Arlington, traffic manager; Chas. Andress, attorney; R. M. Harvey, chief contracting agent; Charles Hayes, special representative, and John Stevens, treasurer, he having been appointed to that position, owing to the many duties which fall upon Mr. Charles R. Hutchinson's shoulders. Mr. Stevens’ promotion is deserved, and has met with the unrestricted endorsement of everyone in the show. He is a prime favorite. R. W. Whitehead remains an auditor and the press department is represented by Harvey L. Watkins, contracting press agent; Willard D. Coxey, the story man, seven days ahead, and Dan S. Fishell back with the show. W. R. McDonald will continue to occupy the position of private secretary to the managing director. Messrs. Murray, Abbott and Lester are managing respectively cars No. 1, 2 and 3.
       With this efficient executive force there are no qualifying terms to be used in connection with the confident prediction that the Barnum & Bailey Show will not be less wisely directed this season than in former years. The organization is perfect, and though the death of James A. Bailey is not the less deplorable, the news of the selection of his able successors will be most agreeable to those who are interested in the perpetuation of the show. "The Great Triumvirate," Billboard, May 19, 1906, p. 10.

    New York, Feb. 9. Frank P. Spellman announces the engagement of Frederick Bailey Hutchinson, formerly manager of Sells-Floto Circus, as business manager and treasurer of the new United Million Dollar Motorized Cicus. Mr. Hutchinson will arrive in the city from his home in Parkersburg, W. Va. for a conference with his chief. . . . Billboard, February 16, 1918, p. 61.

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Huttons see Taylor-Huttons.

Samuel Hutchinson, "Sam Hutch," died June 30, 1909. [Possibly died at Columbus, Ohio.] According to Doc Waddell: "He never failed to remember the dead and always contributed liberally for roses for their mounds of clay; he was extremely good to the canvasman and the razorback and gave to them often and richly; he was a fashion plate in dress the Ward McAlister of circusdom. 'Sam Hutch' was not forgotten last Thursday, the first anniversary of his death, and surviving friends communed at his tomb and lavished it with forget-me-nots. . . . Louis, a brother, is dead, and two brothers, who are well known to the show world survive and live here - George, in the livery and sale staable business and Edward D., who travels every season to state and county fairs with different sorts of shows. At one time all these brothers were in the circus business." Billboard, July 09, 1910, p. 10. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Frank Hyatt now and for some years past the general superintendent of the Barnum & Bailey United Shows. Born at Jefferson Valley, Putnam Co., New York, Feb. 21, 1842, he first entered the show business in 1863, with the old Van Amburg & Co.’s Circus, where he remained until 1865, when the firm became Barnum & Van Amburg, and exhibited in this city on Broadway, between Spring and Prince Streets. After the dissolution of the latter firm, in 1870, he continued with Van Amburg until 1875, when he transferred his services to the Great London Circus an became its treasurer, occupying that position until the show closed at Augusta, Ga., in 1876. The next season he engaged with Adam Forepaugh in Chicago as manager, going to California and closing at Heywood, Cal. In 1877 he became a partner with Den Stone and George Bronson, the show closing at Chicago, Ill., in June of the same year. The following year he rejoined Mr. Forepaugh as advance agent, and made a tour of the South during the frightful epidemic of yellow fever prevalent that year. During 1878, 1879 and 1880 he was engaged with the Forepaugh Circus as assistant manager, going over to the Barnum Show again at the time of its consolidation with J. A. Bailey’s Great London Circus in 1881, where he remains at present. During Mr. Hyatt’s twenty-seven years in the circus business, he has filled every position connected with a show. [Died 1927] New York Clipper, March 16, 1889. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

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W. D. Ingraham, advance, Miller Bros. 101 Ranch. Daily Independent (Monessen, PA), April 11, 1910. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Howard Ingram, formerly trainmaster of the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus, is now serving the colors at Camp Taylor, Ky. Billboard, August 24, 1918, p. 62. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Detroit, Mich. Warren B. Irons took over the Avenue Theater in Detroit to great success. He was for many years identified with the circus business, John Robinson Shows and later the Wallace and Hagenbeck-Wallace Circuses. When the Hagenbeck show closed in 1916 he saw the possibilities of bringing the old Avenue Theater back to theatrical life. An old ticket seller, Walter Van Horne is the straight man, and John R. Andrews, late treasurer of the Hagenbeck show, has charge of the box-office. . . . Billboard, April 13, 1918, p. 12. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Wm. and Mme. Irwin arrive in New York to join the Ringling Bros. Show, and will ??? to Cuba next season with Circo Cortada. New York Clipper, April 21, 1894, p. 102. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Aerial Irwins, iron jaw, Yankee Robinson, 1911. Cedar Rapids (IA) Republican, May 9, 1911. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Keller Iseminger, advance agent, Keystone Shows, 1900. Billboard, July 7, 1900. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Ichisuke Ishikawa

• Ichisuke Ishikawa, from Ibaraki, emigrated through Seattle in April, 1901. Born about 1886, he was an acrobat and worked for at least one major circus before going into vaudville. Ancestry.com Message Board, Japan

• Ichisuke may have been one of the Ishikawa Brothers, acrobats. The ship list for September 21, 1926, sailing from San Francisco to Honolulu, Hawaii, lists: Ichisuke, age 39; Kami, age 35; Masu, age 37; Tateu, age 33 - all performers, all born in Mito, Japan. Kami is sometimes spelled Kama.

