Record #:

14649

Author(s):

Norris, Jeannie Faris

Abstract:

Jane Barnell was born in Wilmington sometime during the 1870s. Shortly after birth she began growing the facial hair which would make her famous. Her first taste of circus life came when she was a child and her spiteful mother sold her to a circus. Barnell would fall sick and leave the circus to return to Mecklenburg County where she attempted to be a nurse and farm her grandmother's farm. In 1893 she was convinced to return to circus/carnival life and continued to tour the world until 1941 or 1942.

Source:

The State (NoCar F 251 S77), Vol. 14 Issue 35, Jan 1947, p7

Subject(s):

Barnell, Jane, 1871-1951; Circus--Biography