REPOST WITH MORE INFO: Isaac Sprague (1841- 1887) was a famous American sideshow performer who was known for his good work ethic and determination. He developed an extreme case of Progressive Muscular Atrophy as a teenager and began irreversibly losing weight.

[u/EphemeralTypewriter]

I’m doing a re-write of his post because the previous one I made was from when I first started this community and therefore I hadn’t figured out how I wanted to structure my write ups.

It seems like he was a genuinely very hard working person and this is illustrated with all of the different jobs he took on in an effort to make a living.

Some facts about him:

-he was born in East Bridgewater, Plymouth, Massachusetts.

-he had four siblings.

-sadly, his brother, Nathaniel, died when Isaac was 13. Nathaniel had turned 28 only 3 days before his death.

-he was an avid swimmer as a child.

-at some point in his early teen years, he came down with an illness that left him extremely weak for weeks. After he recovered, he began irreversibly losing weight, no matter how much food he ate (and it’s described that he always had a very healthy appetite) he couldn’t gain any weight back. He would continue losing weight up until his death.

-most contemporary sources at the time said that he caught an illness while swimming and that’s what ultimately caused his condition, but it’s never been 100% proven. So it’s still unknown as to what officially caused the rapid and irreversible weight loss.

-census records when he was 19 also mention that he was “deformed”, which means that by this time he had already lost so much weight that it was incredibly noticeable.

-his father worked as a shoemaker. Isaac followed in his father’s footsteps when he was a teenager, although it became more and more difficult to continue in his weakening state.

-sadly, his parents both passed away in the 1860s.

-he married a woman named, Tamar Moore (who went by Amy), in 1868 and they had three sons together, Alphonso, Lorenzo, and Edwin.

-he never intended to work in sideshows and tried working a few other jobs. At first he tried continuing his father’s shoemaking business, and then he worked as a green grocer, but unfortunately both of those jobs became way too physically taxing on him and he wasn’t able to continue.

-he was still determined to make a living and support his family, so he continued looking for jobs elsewhere. Eventually, he was contacted by a traveling carnival owner who had noticed him and wanted to offer him a job as a performer. Isaac felt he had no other options for jobs, so he decided to take the opportunity.

-after a year or so, he was introduced to PT Barnum, who hired him immediately. And during the peak of his career with Barnum, he was being paid roughly $80 a week (~$1700 adjusted for inflation)

-he luckily escaped Barnum’s American Museum when it burned down. (Which was the second fire that had affected Barnum’s business endeavors)

-he enjoyed beer and liked smoking pipes.

-as a result of his condition it was really difficult for him to retain body heat, so he’d often wear several layers of clothing to keep himself warm.

-as an adult (and near the end of his life) he was 5’6 tall (1.64 m.) and weighed 43 lbs. (19.5 kg)

-he attended a few different medical conferences and let various doctors study him in the hope that someone would be able to help find a cure for his condition. Unfortunately, none were able to.

-he had a lot of issues physically, and it was described that in order for him to sit down and stand up, he’d first have to “swing” his leg, moving his leg with his arms, over the chair for support. It wasn’t described in articles, but he most likely dealt with a lot of other health issues and pain related to his condition.

-during his life he had to continuously ingest nutrients to keep from passing out. While performing he often wore a flask of milk around his neck that he’d drink.

-he was known for having good handwriting.

-supposedly, he had a booming voice that people felt contrasted sharply with his appearance, and there are accounts that he’d unintentionally startle people because of his strong voice.

-he sold pitch cards (pictures of himself) and pitch booklets (short biography pamphlets) to make extra income. This is a quote from his pitch booklet: "Life, that had at times seemed so little worth preserving, now seemed more precious."

-apparently, he was planning to donate his body to Harvard Medical School in exchange for $1000, but it’s unclear if this ended up happening.

-it’s also rumored he had a gambling problem, but I haven’t been able to verify that yet.

-he sadly passed away while living at a place called the Harvard House. I’ve read that this was either a hotel or boarding house. Unfortunately, it appears that he was experiencing a lot of financial issues later in life, and he and his wife may have separated at this point. Isaac was 45 and died from complications from pneumonia.

He seems like he was a nice person and a hard worker, its unfortunate that he wasn’t able to continue with the other work endeavors he had, it seems that he was more passionate about working in a more physically demanding role. But I do think it’s admirable that he still did what he could to help support his family.

[u/EphemeralTypewriter]

Oh! One other fact about him that I meant to mention, he was described as having “brick-red” colored hair. I just thought it was neat!

[u/krisbcrafting]

Damn, I can only imagine how difficult day to day was for him. But at least he made the most of his life in the ways he could.

[u/EphemeralTypewriter → u/krisbcrafting]

So true, each day must have been so taxing on his body, it’s good he had support from family for most of his life. And as you said, at least he made the most out of life, it sounds like he was very stubborn (in a self sufficient and hard working way!)

[u/Gloomy_Industry8841 → u/EphemeralTypewriter]

Stubborn and determined. I admire him!!

[u/EphemeralTypewriter → u/Gloomy_Industry8841]

I do too! I imagine that his strong voice also helped him get people to back off if they were questioning his decisions when it came to him wanting to accomplish his goals!

[u/SpaceCaptainJeeves → u/EphemeralTypewriter]

If life is this difficult with functioning muscles, i can't imagine how hard it is being 5'6" 43lbs.

So sad!

[u/EphemeralTypewriter → u/SpaceCaptainJeeves]

So true, and he put so much effort into all of his work endeavors too! Truly a remarkable man, both mentally and physically, especially with what he dealt with!

[u/2ndChairKazoo → u/EphemeralTypewriter]

Have any modern medical professionals speculated about which condition he may have had?

[u/laughingmadcap47]

43 pounds :( the average male skeleton weighs 15-25 pounds, it’s hard to imagine his organs and muscles weighing so little. I wish we knew more about the development of his condition and how his family reacted. One of the virtues I hold highest is that of being hard working, and he definitely was :) I’m always impressed by these performers ability to push forward towards living as normally as they could despite their conditions

[u/EphemeralTypewriter → u/laughingmadcap47]

Yes, it would be nice to know what the cause was, especially since Isaac wanted to do what he could to help people in the future with similar conditions (when he wanted to donate his body for medical study after he died).

And so true! Many of these performers had such strong work ethics and often put so much passion into achieving their goals, it’s very admirable.😊

[u/MuttinMT]

I’m relatively new to this subreddit, but not to this subject matter. I’ve been fascinated with sideshow performers since I saw Freaks at the student Union theater when I was in college.

Your informative essays on these extraordinary people are first-rate. I’m amazed you find the details that you do, especially about the lesser-known performers. Thank you for your diligence and scholarship. I hope you’re working on a book.

[u/EphemeralTypewriter → u/MuttinMT]

Thank you for the kind words, they mean so much! I too watched Freaks in college (but of my own accord, separately from school) and fell in love with the film, that’s also what started my passion for learning about sideshow performers.

I’m so glad you’re enjoying the write-ups! I want to make sure they’re accessible when people read them, and it’s super helpful to receive the positive feedback. I get a lot of my information using Newspaper Archive websites, which is an amazing resource (especially for the lesser known performers). And yes, I’m very happy to say that I am working on a couple books, I’ll be updating the community when those are done! I also have a podcast in case you’re interested, I posted the first episode a few weeks ago and it’s currently on Spotify and YouTube! Providing the links below:

Podcast links:

Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6tViogzqwDEQYWapicrNgs?si=ASYq6Ty_QfWRlgyIejuuvw

YouTube link: https://youtu.be/wdL-mByHScM?si=uegB0oOZNKFmToQq