• On the ship list for December 10, 1947, sailing from San Francisco to Honolulu, Hawaii, Ichisuke Ishikawa, age 61, is listed as a circus actor. Also on this ship, listed along with Ichisuke, were the Escalantes and others: Bette Escalante, circus performer; Phip Escalante, circus performer; Alfredo Landone, circus performer; Ingeberg L. Landone, aerialist; Tetsuguru Nagami, circus performer; Miguel Norberto Padilla, circus performer; Manuel Velarde, circus performer; Saturnino Villanueva, circus performer; Victor Bak, circus performer.

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Allie Jackson, known in private life as Mrs. Sunlin [wife of Louis Sunlin], is the very clever manege rider billed on the programme of the show as the “Queen of the Side Saddle.” The accompanying portrait very clearly portrays her comely features. She commenced her professional career as a character vocalist, and, although she no longer uses her powers as a descriptive singer in a professional way, can often be heard at the piano entertaining the members of the company with her rare and pleasing rendition of popular ballads and songs. Offical Route Book of Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Railroad Shows, Season of 1893, Buffalo, NY: Courier Co., 1893. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Eddie Jackson
    Eddie Jackson will be with the ticket sellers of the Ringling Show the 1918 season. He was press agent back with the show for Gentry Bros. last year. Billboard, April 20, 1918, p. 27.
    ". . . Eddie started with the Sells-Floto Buffalo Bill circus in 1913, as a press agent. During most of the 1920s he was a press agent back on the show with the Sparks circus. He later moved to the Ringling Barnum show and for a few years just before he retired in 1955 he was on the advertising car of the big show. He had actually been on many different circuses before joining Sells-Floto. His first experience in the circus business was in 1885. . . ." Jackson died January 24, 1965 at age 90. Bandwagon, Vol. 9, No. 1 (Jan-Feb), 1965, p. 3. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Jack Jackson was a bar performer, clown and band leader. He was a partner with Red Dingler and Buckles Perales. He maried Mildred Jackson, "Babe," who trouped with him. Jack toured with Carson & Barnes, Great American, Lewis Bros. and Hoxie Bros. Died in 1988 at Louisville, Kentucky. Circus Report, November 21, 1988, p. 12. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Jacksons, Three Jacksons, hand balancing, acrobats, 1941. "Fan Notes," White Tops, Vol. 14, Nos. 4-5 (Feb-Mar), 1941, p. 9. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Chauncey Jacobs, boss hostler with the Walter L. Main Shows, closed with that attraction at Penns Grove, N.J., to report at his home in Cincinnati, in answer to a call to the colors, and he then left for Camp Sherman, O. Billboard, October 5, 1918, p. 27. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Eugene J. Jacobs, formerly in the publicity departments of Robinson Famous and Barnum & Bailey, is a private in the Marine Corps. Billboard, May 18, 1918, p. 29. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Jake Jacobs, musician, clarinet, probably from Austin, Minnesota, Dode Fisk, 1910. Austin (MN) Daily Herald, May 6, 1910. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Terrell Jacobs, Dolly Jacobs, performers, Winter Thrill Circus (George Hamid, Bob Morton show), 1941. White Tops, Vol. 14, Nos. 4-5 (Feb-Mar), 1941, p. 7. Said to perform with the Olympia Circus, 1941. "Circus Notes," White Tops, Vol. 14, Nos. 4-5 (Feb-Mar), 1941, p. 16. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Jules Jacot

Jules Jacot, no date, photo courtesy of Conover collection.

Jules Jacot, animal trainer noted for his cat acts, was with circuses and with the St. Louis zoo 1943-1970. In the mid-40s he had a polar bear in his act for a few years. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Margarette Jahn was born in Germany, came to the United States as a dancer with the Ziegfeld Follies. She was a performer with the Ringling circus for 25 years. Died April 20, 1986 at Sarasota, Florida, age 95. Circus Report, May 12, 1986, p. 4. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Mrs. Katherine Jalvan, wife of Joseph Jalvan, of "The Juggling Jalvans," died November 18 at Macomb, Miss., of pneumonia. The team was working with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Shows at the time of Mrs. Jalvan's death and had been on the show for seven weeks. The body was interred at Macomb. Billboard, November 29, 1919, p. 84. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Paul James, funny mule hurdle, W. H. Coulter's, 1911. Adams County Free Press (Corning, IA), May 17, 1911. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Billy Jameson. Billy and Lola Jameson will again be with the Ringling Bros. Show next season. Billy will have something new and original in clown entries and will also continue to use his version of the man prize fight act entitled The Fighter's Review, which he is now using in vaudeville. Mrs. Jameson will be at home for the winter. Billboard, December 21, 1912, p. 38.    Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Robert Jamison, 13 years member of show band, died prior to 1910, Hagenbeck-Wallace. Fort Wayne (IN) Journal-Gazette, August 28, 1910. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

