Mercy Lavinia Warren Stratton ( Bump; October 31, 1841
[https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/warren-lavinia-1841-1919 ] – November 25, 1919) was an American
proportionate dwarf, who was a circus performer and the wife of
Charles Sherwood Stratton
Charles Sherwood Stratton (January 4, 1838 – July 15, 1883), better known by his stage name "General Tom Thumb", was an American dwarf who achieved great fame as a performer under circus pioneer P. T. Barnum.
Childhood and early life
B ...
(known as General Tom Thumb). She was known as a performer and for her appearance in one
silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...
, ''The Lilliputians Courtship'' (1915).
Early life
At birth Warren weighed six pounds. Warren was born as Mercy Lavinia Warren Bump at
Middleborough, Massachusetts
Middleborough (frequently written as Middleboro) is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 24,245 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census.
History
The town was first set ...
, the daughter of Huldah Pierce (Warren) and James Sullivan Bump. She was distantly descended from a French family named Bonpasse, from Governor
Thomas Mayhew
Governor Thomas Mayhew, the Elder (March 31, 1593 – March 25, 1682) established the first European settlement on Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket and adjacent islands in 1642. He is one of the editors of the Bay Psalm Book, the first book published ...
, and five
Mayflower
''Mayflower'' was an English ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After a grueling 10 weeks at sea, ''Mayflower'', with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, r ...
passengers:
John Billington
John Billington (also spelled as Billinton) (c. 1580September 30, 1630) was an Englishman who travelled to the New World on the ''Mayflower'' and was one of the signers of the Mayflower Compact.
In England
Nothing is known about John Billingt ...
,
Francis Cooke
Francis Cooke (c.1583 – April 7, 1663) was a Leiden English Separatist, Separatist, who went to America in 1620 on the Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony), Pilgrim ship ''Mayflower'', which arrived at Plymouth, Massachusetts. He was a founding member ...
,
Edward Doty
Edward Doty (August 23, 1655) was a passenger on the 1620 voyage of the ''Mayflower'' to North America; he was one of the signers of the Mayflower Compact.
Early life
Doty came from England, but from where in England is currently unknown. A pos ...
,
Stephen Hopkins, and
Richard Warren
Richard Warren (c. 1585c.1628) was one of the passengers on the Pilgrim ship ''Mayflower'' and a signer of the Mayflower Compact.
Early life
Richard Warren married Elizabeth Walker, at Great Amwell, Hertfordshire, on 14 April 1610. Elizabeth ...
—New England families which intermarried many times over.
Lavinia and her younger sister
Minnie Warren had a form of
proportionate dwarfism (considered to be desirable by sideshows and "museums" of that era owing to its perfectly miniaturized characteristics, with the same proportions as common larger people) caused by a
pituitary
In vertebrate anatomy, the pituitary gland, or hypophysis, is an endocrine gland, about the size of a chickpea and weighing, on average, in humans. It is a protrusion off the bottom of the hypothalamus at the base of the brain. The hypop ...
disorder.
Performing career
After a successful career as a well-respected school teacher, which began at the age of 16, Lavinia went to work as a miniature dancing chanteuse upon a
Mississippi
Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...
showboat
A showboat, or show boat, was a floating theater that traveled along the waterways of the United States, especially along the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, to bring culture and entertainment to the inhabitants of river frontiers. Showboats were a ...
owned by a cousin. She enjoyed performing, learned of
Charles Stratton's (known as Tom Thumb) success, alongside the rest of the nation, and pursued a performing career as an adult. Under the management of showman
P. T. Barnum
Phineas Taylor Barnum (; July 5, 1810 – April 7, 1891) was an American showman, businessman, and politician, remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and founding the Barnum & Bailey Circus (1871–2017) with James Anthony Bailey. He was ...
, she changed her name from Mercy Lavinia Bump to Lavinia Warren, the stage name she had previously used while performing on the Mississippi River.
In February 1872 she visited England with Stratton (whom she had married), her sister and
George Nutt (known as Commodore Nutt). They were photographed in
Stonehouse, Plymouth
East Stonehouse was one of three towns that were amalgamated into modern-day Plymouth. West Stonehouse was a village that is within the current Mount Edgcumbe Country Park in Cornwall. It was destroyed by the French in 1350.
