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?
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
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