August Jansley

    August arrived in the United States in 1914: August Forsbach, Arrived NY, Dec. 20(?), 1914, ship S. S. St. Louis, from Liverpool, England. August Forsbach, age 19, single, artist, Cologne, Germany, J. Jansky Wolf, c/o Paul Jansky, 104 E. 14th St. New York City. His Jansky Troupe. [The Jansley Troupe was famous for its risley act.]
    1922: August Jansley and Marion Tahar, both members of the Ringling Bros.-Barnum & Bailey Circus, were married in San Antonio, Tex., October 9. [see below] Billboard, October 28, 1922, p. 114.
    1923: "The 1923 edition of the Sells-Floto Circus was also covered in "Bandwagon" [XXII, 6, pages 36-45]. In the performance, Display 13 was the Bert Duo, Oranto Brothers, the Arleys, Jansley Duo." Bandwagon, Vol. 22, No. 6 (Nov-Dec), 1978, p. 37.
    1925: Associated Vaudeville bill at the Broadway . . . The two Jansleys opened the vaudeville portion of the program with a sensational perch and loop the loop spectacle. Mrs. Jansley, who is a small woman, does a balancing stunt with her husband atop a 14-foot pole. Helena Daily Independent (Helena, MT), April 15, 1925, p. 2.

    1928: Vaudeville . . . A genuine European novelty is introduced by the Two Jansleys . . . a woman so strong as to be able to support a twenty-four-foot pole upon which a man climbs to the summit and performs acrobatic feats. Mrs. Jansley is a small woman and is as strong as she is small. She holds the long rod in the air for nine minutes while her husband does all manner of stunts at the top, such as twirling around, looping the loop and hanging by one hand. Joplin Globe (Joplin, MO), April 8, 1928, p. 17.

    1929: Chicago, Dec. 21. - A most successful Charity Circus was staged this week at Ashland Auditorium under the auspices of Greater Chicago Lodge No. 3, Loyal Order of Moose. The entire show, which was held from December 12 to 19, inclusive, was produced and presented by the Edw. A. Hock Amusement Company. . . . August Jansley and his loop-the-loop . . . August Jansley handled the stage. Newspaper clipping, December 28, 1929.

    1942: August Jansley, who has been playing an amusement park in Caracas, Venezuela, with his high act, returned to the States last week and will play fairs the coming season. Billboard, February 28, 1942, p. 45.   Hollywood Thrill Circus, Great Jansley, swaying pole. Billboard, July 25, 1942, p. 42.   Kiel [Wisconsin]. Band-Fireman's picnic . . . the Great Jansley, king of the high acts, or sometimes called the Skyrider, will be the feature free attraction. Manitowoc Herald-Times (Manitowoc, WI), July 28, 1942, p. 11.   Delphos Fair Attraction [Ohio]. "The Great Jansley" [sic] performs gymnastics at the height of 168 feet in the air. . . . performing a head stand atop the swaying pole, For the finish of his act at night he does a hand stand on the very top of the pole in which he has his legs wired with lights. Turning out all other lights on his rigging, he forms the letter "V" that can be seen for a great distance.   The Great Jansley stopped off in Delphos Saturday to measure the location for his free act rigging . . . will probably arrive here Sunday to start erecting his equipment. Delphos Daily Herald (Delphos, OH), August 13, n.p.n.; August 18, 1942, n.p.n.

    1943: Salt Lake City celebration, Rodeo July 20 . . . specialty act "Great Jansley," who performes his feats on a 168 foot swaying pole at the approximate height of a 15-story building. Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City, UT), July 12, 1943, p. 1.   Rodeo . . . "Great Jansley," who performed acrobatics atop the world's highest swaying pole, 168 feet above the ground without benefit of safety devices. Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City, UT), July 24, 1943, p. 16.   Tom Pack's Big Time Circus, Moolah Temple Shrine Show, The Great Jansley, 175 feet in the air. Billboard, July 17, 1943, pp. 38, 44.

Photo, right: August Jansley doing handstand on top of ladder.

    1944: United Nations Circus, Great Jansley. Billboard, June 3, 1944, p. 42. ;  1944 Wisconsin State Fair . . . "The Man of the Sky," . . . The rigging for this act is 205 feet from the ground and the Great Jansley dose almost impossible feats atop this lofty perch. Sheboygan Press (Sheboygan, WI), August 16, 1944, p. 4.

    1945: Tom Pack's Police Thrill Circus . . . The Great Jansley, high pole. Billboard, July 7, 1945, p. 64.   Buckeye Lake park is featuring the Great Jansley. Jansely works atop a 210 foot steel pole using no nets or safety devices. Jansley comes direct from and extended engagement at Carlin Park in Baltimore, Md. Newark Advocate and American Tribune, August 21, 1945, p. 11.

    1946: Showmen's League of America, Chicago, July 20. Jansley fell ill and was taken to Chicago for hospitalization. Billboard, July 27, 1946, p. 72.

    1947: Showmen's League of America, Chicago. . . . August Jansley is in serious condition in his home. Billboard, February 8, 1947, p. 62. Chicago — August Jansley, 51, aerial performer in circuses and on the stage. Janesville Daily Gazette (Janesville, WI), March 10, 1947, p. 9. Showmen's League of America, Chicago, funeral services were held this week for August Jansley . . . Billboard, March 22, 1947, p. 62.

    1948: Ronald Jansley, 19, son of the late August Jansley, high pole performer; September 23 at Guam. He was a seaman in the Army Transport Service, and was preparing to take out his father's act. Survived by his mother, Mrs. Jewell Fischer, and a brother, Frederick. Interment in Woodlawn Cemetery, Chicago.   Ronald Jansley, son of the late August Jansely, serving as a seaman in the army transport serviced, was drowned recently at Guam, his mother advises. Billboard, December 11, 1948, pp. 48, 63.

