William Street Hutchings, (January 7, 1832 - August 25, 1911) also known as Professor Hutchings and the Lightning Calculator, was a 19th-century

math Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

prodigy Prodigy, Prodigies or The Prodigy may refer to: * Child prodigy, a child who produces meaningful output to the level of an adult expert performer ** Chess prodigy, a child who can beat experienced adult players at chess Arts, entertainment, and ...

and

mental calculator Human calculator is a term to describe a person with a prodigious ability in some area of mental calculation (such as adding, subtracting, multiplying or dividing large numbers). The world's best mental calculators are invited every two yea ...

who

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 ...

first billed as the "Boy Lightning Calculator". He later worked as a

sideshow In North America, a sideshow is an extra, secondary production associated with a circus, carnival, fair, or other such attraction. Types There are four main types of classic sideshow attractions: *The Ten-in-One offers a program of ten seq ...

barker Barker may refer to: Occupations * Barker (occupation), a person who attempts to attract patrons to entertainment events * Barker (coachbuilder), a builder of horse-drawn coaches and later of bodywork for prestige cars * a person who strips tanbar ...

and wrote a book called ''The Lightning Calculator''.P.T. Barnum: America's Greatest Showman, Kunhardt, Philip B. Jr., Kunhardt, Philip B., III and Kunhardt, Peter W., Alfred A. Knopf, 1995. .

Early years

William Street Hutchings was born on January 7, 1832, to John Hutchings, a merchant from Long Island, New York and his wife Jane Street. He was born in Manhattan near the corner of Hester Street and Eldridge Street. He attended Hubbs and Clark Academy, and showed skill in mathematics. He worked for a number of years as an accountant for his father.

Career

By 1860, Hutchings was working at Barnum's American Museum. He worked there until it burned down the second time in 1868. In 1872, he performed 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. ...

for President

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...

. In 1883, he began performing at

Austin and Stone's Dime Museum Austin and Stone's Dime Museum (ca.1880s-1900s) of Boston, Massachusetts, was an entertainment emporium in Scollay Square (no.4 Tremont Row), established by William Austin and Frank Stone. It featured a freak show as well as dancing girls for enter ...

. He continued to perform there until the time of his death. He claimed to have given 30,000 lectures to 80,000,000 people during the course of his career. He was buried in Mount Hope Cemetery in Boston, Massachusetts.

References

External links

*
The Lightning Calculator by Professor Hutchings (1867)

* ttps://www.newspapers.com/clip/3008669/william_s_hutchings_obituary/ Obituary American entertainers Sideshow performers Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus 1832 births 1911 deaths {{US-entertainer-stub