Thursday, November 29, 2018

Barnett Brothers of Person County, North Carolina

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Born in Roxboro, North Carolina, on January 23, 1890, Jack W. C. Barnett was one of four sons of Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Barnett. His brother Herbert, born in 1898, was also a dwarf.

Jack entered show business at the age of 16, performing with the Ringling Bros. Circus under the pseudonym Dainty Dewey. In 1912 Barnett's sideshow was joined by a 19-year-old schoolgirl from Baltimore, Miss Dorothy David Warfield, who did an illusion act in which her head appeared to grow from a vase of flowers.

Dorothy was introduced to Barnett by Mrs. H.L. Morris, the sideshow's giantess who claimed to stand 7 feet, 4 inches tall. Within a few months Dorothy and Jack were married in St. Louis, Missouri, with Jack standing upon a stool as he said his vows to his 5'8"-tall bride. Mrs. Morris and her average-sized husband were maid of honor and best man at the wedding. The Barnetts had at least one child together.

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