• August Forsback Jansley, age 51, circus performer, was born circa 1896 in Cologne, Germany, died March 8, 1947 at Chicago, Illinois, buried March 11, 1947 at Woodlawn Cemetery, Forest Park, Cook County, Illinois. August resided in Chicago at the time of his death, wife, Jewell. His father was Wilhelm Forsback, mother Christiana Graf, both born Germany. "Illinois Deaths and Stillbirths, 1916–1947." Index. FamilySearch, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2010.   Another source (below) states August was born July 4, 1895 in Germany.

• 1922, marriage. August Forsbach married Marion Belyasson, 09 Oct 1922, at Nacogdoches County, Texas. Source: Indexing Project (Batch) Number: M75270-3; System Origin: Texas-EASy, GS Film number: 25315, Reference ID: cn 1269 p. 148.

Photo, August in center, wearing dark overcoat.

• 1930 census, Chicago, April 5. August Jansley, lodger, age 34, single, born Germany, immigrated 1914, actor, theatrical. Residing at the same address was Belva Schrader, lodger, age 35, single, born Nebraska, father born New York, mother born Indiana, Occupation: actress, theatrical.

• 1940 census, Chicago. August Jansley, age 44, born Germany; wife Jewell Jansley, age 34, born New York; son, Ronald Jansley, age 10, born Massachusetts.

• 1941, Naturalization Record. August Forsbach (Jansley), 4909 Winthrop Ave., Chicago, Ill. Born July 4, 1894, Germany. Date of naturalization, July 2, 1941. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington, D.C.; Naturalization Petitions for the United States District and Circuit Courts, Northern District of Illinois and Immigration and Naturalization Service District 9, 1840-1950 (M1285); Microfilm Serial: M1285; Microfilm Roll: 58.

• 1942 WWII Draft Registration Card. August Jansley, 1348 Bryn Mawr Av., Chicago, Ill. Age 46. Born Cologne, Germany, July 4, 1895. Actor. Lists contact, Jewell Jansley, same address. Height 5-1, weight 120, blue eyes, brown hair. Dated April 27, 1942. Name changed by order of the court from August Forsbach to August Jansley.

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Thurman Jarrette, Forepaugh-Sells, 1908. Coshocton, Ohio man, left town to go with circus, will sail in about 3 weeks for 3 yr tour of Europe. Coshocton (OH) Daily Age, September 21, 1908. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Arthur Jarvis (Art), well known in the circus world as a clown and trick mule rider, died at Toledo, Ohio, September 15, of uremia. At different times he was associated with Walter L. Main, B. E. Wallace, Howe's Great London, John Robinson, Rhoda Royal, Barnum & Bailey and other attractions. The remains were laid to rest in Forest Cemetery. He was 37 years of age, and leaves a widow, May; a son, Arthur Jr., four years old; father, mother, sister and a brother. Billboard, September 28, 1918, p. 71. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Miss Jarvis, rider, Ringling Bros., 1908. Decatur (IL) Daily Review, August 18, 1908. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Milton Jaspers. Comique, Detroit, Mich. The Milton Jaspers close June 2, to join Burr Robbins' Circus in St. Louis. New York Clipper, June 9, 1877, p. 86. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Jay Family, Bounding Jays, trampoline and horizontal bars, 1941. "Los Angeles Shrine Had One Night Circus," White Tops, Vol. 14, Nos. 4-5 (Feb-Mar), 1941, p. 4. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Note: The Bounding Jays appeared in "MGM Presents a Pete Smith Specialty... Acro-Batty", a 1942 short subject showing circus performers rehearsing in the off-season in Southern California. While the several minutes of the Jays introduced them as "The Jay Trio", the announcer did use the word 'bounding' a couple of times right at the start of their appearance in the film. Turner Classic Movies showed this short. The Bounding Jays as I understand it were two brothers and a sister who was called 'Maggie' by the announcer. No other names were given. The Rich Sisters also appeared; one was identified as Betty and the other somehow was not mentioned by name. - Russell Spreeman

Linda Jeal (Linda Jeal Julian), rider, does her winter work at Havana, Illinois, 1905. Trained horses, just arrived from Panama, Yankee Robinson's, 1910. Oakland (CA) Tribune, April 22, 1905; Des Moines (IA) News, March 25, 1910.

      Linda Jeal died on November 12, 1941, nearly age 90. Born May 9, 1852. Jeal and her sister, Eleanor, brought up as equestrians. Linda also performed juggling and rolling globe. Married William O. Dode Stephens, a rider, later married Jas. Murry, clown. In her later years she resided with Dollie Julian. Eleanor Jeal married George F. Ryland, a partner in the Lee & Ryland Circus in California in the 1860s. In 1871 Ryland called his show the Mlle. Jeal and Co's California Circus. Ryland died 1890, Eleanor died circa 1901. "Linda Jeal," White Tops, Vol. 15, Nos. 1-2 (Dec-Jan), 1941, p. 14. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Buddie and Edna Jeffries

1953: Bud and Edna Jeffries, traps act playing Chicago club dates. Billboard, October 17, 1953, p. 57.

