A Tiny Trend

"I now pronounce you man and wife," announced Charles "Chuck" Hershman, who presided over the wedding of legendary circus performers Tom Thumb and Lavinia Warren at Bethel Methodist Church in Mountain Lake Park. The lavish 1950 ceremony was a reenactment – roughly 80 years after the death of Tom Thumb – of the wedding of the 3-foot, 4-inch performer who rose to stardom and captured worldwide attention.

Born as Charles Sherwood Stratton, Tom Thumb was discovered by showman P.T. Barnum at age four and became part of his New York museum called P.T. Barnum's Hall of Curiosities. Unlike modern museums, Barnum's exhibit featured exotic animals and human oddities that were quite popular in the Victorian era. Many of his displays and performances were fakes, including the discovered remains of the FeeJee Mermaid, which was nothing more than a taxidermy compilation of animal parts.

The FeeJee Mermaid

The fake mermaid was an object composed of the torso and head of a juvenile monkey sewn to the back half of a fish. It was a huge attraction and oddity P. T. Barnum used to lure his audiences.

"It was quite a production at that time," Hersman recalls about the Thumb wedding. He rehearsed most of the summer to prepare his lines for the mock nuptials.

Besides being the master of ceremonies, Hershman, a Garrett County resident, had the only speaking part during the service as he recited the vows for the tiny couple portrayed by Ronnie Smouse and Mary Virginia Brown. With six ushers and corresponding bridesmaids, the simulated wedding was a convincing spectacle. A repeat performance was held in Oakland at St. Paul's Methodist Church, and a smaller production again at the famed Bashford Amphitheater in Mountain Lake Park.

The fascination with General Tom Thumb, as Barnum named him, began in the 1850s with tours throughout the U.S. and Europe. Although small in stature, Charles Sherwood Stratton commanded the stage and his audiences. He was a mere four years old when he first performed, although he was touted to be eight years older to exploit his petite frame further. It was said Stratton was advanced in intellect, which made his boosted age believable.

Hershman still has an original program from the replica event, which neglected to mention his name, so his father proudly penned it at the bottom reading, "Preacher, Charles Hershman.” Mock weddings of the diminutive couple were quite popular around the country. They were reenacted with children, most likely dressed up by sisters, mothers, and grandmothers who would be gleeful over the pageantry. Although a young man, Hershman realized the importance of his role as M.C.

During the Victorian era, there was an interest in human oddities, many of which would be treatable today. Conjoined twins, deformities, and unusual conditions piqued curiosity and drew large audiences at the expense of the performers. Barnum was a past master at building provocative stories around his acts, too. General Tom Thumb was no exception, starting with the simple fact that he was not a general at all. No expense was spared with Tom's image. Expensive, custom-sized wardrobes dressed him in the very finest attire, further elevating his celebrity status.

Mock Tiny Weddings

Tom Thumb weddings were reenacted across the country as children portrayed the roles of the miniature couple. Coordinators would go to great lengths to replicate the original ceremony to the delight of adults looking on.

Stratton’s marriage to Lavinia Warren in 1863 became front-page news and took place at Grace Episcopal Church, with the wedding reception at New York City's Metropolitan Hotel. The couple stood atop a grand piano at the reception to greet 10,000 guests. The best man at the wedding was George Washington Morrison ("Commodore") Nutt, another dwarf performer in Barnum's employ. Minnie Warren, Lavinia's sister, was the maid of honor. The newlyweds were such a fascination that President Lincoln invited them to the White House. Stratton and his wife toured the world, sharing their celebratory union and promoting the Barnum name further.

Under Barnum's management, Stratton became an extremely wealthy man. He owned a house in a fashionable part of New York and his own private steam yacht. He also owned a specially adapted home on one of Connecticut's Thimble Islands. When Barnum got into financial difficulty, Stratton had amassed enough fortune to bail him out, and they eventually became business partners. Stratton made his final appearance in England in 1878.

Newhall House Hotel Fire

On January 19, 1883, Stratton and his wife were staying at John F. Antisdel's Newhall House in Milwaukee when a fire known as "one of the worst hotel fires in American history" broke out. More than 71 people died, but Tom and Lavinia were saved by their manager.

Six months after surviving the Newhall House fire, Stratton died unexpectedly of a stroke. He was just 45 years old. Over 20,000 people attended the funeral. Barnum honored his business partner by purchasing a life-sized statue of Tom Thumb and placing it at his gravestone at Mountain Grove Cemetery in Bridgeport, Connecticut. When she died more than 35 years later, Lavinia Warren was interred next to her husband with a simple gravestone that read: "His Wife".

The cause of Stratton's extreme shortness is still unknown. X-rays were not discovered until 1895, 12 years after Stratton's death, and the medical techniques of the day were unable to ascertain the pathology (if any) underlying his diminutive size.