Olympians of the Sawdust Circle

A Biographical Dictionary of the Nineteenth Century American Circus

Compiled and Edited by William L. Slout
Copyright © 2005 by William L. Slout. All rights reserved.

Names:

A	Ba-Bi	Bl-By	Ca-Cl	Co-Cy	Da-De	Di-Dw
E	F	G	Ha-He	Hi-Hy	I	J
K	La-Le	Li-Ly	Mac-Mc	Ma-Me	Mi-My	N
O	P	Q	Ra-Ri	Ro-Ry	Sa-Sl	Sm-Sy
	T	U-V	Wa-We	Wh-Wy	X Y Z

Introduction

Some time around 1970 I began to edit a serialized piece from the New York Clipper, written by Charles Durang and adapted from memoirs, under the title The Theatrical Rambles of Mr. and Mrs. John Greene, the content of which presented an enchanting history of American theatre during the first half of the nineteenth century. After being put into manuscript form, it became the first book of mine accepted by The Borgo Press. While cruising through the reels of microfilm that have made the New York Clipper accessible to a host of researchers of early popular amusements, my interest was arrested by the numerous brief biographies and obituaries that appeared almost weekly, particularly those connected with the people of the circus. One must admire such professionals who, through courage and stamina and a love for the little world under their canvas pavilions, withstood the travails of travel and the uncertainties of a nomadic existence. My attachment led to a gradual accumulation of such biographical material from the pages of the Clipper, and then from any and all other sources I came across. This volume contains nearly thirty years of such collecting and compiling.

I do not claim this work to be a complete listing of people involved in the circuses of the nineteenth century. It is far from complete. There is no single life long enough to collect the facts and figures of such an extensive and elusive group of professionals. This being so, it is difficult to close a research half-finished; but, at seventy-five years of age, prudence dictates. It is time to halt my inquiry and publish, so that others can make use of it. I leave it to the next generation of circus historians to correct and complete what I have started.

There are problems one encounters when dealing with people and events of an earlier century. Accounts within memoirs are often apocryphal. Autobiographers sometimes romanticize or misstate. Unrefined newspaper typesetting causes misinformation. Surnames and dates, for example, frequently vary from one source to another. I have tried diligently to be factual within the biographical entries and to warn the reader when a question of accuracy occurs. I hope I have succeeded. This is merely a reference book. Consequently, the narrative style is compacted and circus titles are generally abbreviated, particularly the ones that have a life of several years. This has been done, of course, to save space and avoid lengthy repetition.

I am indebted to Fred Dahlinger, Jr., and his staff at the Robert L. Parkinson Library and Research Center, Circus World Museum, Baraboo, Wisconsin, for much of the content. I am also grateful to the numerous individuals who have shared their notes with me and the several circus historians who have deposited their papers and collected items at the library for others to use. I hope this book can provide similar value to present and future circus researchers.

William L. Slout, 1998

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Last modified October 2005