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Fred Jenks troupe of comedy skaters, Great Wallace Show, 1902; Fred, clown, Hagenbeck-Wallace, 1910. Fort Wayne (IN) Weekly Sentinel, July 30, 1902; Oelwein (IA) Daily Register, June 16, 1910. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Walter Jennier was a gymnast, aerialist and best known for his act with his seal, Buddy. During the act they juggled three balls between Walter and Buddy and did a hand stand together among other feats. Died June 2, 1974 at Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Circus Report, July 1, 1974, p. 5; July 15, 1974, p. 2. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Ives Jeters, musician (trombone), Miller Bros. 1907 & 1908, quit Miller Bros. circa June 1908. Moberly (MO) Weekly Monitor, April 14, 1908; Moberly (MO), Weekly Monitor, June 2, 1908. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Tom Jobe, formerly of the McDonald Brothers casting act, well known in the circus world, has a transfer business in West Virginia. Billboard, April 12, 1919, p. 31. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Harry Arthur Johns was one of the last of the sign painters who worked for the American Circus Corporation shows. He also painted many modern shows, ran a sign business and was sheriff of Miami County, Indiana. Died December 9, 1974 at Peru, Indiana, age 74. Circus Report, January 20, 1975, p. 2. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Alice Johnson, rider, Forepaugh-Sells, 1910-1911. Charleroi (PA) Mail, April 30, 1910; Warren (PA) Evening Mirror, April 29, 1911. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Johnson Brothers, performers, Rhoda Royal Show, 1900. Billboard, July 7, 1900. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Johnson Bros., gun jugglers, have signed with Pawnee Bill's Wild West and will sail with the show April 11 for Antwerp, Belgium. New York Clipper, April 7, 1894, p. 68. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Carl Johnson (died ca. 1915) was known as Carl Raschetta; born in Christiania, Norway; died at the age of 48. He came to this country twenty-five years ago as an acrobat. He had been identified with the Florence Troupe of Acrobats, and later formed the high barrel jumping acrobats known as the Raschetta Troupe. For the past four seasons he owned and managed the act known as The Arensons, head slide and hand-balancing wire act, equipment protected by patent. When death came he was on his last week of the Pantage Circuit at Portland, and was to join the Hagenbeck-Wallace Show for the summer His remains were brought to Chicago and buried with Masonic rites. Mrs. Raschetta is sole owner of the act, which is now with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Show. - Robt. Nome. Billboard, May 15, 1915, p. 58. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Ernest Johnson, musician, drummer, Yankee Robinson's, 1910. Left the circus at Medford, Wisconsin. Waterloo (IA) Evening Reporter, April 6, 1910; Waterloo (IA) Reporter, May 4, 1910; Waterloo (IA) Evening Courier, June 17, 1910. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Harry Johnson. Harry (Pud) Johnson has joined out with the advance of the Ringling Bros. Circus for the coming season. [1918] Billboard, February 16, 1918, p. 30. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Harry Johnson, for the past eight years with the J. H. Eschman Circus, is now general agent ahead of the Kentucky Minstrels. Billboard, June 1, 1918, p. 25. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

James Johnson, elephants, Ringling Bros., 1908. Decatur (IL) Daily Review, August 18, 1908. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

James T. Johnson, proprietor of the Johnson Amphitheatre, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1832, and engaged in his profession as manager. At the age of seventeen he carried on an amphitheatre and circus combined, in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1848-49, being only sixteen years old when he organized his first circus. After a successful experience in this enterprise, he located one at Buffalo, N. Y., and carried it on for several years, meantime traveling though the summer season and giving exhibitions, as he has made it a practice since. He next located one at Macomb, Ill., and his next location was at Burlington, Iowa, and subsequently at Albia, Iowa; afterward, at Rich Hill, Mo., and latterly here; still holding his amphitheatre at Rich Hill. His enterprise here consists of an immense structure of 100 feet frontage and 150 feet rearage; containing amphitheatre, theatrical stages and dressing-rooms, private living rooms, hotel and stables. The company contains twenty-five male and female performers, and about twenty-two head of trick and performing horses and ponies, and a nicely assorted variety of trained wild animals in the museum, making the tout ensemblea first-class moral show. William G. Cutler's, History of the State of Kansas, Crawford County, Part 10, Chicago, IL: A. T. Andreas, 1883. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

John Johnson, known as the "Great Johnson," was an acrobatic contortionist. He worked on the Keith Vaudeville Circuit and later was with the Barnum & Bailey Circus for a number of years. He was featured in Ripley's "Believe It Or Not" as the only man who could maintain his balance, feet outstretched, while sitting on top of a glass with a 2 1/2 inch diameter. Died November 29, 1997 at Jersey City, New Jersey, age 89. Circus Report, December 19, 1977, p. 63. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Myron Johnson (Myron R. or B. Johnson), known as Latona, the fire king, has been engaged for the Downie & Gallagher Circus, 1892. New York Clipper, April 2, 1892, p. 50. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Ralph Johnstone, Originated trick of jumping a bicycle up and down stairs on one wheel.(1) Bicycle act, jumps up stairs, plays specially made piano by landing alternately on different keys, does somersault in the air, New York Hippodrome, 1906, 1908.(2)
    ". . . The originator and once owner of the dangerous looking rigging with which the Booth trio of bicyclists work at the Empress theatre was the dare-devil Ralph Johnstone, once famed as a bicycle rider, later an automobile racer and finally a aviator, the following of which calling resulted in his death. Johnstone was perhaps one of the most fearless men that ever lived. It seemed a mania for him to want to be constantly dickering with something that appeared dangerous. In bicycle racing, Johnstone was a perfect fiend, and in the still more dangerous sport of auto racing he displayed even less regard for life. He drove cars around corners that no other human cpuld have probably have negotiated, for there seemed to be a lucky star that hovered over this excitement-looking fellow.
    Johnstone took to aviation like the proverbal duck does to water and his spirals and other dangerous aerial stunts once caused thousands of persons to stand aghast. Johnstone's death, it will be recalled occured in Denver some two years ago, while giving an exhibition flight. He was showing one of his spirals or some other stunt when the machine collapsed. When Johnstone built the equipment, now used by the Booth trio, he expected to use it in vaudeville, but the advent of the aeroplane claimed his attention. He had worked for months to give vaudeville a thriller and when he planned out the stairs and pedestal from which he expected to jump mounted on a bicycle, he .considered that the hair raiser had been found. After Johnstone's death, this bicycle rigging found no ready buyers for there is probably but few trick wheelmen in the world that could or would attempt the feat of jumping the wheel up the stairs, then off the landing to the floor, fourteen feet below. Mr. Booth decided he crmld handle It, and his success with the act has been phenomenal. . . ."(3) Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

