General Tom Thumb

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The wedding party comprised, from left to right: George Washington Morrison Nutt (1844–1881), Charles Sherwood Stratton (1838–1883), Lavinia Warren Stratton (1841–1919), Minnie Warren (1841–1878).

For the similarly named governor of New Jersey, see Charles C. Stratton.

General Tom Thumb was the stage name of Charles Sherwood Stratton (January 4, 1838 – July 15, 1883), a midget who achieved great fame under circus pioneer P.T. Barnum. Stratton was a son of a Bridgeport, Connecticut, carpenter. He was born and raised in Middleborough, Massachusetts.

Born to parents of medium height, he was ironically quite a large baby, weighing 9 pounds 2 ounces (4.14 kg) at birth. He developed and grew normally for the first six months of his life, at which point he was 25 inches (64 cm) long and weighed 15 pounds (6.8 kg). Then he stopped. His parents were concerned when after his first birthday they noticed he hadn't grown in the last six months. They showed him to their doctor, who offered little hope that he would ever reach normal height. The doctor was right. By late 1842, Charles Stratton hadn't grown an inch in height or put on a pound in weight from when he was six months old. Apart from this, he was a totally normal child. His parents were reportedly embarrassed by his extremely small stature. Stratton though had several siblings who were of average size.

At this time, Barnum heard about Stratton and after reassuring his parents, he taught the boy how to sing, dance, mime, impersonate famous people and perform. Barnum also went into business with Stratton's father, who died in 1855. Barnum was actually a distant relative (half fifth cousin, twice removed).^[1] In 1843, at the tender age of five years old, Tom Thumb made his first tour of America, with routines that included impersonating characters such as Cupid and Napoleon Bonaparte as well as singing, dancing and comical banter with another performer who acted as a straight man. It was a huge success and the tour expanded.

A year later, Barnum took young Stratton on a tour of Europe making him an international celebrity. Stratton appeared twice before Queen Victoria. On one occasion, Stratton was attacked by Queen Victoria's pet poodle after a performance at Buckingham Palace.^[2]

To someone of Stratton's size, the dog would have seemed a large and threatening animal. He also met the three-year-old Prince of Wales, who would become King Edward VII, and shook hands with him. The Prince, who was of average height for his age, towered 12 inches over Stratton. This tour was a huge success and crowds mobbed him wherever he went. Stratton was also given his own carriage to travel in. It made vast amounts of money for both Barnum and Stratton's family.

In 1847 he finally started to grow for the first time since the first few months of his life, but with extreme slowness. In January 1851 Stratton stood exactly 2 feet 3 inches (70 cm) tall. On his 18th birthday, he was measured and stood 2 feet 6 and a half inches (77 cm) tall.

Stratton became a freemason on October 1, 1862. Stratton, by now 2 feet 9 inches tall, was sworn in with a man 6 feet 3 inches tall.

The wedding couple as they appeared on the February 21, 1863 cover of Harper's Weekly magazine.

Stratton's marriage on February 10, 1863, to another little person, Lavinia Warren, was front-page news. They stood atop a grand piano in New York City's Grace Episcopal Church to greet some 2,000 guests. The best man at the wedding was George Washington Morrison ("Commodore") Nutt, another midget performer in Barnum's employ. The maid of honor was Minnie Warren, Lavinia's even smaller sister. Following the wedding, the couple was received by President Lincoln at the White House. In 1868, Stratton was 2 feet 11 inches tall and finally reached 3 feet in the early 1870s.

Under Barnum's management, Stratton became a wealthy man. He owned a house in the fashionable part of New York and a steam yacht and had a wardrobe of fine clothes. He owned a specially adapted home on one of Connecticut's Thimble Islands. When Barnum got into financial difficulty, Stratton bailed him out. Later, they became business partners. Stratton made his final appearance in England in 1878.

Grave at Mountain Grove Cemetery

On January 10, 1883, Stratton was staying at the Newhall House in Milwaukee when a fire began on the first floor. More than 71 people died in what Milwaukee historian John Gurda calls "one of the worst hotel fires in American history." Luckily, Tom and Lavinia were saved by their manager, Sylvester Bleeker.^[3]

Six months later, he died suddenly of a stroke. He was 45 years old, 3 foot 4 inches (102 cm) tall and weighed 70 pounds (32 kg). He had become portly in the last years of his life and by the time of his death, he looked quite different from the tiny and slim person he was from his discovery up to the mid 1870s. It seemed that he had never fully recovered from his narrow escape from the hotel fire.^[3] Over 10,000 people attended the funeral. P.T. Barnum purchased a life-sized statue of Tom Thumb and placed it as a grave stone at Mountain Grove Cemetery, Bridgeport. Lavinia Warren is interred next to him with a simple grave stone that reads "His Wife".

[edit] References

^ Notable Kin, Gary Boyd Roberts, 1999.
^ Fight Between Gen. Tom Thumb And the Queen's Poodle, Disability Museum
^ ^a ^b P.T. Barnum: America's Greatest Showman, Kunhardt, Philip B., Jr., Kunhardt, Philip B., III and Kunhardt, Peter W., Alfred A. Knopf, 1995. ISBN 0-679-43574-3.