The terminology used ...
, and all four signed the photograph.
Personal life
![Charles Sherwood Stratton and Lavinia Warren marriage](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Charles_Sherwood_Stratton_and_Lavinia_Warren_marriage.jpg)
Romantically pursued by the tiny entertainer
George Nutt (known as Commodore Nutt), her affections belonged to
Charles Stratton (General Tom Thumb) from their first introduction. Warren met Stratton while working at
Barnum's American Museum
Barnum's American Museum was located at the corner of Broadway, Park Row, and Ann Street in what is now the Financial District of Manhattan, New York City, from 1841 to 1865. The museum was owned by famous showman P. T. Barnum, who purchas ...
. Their wedding was one of the biggest events in nineteenth century New York. They were married in an elaborate ceremony on February 10, 1863, at Grace Episcopal Church and the wedding reception was held at the Metropolitan Hotel which included the couple greeting guests from atop the grand piano. Her sister
Minnie Warren was her bridesmaid. While admission to the actual wedding was free, Barnum sold tickets to the reception for $75 each to the first five thousand to apply. After the couple was married, their fame grew even greater.
Though their fame afforded Warren and Stratton a life of luxury, it came with downsides. They were presented as childlike to the public by P.T. Barnum. This was an advertising strategy to make the audience feel sympathetic for them in order to sell more tickets. Though they were some of the most famous people in America at the time, due to the way they were presented, people treated them like children. Many people Warren met wanted to pet her and hold her. She wrote in her autobiography "It seemed impossible, to make people understand at first that I was not a child; that, being a woman, I had the womanly instinct of shrinking from a form of familiarity which in the case of a child of my size would have been as natural as it was permissible."
Even though Warren was not extremely fond of how she was viewed by the public, she still continued to perform. Since her life revolved around her presence in the media, she once said "I belong to the public."
![Lavinia Warren Stratton Baby](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/Lavinia_Warren_Stratton_Baby.jpg)
Together, Stratton and Warren became famous. President
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
and his wife provided a reception for the new couple at the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
.
Tiffany and Co.
Tiffany & Co. (colloquially known as Tiffany's) is a high-end luxury jewelry and specialty retailer, headquartered on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. It sells jewelry, sterling silver, porcelain, crystal, stationery, fragrances, water bottles, wat ...
gave a silver coach to the couple. They amassed and spent a fortune over the course of their life together which would have made them millionaires by today's standards. They had no actual children, though they did pretend to in the public eye (pictured).
Minnie Warren, who grew to be high, also married a little person in P.T. Barnum's employ: Major Edward Newell. She became pregnant with a normal-sized child, but excitement was cut short by tragedy on July 23, 1878, when Minnie and her -baby died during the birthing. Several years later on January 10, 1883, Warren and her husband stayed at Newhall House in
Milwaukee
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...
, Wisconsin on the day it
caught fire. They were narrowly rescued by their friend and manager, Sylvester Bleeker, from what had been referred to as "one of the worst hotel fires in American history." Within 6 months, on July 15, 1883, her husband suddenly died at age 45 of a stroke.
After her husband's death, Warren wanted to retire to private life, but was persuaded to continue her career.
Some Recollections Mrs. Tom Thumb's Autobiography
, New York Tribune Sunday Magazine, November 25, 1906
Two years after her husband's death, Warren married an Italian dwarf, Count Primo Magri, and they operated a famous roadside stand in Middleborough, Massachusetts
Middleborough (frequently written as Middleboro) is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 24,245 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census.
History
The town was first set ...
. At age 73, she appeared alongside Count Magri in a 1915 silent film, ''The Lilliputian's Courtship''.
Death
Warren died on November 25, 1919, at the age of 78 and is buried next to her first husband with a simple gravestone that reads: "His Wife".
See also
* Middleborough Historical Museum, which exhibits a large collection of Lavinia Warren memorabilia
Notes
References
External links
*
"Sideshow Ephemera Gallery: General Tom Thumb" by James G. Mundie – biographical essay with photos
{{DEFAULTSORT:Warren, Lavinia
1841 births
1919 deaths
Entertainers with dwarfism
Burials at Mountain Grove Cemetery, Bridgeport
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus
American people of French descent
People from Middleborough, Massachusetts
Sideshow performers