1. Laurie, Joe, Jr. (1953), Vaudeville: From the Honky-tonks to the Palace, New York: Henry Holt, pp. 30-1.
2. New York Times, January 23, 1906; Des Moines (IA) Daily News, February 17, 1908.
3. Fort Wayne (IN) Journal-Gazette, April 4, 1913.

Sam Johnson, retired, age 89, resided and born Sheffield, Massachusetts. Drove multi horse hitches and a rigger. Trouped with Sells-Floto, Adam Forepaugh, Hagenbeck Animal Show. White Tops, Vol. 14, No. 12 (Oct-Nov), 1941, p. 14. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Slivers Johnson, of the John Robinson's Ten Big Shows, has been called to the colors. Billboard, June 22, 1918, p. 27. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Texas Johnson, formerly boss hostler with M. L. Clark Show, is in the service at Camp Gordon, Ga. Billboard, June 1, 1918, p. 27. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

C. W. Jones, bandmaster of Jones' Black Hussar Band, engaged this season with the great Wallace Circus, 1894, has become a Knight of Pythias. He joined lodge No. 5, of Chicago, Ill. New York Clipper, April 14, 1894, p. 85. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Dick Jones, elephant trainer, Walter L. Main, 1904. Fort Wayne (IN) Journal-Gazette, January 25, 1904. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Elmer H. Jones. One of the old time showmen passed away on April 8, 1962. Often called "King of the Two Car Shows," died in his hometown of North Warren, Pa. "Cap" as he was known to his employees, was born in Chandlers Valley, Pa., on March 24, 1873. During his long career he operated circuses and minstrel shows. Most of these were of the one and two car variety. A full listing of the circus titles used by Jones appeared in the March-April, 1958 issue of the Bandwagon. Together with his brother, the late J. Augustus Jones, he owned and operated the 14 car Jones Bros. & Wilson Circus in 1914, and others. Bandwagon, Vol. 6, No. 3 (May-Jun), 1962, p. 2. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Frank Jones has been in the hippodrome races of the Ringling Bros. show for two years. He is an expert, both as a jockey rider and in the Roman standing races. Frank never likes to see an opponent win, and this is one of the reasons why the jockey races are always such exciting events on the hippodrome program. He is a resident of Indianapolis, Ind. Offical Route Book of Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Railroad Shows, Season of 1893, Buffalo, NY: Courier Co., 1893. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Howard Jones, Jones Bros. Circus. 1910: "Circus Man Kills Himself. Father and Brothers of Carbolic Acid Victim Live in Indiana. Springfield, Ill., Dec. 1 - Howard Jones, a bartender at the Heidelberg saloon in this city, quarreled with his sweetheart, Miss G??? Howard, last night and was found dead in his room in the Royal Hotel this morining by the landlady. He had swallowed carbolic acid. Jones was 27 years old. He, with three of his brothers - Frank, Edward B., and Ralph Jones, of this city - owned the Jones Bros. Circus. His father and two brothers, William and Samuel Jones, reside in Columbus, Ind." Jones Bros. Circus, 1915. 36 RR cars, winter quarters St. Louis. Indianapolis (IN) Star, December 2, 1910; Warren (PA) Evening Times, April 10, 1915. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

J. Augustus Jones, well known circus man, died September 2 at his home, Warren, Pa., from injuries received when kicked by a horse while loading the Cole Bros.' World Toured Show train at Bolivar, Mo., on August 21. He was born at Chandler's Valley, Pa., September 13, 1868. He entered the show business at an early age and worked up to a prominent position in the circus world. For several years he operated a fifteen-car show, but this season confined his activities to several two-car shows. At one time he was associated with Capt. Wilson and acted as general manager of the Jones Bros. & Wilson Shows. Billboard, September 7, 1918, pp. 55, 58. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

J. A. W. Jones, presently with Rice & Davis Shows, will open with Indian Bill's Historic Wild West shortly, 1900. Billboard, May 21, 1900, p. 5. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

William Jones, an old time circus performer, died from heart failure, in Sydney, Australia, on July 4 [1906], at the age of sixty-four years. He had been associated with almost every Australian circus of any note for over fifty years. . . . was a rider of exceptional merit, but of late years he went in for horse training, being assistant to the late Dan Fitzgerald, of Fitzgerald Bros.' Circus & Show he had been identified with for the last sixteen years. Interment was in Rockwood Cemetery, Sydney. New York Clipper, September 15, 1906, p. 801. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this person.

