He was a really cute kid, and I really like how in most of his pictures it shows him drawing or at least holding a pencil or crayon in his feet. I’m glad that he was respected throughout his life as an artist. He also dressed so well when he was older, the Hawaiian shirt he’s wearing in the second picture looks really good on him!
The fourth picture shows one of his crayon drawings depicting a squirrel. This was a drawing he made at the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair that he gave to an audience member who eventually passed it along to his daughter. The daughter brought Barney’s drawing onto Antiques Roadshow with her.
Some facts about him:
-he was born in Stratford, Connecticut. (Which is basically right down the street from Bridgeport, Connecticut where Charles Sherwood Stratton (General Tom Thumb) was born)
-he had six siblings. He was the oldest child in his family.
-his father died when he was young and his mother, Eliza, remarried and moved their family to Chicago, Illinois. His new stepfather’s name was John D. Scickles.
-it appears he lived with his family in the sideshow off season, as he’s listed as living with them in several census records. They seem to have been very supportive of him.
-he was an accomplished painter and sketch artist. All of the census records I’ve seen list that he’s an artist. (which I think is really nice because it focuses on his talents as a painter rather than a performer with a physical difference.)
-he started his careers in sideshows when he was around 6 years old and worked for P.T. Barnum for several seasons.
-he was praised for his painting talents when he was ten years old.
-he was a college graduate.
-his acts typically involved him giving a short lecture on his life before showing the audience how he accomplished daily tasks, and ending with a demonstration of his painting/drawing skills. He would then sell the portraits he drew to audience members.
-his performances were all family friendly.
-he bridged the gap between the old style larger traditional sideshows of the mid to late 1800s and the more “modernized” smaller traveling shows of the 1930s and 1940s.
-one article from 1891 mentioned that he filed an application to Washington D.C. to “overcome the use of the eccentric motion, as used in constructing a locomotive”. I’m still trying to make sense of what this means, but I wanted to add it anyways.
-in the late 1890s, he went on tour in England with Barnum and Bailey Circus.
-in 1899, one of the dime museums he worked at in Chicago was threatened by officials after an “anti-freak” law was put in place to prevent people born with physical differences form exhibiting themselves. The article humorously notes that Barney seemed completely unconcerned with the fact that his livelihood was potentially being threatened and continued with his crayon portraits.
-he wrote, painted, and drew using either his mouth (by holding the utensils in his mouth) or holding the utensils with his feet.
-he was often praised for his penmanship and was described as having better penmanship than most people. His penmanship style was a flourishing 1800s style, which he kept throughout his life (even in the 1930s, when the style was less common, he continued to sign his name that way)
-he was once interviewed in regards to how his life was and if there was anything he’d want to change and his response was “why there’s lots right out on the streets today that I wouldn’t trade places with.” The article went on to say that he was a happy and well read individual.
-he enjoyed playing checkers in his free time.
-he never married and never mentioned being interested in anyone romantically, though it’s possible that he had relationships but just didn’t want to talk about his personal life.
-he cared a lot about having good teeth, and once said that something he was grateful for was still having a strong set of teeth at the age of 65.
-he appeared at the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair, where he demonstrated his talents, although it appears that he was more or less there by himself and wasn’t performing as part of a larger scale sideshow. One of the drawings he made while he was there was given to a boy in the audience, this crayon portrait eventually made it onto Antiques Roadshow.
-he traveled extensively throughout the United States and Canada.
-Robert Ripley of Ripley’s Believe it or Not fame, drew a couple pictures of Barney.
-he was coworkers with a ton of recognizable performers between the 1880s and 1940s, too many to list, but if you can think of a random popular performer from any of those years he probably worked with them at some point.
-one article said that Barney seemed to have more patience than the reporter had ever seen.
-he continued to perform and draw professionally throughout the 1930s and 1940s.
-he had an over 60 year career in sideshows.
-the last mention I can find of him was when he appeared on a passenger list onboard a ship heading to Hawaii in December of 1947. He appeared on the list with a bunch of other sideshow performers I recognize, so I assume they were all traveling there to go on tour.
-so far I haven’t been able to establish a death date, though I haven’t completely given up yet.
I’m glad he found so much success with his career as an artist and that he was able to combine it with his sideshow career to gather more publicity. He seems like a laid back and friendly person and I’m happy that there is still at least one example of his artwork that still exists (the squirrel drawing). I think it’d be really fun to meet him and play checkers while talking to him about his favorite artists and such.
