#52Ancestors52Weeks...Week 41 Theme...Most....A Most Thrilling Story! But Was It a Tall Tale or True?

   Daily Morning Union October 12, 1904

Grass Valley, California

Goldfield was otherwise known as New Mining Camp in 1904, the height of the boom. 

    This week's theme is Most....John Hansen (my great grandfather) was a natural born storyteller.   He even wrote a complete manuscript telling of his many adventures in Central America in 1910.  Those stories blurred the line between reality and tall tales but were non the less very fun to read!

    I do believe this story was one of the first stories of John's to be published and shows his ability as a storyteller. He wrote it for the local paper, whose readers  wanted to know what John was up to in Goldfield, Nevada when he should have been home in Grass Valley  with his new bride Vere.  But...was his story made up or true?  A most confounding question.  You decide! 

   John Hansen was in Goldfield, Nevada, scoping out gold mines and opportunities to make some money during the boom of 1904.  He even purchased shares in several gold mines a few years later in 1906 and 1907.  Goldfield was at one time the largest town in the state, fueled by a feverish goldrush which quickly dried up by 1910.  John may have been lured by the promise of easy riches during the boom; instead of gold he came home with this intriguing story of his journey in the desert.  But, like the rest of his stories, there must have been a little truth in there somewhere! 

  

 John purchased 700 shares in the Manhattan Combination Mining Company in Goldfield, Nevada in 1906. We don't know if he saw any returns for his investments in Goldfield mining adventures. 

 

 

   Click on the link for Central America (under labels) for more stories written by John Hansen. Click on the link for John Hartwig Hansen to learn more his life. 

#52Ancestors52Weeks...Week 40 Theme...Least...Mercy Lavinia Warren Bump and Hulda Pierce Warren Bump Were Little People

 

Mercy Lavinia Warren Bump 

B. 1841 Middleborough, Massachusetts - D. 1919 Middleborough, Massachusetts

(Performed as Lavinia Warren for P.T. Barnum)

Wikipedia

      This week's theme is least...I went with Merriam and Webster's definition of "smallest in size or degree" to describe the Bump sisters.  Several years ago I came across the stories of Mercy and Hulda (Minnie) Bump while researching my husband's paternal New England lines (Alden/Warren) and thought this would be a fun story for this week.  Who ever said family history is boring? 

   The Bump sisters were certainly the smallest in size in the Alden/Warren family tree, as Mercy grew no taller than 32 inches and her sister Minnie grew no taller than 27 inches.  They were born with proportionate dwarfism; their condition was caused by a pituitary disorder which, in modern times, is now treated with hormone injections during childhood. The girls were descendants of five Mayflower families including John Billington, Francis Cooke, Edward Doty, Stephen Hopkins and Richard Warren.  

   Mercy's life didn't seem to be adversely affected by her short stature.  She was a well-respected school teacher at the age of 16 and then went on to become a dancer on a showboat before she came under the management of P.T. Barnum in his American Museum in New York.  Her stage name became Lavinia Warren, and from all reports, she loved performing in front of audiences.  She met Charles Stratton (also a little person with proportionate dwarfism) and the two were married in 1863.  It was front page news for three days straight, even in the midst of the Civil War.  Stratton was  known by his stage name General Tom Thumb, and had performed with P.T. Barnum since the age of 5.  They became the power couple of the times and met Abraham Lincoln and Queen Victoria.  

The marriage of Charles Sherwood Stratton (General Tom Thumb) and Lavinia Warren (Mercy Lavinia Warren  Bump) in 1863.  Mercy's Maid of Honor was her sister Minnie. 

Public Domain

    Both Mercy and Charles became very famous under Barnum's management during their marriage. They also became very wealthy.  After Charles' death in 1883 Mercy married an Italian little person, Count Primo Magri. Together they operated a famous roadside stand in Middleborough, Massachusetts which featured other little people, and they often toured around the world with this troupe.  The two also appeared in a 1915 silent film The Lilliputian's Courtship.  

 Hulda Pierce Warren Bump (1849-1878)

Known by her stage name as Minnie Warren.  She was a singer and performer for P.T. Barnum. 

    Though the Bump sisters knew fame and had accrued wealth because of their condition,  there were downsides to their tiny statures.  The women had to deal with the general public thinking of them as children.  P.T. Barnum's advertising strategy was to present his little people as children to gain public sympathy and sell more tickets.  Many people wanted to pet them and hold them, instead of treating them as the adults they were. Even though Mercy was not fond of how the public viewed her, she continued to perform.  She said, "I belong to the public".   Minnie also married a little person, Edmund Newell, and soon became pregnant.  Tragically, she and her baby girl died from childbirth complications in 1878.  The full sized baby weighed 6 pounds.  

     The Bump sisters were some of the most famous little people in the world because of P.T. Barnum.  They were certainly exploited by Barnum, who presented other curiosities such as the conjoined twins Chang and Eng as well as the Bearded Lady to the public. But they also profited from their physical differences.  

    Looking beyond their physical appearance that put them in the public eye Mercy and Minnie were first and foremost daughters, sisters, cousins, aunts and wives and a mother within their own families.  We can remember the Bump sisters on their own branch as a part of our Alden family tree. Which is a very, very,  large tree. 

   

 The Alden connection to Mercy and Minnie Bump (Ancestry.com screenshot)

Hannah Warren Hall and Sylvanus Warren were brother and sister.  

   

 Continuing the line down from Thomas Jefferson Alden and Juliann Weston, also of Middleborough, Massachusetts.  They were in the same generation as the Bump sisters.  I wonder if Juliann even knew she was related to the famous sisters? Their shared common ancestors were Benjamin Warren and Jedidah Tupper, making Juliann and the sisters third cousins. 

   References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavinia_Warren

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnie_Warren

https://www.healthline.com/health/dwarfism