Jordanas, John and Patsy, were an aerial feature on the 1975 Polack Bros. Circus in 1975. Patsy Jordan also performed on an upside-down bicycle. Southern Sawdust, No. 83, May, 1975, p. 2. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for these persons.

Flying Jordans introduced the casting type of aerial act to this country at the 1892 World's Fair in Chicago, being featured at that time with the Great Sandow Show under the management of the late Florenz Ziegfeld. They toured the world from 1896 to 1903 with a show known as the Flying Jordan Company. After capture and release by the Japanese during the Russo-Japanese War, the company returned to this country in 1904 and was feataured with the Forepaugh-Sells, Hagenbeck and Ringling circuses until the death of Lewis Jordan in 1912.(1)
    1905: "Notes from the Flying Jordans' Vaudeville and 'Cycle Carnival. We sailed from New York Saturday, Nov. 26, for a tour of the world's principal cities. The roster of our company is as follows: Lewis Jordan & C. F. Matthiessen (Diavolo), owners; John Burke, treasurer; M. T. Kirkendall, general advance; Nick Howard, press representative; Red Brieley, electrician and boss canvas man; Theo. Coxey Weitzel, properties; James Smith, stage director and manager of programmes. Performers — Seven Flying Jordans, Smith and Delle, the Orton Family, Mr. and Mrs. Dooley, Mr. and Mrs. Nick Howard, Katie Florenz, Enid Delle, James Smith, Mr. and Mrs. C. F. Matthiessen and Bernado. Our first stand was at Kingston, Jamaica, W. I., where we organized and opened Dec. 10 for a series of twelve performances. Owing to the number of lofty appliances used in giving our exhibitions we erected, perhaps, what is the highest spread of canvas ever used for exhibition purposes, our one hundred and fifty foot round top, with two forty foot middles, being spread over centre poles sixty-five feet in height. We are presenting the original of the feature act from the best circuses and vaudeville combinations in the States, among them being the first and original Prescott twenty-six foot spiral loop, ridden by C. F. Matthiessen, for two seasons with Forepaugh-Sells; the jump through space, the act used by Barnum & Bailey and the Forepaugh-Sells; the original perpendicular wall 'cycle track, ridden by Kirk Howard (Cyclo), of the Barnum & Bailey Circus; Smith and Delle, of the Union Amusement Enterprises; the Seven World Famous Flying Jordans, of the Forepaugh-Sells Circus; the Orton Family and the 'Cycle Whirl In conjunction with these 'cycle features we present a varied vaudeville and circus entertainment, headed by Smith and Delle, in up to date songs and sketches; also wire acts, bounding rope, head balancing, fancy and trick 'cycling, comedy ladder and traps, swinging perch, etc. This is unquestionably the strongest amusement organization in this section of the country. The citizens of Kingston were most liberal In their patronage, with the result that our engagement was a great success, financially and otherwise. We ate our Christmas dinner 'neath the shades of the sheltering palms' at the Hotel Royal, and sailed later in the day to the Island of Trinidad. This is the second of the West Indian Islands we have visited, and, with the unanimous press recommendations from the island of Jamaica as a forerunner, we opened our season at Port of Spain to a large and appreciative audience. No greater proof of merit is needed that the fact that during our series of fourteen consecutive performances we never exhibited to any business short of our regular seating capacity, and upon the occasions of the first presentation of the 'Loop' and two benefit performances, the local police officials ordered the sale of standing room tickets stopped in order to prevent complications arising from overcrowding. Excursions were arranged from all parts of the Island, and methods of transportation ranged all the way from the side wheel coasting vessels to the picturesque over the mountain pack mule. In proportion with the population of the island, we were favored with an even fifty per cent, attendance, and closed our last performance to a turn away house. The government officials extended us every courtesy in the way of sanctioning the use of government park land upon which to erect our canvases, and aided us in every way possible. All arrangements have been made for our opening in the mammoth bull ring at Caracas. Venezuela, Jan. 24, and the entire company will sail from here today for Port La Guayra. The climate has been all that could be wished for, and there has not been a day's sickness among the members of the company. Several little social affairs have been promoted in our honor, and the ships officers and crew from the battleship Brooklyn, together with the American consul, attended a special performance upon the invitation of Mr. Jordan and Mr. Matthiessen, and we banqueted and had a real good old American time at the Queen's Park Hotel."(2)
    1911: "Tragedy of the Circus. Harry Jordon, of the Robinson Show, is Killed. Harry Rosacker(?), known to the world as Harry Jordon, one of the Flying Jordans, lost his life rehearsing a trapeze act right on the eve of the opening of the season of Robinson's Ten Big Shows. The tragedy occurred at the Armory, in Cincinnati. Romacker(?) might have saved his own life, but he protected that of his acrobatic partner - Bertha Woods. The fall resulted in death a few hours after the mishap. Rosacker's home was in Reading, Pa., but he was buried in the Robinson lot in Spring Grove. All the circus folks were at the funeral, held in an undertaker's chapel, and conducted by Rev. Gervaise Roughton. A wreath of roses from the young woman he saved, rested on the casket. Little Aona(?) Woods - daughter of the acrobat, and 'pal' of the dead man, laid a withered pink rose on his coffin. This was only one of the pathetic incidents of the service."(3)
    1912: "Flying Jordans. Family of Famous Aerialists Visited by Death. Bellefontaine, O., Dec. 24. Louis Jordan, the famous aerialist, died in Union Hill, N.J., Sunday, Dec. 22, of paralysis. The word came here to Thomas Flack from Ernest Braunstern with the request that he deliver the sad news to Mrs. Jennie Jordan, of this city, mother of the deceased. Louis Jordan was known all over the world as the originator of the aerial act which was performed by himself and his wife and two daughters, under the name of the Flying Jordans, and they amassed a fortune. The family had traveled with Ringling Bros.' circus and other circuses in this country, and with a company of their own, had appeared in practically all the big cities of the civilized world.(4)
    1950: "Mrs. Mary Jordan, 78, last of the originators of the famous Flying Jordans, died here Wednesday (26) in a convalescent home. Deceased was the widow of Lewis Jordan. Mrs. Jordan became a catcher, said to be the first woman to assume this position in a flying act in this country, and carried on the Flying Jordan act for several years before taking it to Austraia for one season. After retiring she accompanied her two daughters, Josephine (Mrs. Hankinson) and Nellie Dutton (Bausman), during their tour in vaudeville as a tight-wire act billed as the Jordan Sisters. Services in Galveston Friday (28), with burial in Memorial Park."(5) Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for these persons.

1. Billboard, August 5, 1950, p. 52
2. New York Clipper, February 11, 1905, n.p.n.
3. New York Clipper, April 29, 1911, p. 10.
4. Lima News (Lima, OH), December 24, 1912, p. 1.
5. Billboard, August 5, 1950, p. 52.

Herman Joseph, clown, W. H. Coulter's, 1911.(1) Barnum & Bailey, 1913, clown, does Hebrew stunt, age 23, was a Cedar Rapids, Iowa newsboy, nickname then was "Izzy," ran away from home age 15 to join a circus, first circus years was washing wagons, sister, Mrs. Ben Kaplan of Cedar Rapids.(2) Clown, Barnum & Bailey, 1920, in the circus since 1911, born in Cedar Rapids.(3) "Congress of Clowns" Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Combined Shows Season of 1930.(4) Still performing, clown, Mills Bros. 3 Ring Circus, 1962.(5) Herman Joseph, the clown, and Marie Ferris, acrobat, were married at San Jose, Cal. in 1918. They are with the Barnum & Bailey Shows.(6) Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

1. Adams County Free Press (Corning, IA), May 17, 1911.
2. Waterloo (IA) Reporter, August 21, 1913.
3. Evening Gazette (Cedar Rapids, IA), September 10, 1920.
4. From "Magazine and Daily Review" CIRCUS-FOLK-L@rootsweb.com.
5. Pouska, Frank J., "Mills Bros. 3 Ring Circus," Bandwagon, Vol. 6, No. 5 (Sep-Oct), 1962, pp. 12-13.
6. Billboard, September 28, 1918, p. 28.

R. L. Joslyn, a resident of Salina, Kan., who has just filled his first engagement with this noted musical organization on alto. He began his career as a musician in the Fourth Regiment Band of Kansas. Ringling Bros. 1893. Offical Route Book of Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Railroad Shows, Season of 1893, Buffalo, NY: Courier Co., 1893. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

George Jounier, trapeze, injured in tent blow-down, Columbiana, Alabama, 1908, no circus named. Austin (TX) Daily Herald, October 15, 1908. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Ethel L. Joyce performed a single trapeze and sword balancing acts, as well as presenting Greyhound dogs on a number of shows. She was in the circus business 50 years. Son Walter Jennier, daughter Jo Ann Jennier. Died August 27, 1984 at Tampa, Florida. Circus Report, September 17, 1984, p. 10. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Jack Joyce, animal trainer, 1941. "Circus Notes," White Tops, Vol. 14, Nos. 4-5 (Feb-Mar), 1941, p. 16. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Tod Judge, Tod Judge, renowned as an acrobat and a leaper, formerly of the Three Judges and later in vaudeville with Chad Wirtz. Tod has retired from the dazzle of the lights and has forsaken the odor of the tanbark for the smell of fresh paint. Tod is painting houses at Pawtucket, R.I., and says he is well and happy. Billboard, October 4, 1913, p. 27.    Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Charles Judge, animal trainer, Hagenbeck-Wallace, 1908. Daily Courier (Connellsville, PA), May 16, 1908. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Mlle. Julien, rider, Norris & Rowe, 1905. Daily Nevada State Journal (Reno, NV), April 18, 1905. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Dallie Julian, equestrienne, Hagenbeck-Wallace, 1909.() Was equestrienne with Campbell Bros., 1899; Sells-Floto, 1910.(2) See Fred Ledgett. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

1. Fort Wayne (IN) Journal-Gazette, May 23, 1909; Ogden (UT) Standard, June 21, 1909.
2. Eau Claire (WI) Sunday Leader, July 31, 1910.

Flying Juniata Twins, Howe's Great London, 1911, 1916. Daily Independent (Monessen, PA) April 26, 1911; Chareroi (PA) Mail, April 24 & 26, 1911; Daily Independent (Monessen, PA) April 20, 1916. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

Will Junod, musician, cornet, Ringling Bros., 1908. Athens (OH) Messenger, November 12, 1908. Information should be checked with additional sources Can you add information? Email your documented information for this/these person(s).

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