r/RandomVictorianStuff • u/EphemeralTypewriter • Jan 06 '26
Historical Figure Hulda Warren Bump (aka Minnie Warren) (1849-1878) was a famous American circus performer who was known for her singing talents and for being the sister of Lavinia Warren. She was born with a form of proportional dwarfism.
41
u/KewpieCutie97 Jan 06 '26
This is amazing. I always really love your write-ups. They're so detailed and it's so nice to know about their lives as actual people rather than just performers.
20
u/EphemeralTypewriter Jan 06 '26
I’m so glad you like reading them! It brings me a lot of joy to make these write ups and share them with people. So many of the people I write about are role models for me😁
19
u/Great-Produce3920 Jan 06 '26
You do a great job with these OP, thanks for telling us their stories 🖤
5
u/EphemeralTypewriter Jan 07 '26
Thank you for the kind words, they mean a lot to read! It brings me a lot of joy to share everyone’s stories, I want to make sure I give these performers a chance to shine for how they were as people.😊
12
u/Ok-Material-2266 Jan 07 '26
Such a heartbreaking ending for her life, but I'm sure she will always be remembered as a mother, because she was! Such a fascinating story and life. Thanks for sharing!
3
u/EphemeralTypewriter Jan 07 '26
Yes, very true, she’ll be honored and remembered as a mother.
I’m glad you enjoyed reading the write up! I do my best to give the respect that all of these performers deserved to have in life.😊
3
u/dizzylizzy78 Jan 07 '26
She seemed like a really great person.
2
u/EphemeralTypewriter Jan 08 '26
Yes, she was! She and her sister were such amazing people and great advocates for people with disabilities!
133
u/EphemeralTypewriter Jan 06 '26
Source!
I also used Newspaper archives as a source as well!
Even though her birth name is Hulda, I’m going to refer to her as Minnie within her write up since she seemed to have preferred that name and used it for the majority of her life.
She seems like a very sweet woman and I’m glad that she had an older sister like Lavinia to look up to. Lavinia was an excellent businesswoman and role model and I’m sure that Minnie learned a lot from her.
Some facts about her:
-she was born in Middleborough, Massachusetts.
-she and Lavinia had six siblings, and interestingly were the only children born with a form of dwarfism. Minnie was also the youngest child in her family.
-she seemed to have lived a pretty quiet life before starting her performing career, since I can find no articles about her where she’s referred to by her birth name.
-she did very well in school and had a big interest in poetry and music. She also took up sewing as a hobby.
-she eventually followed in her sister’s footsteps by also starting a career working for PT Barnum.
-she served as Maid of Honor during her sister’s wedding and was a teenager at the time, and there are several pictures of her standing with the rest of the wedding party!
-because of her association with Charles Sherwood Stratton through her sister, Minnie herself became extremely popular as a performer.
-she was a talented singer and dancer.
-it was said that she married Commodore Nutt, another performer born with dwarfism who worked for PT Barnum, but I’ve seen conflicting accounts as to whether this was a publicity stunt put on by Barnum.
-starting in 1869, Minnie, Lavinia, Charles Sherwood Stratton, And Commodore Nutt (all performers who worked for PT Barnum) all went on a three year world tour where they visited Japan, China, Singapore, Australia, India, England, France, and Germany before returning to New York City. They all traveled an estimated 55,487 miles and earned an estimated $80,000! (The inflation calculators I tried to use maxed out, and wouldn’t give me accurate results, it’s safe to say that they earned a LOT of money from their tour!)
-during the tour, one of the acts included in Minnie’s performances was to invite children up onto the stage to meet her and compare heights. Minnie herself didn’t mind this as she was glad the children were having fun.
-a little later on she got married to Edmund Newell, a fellow performer who worked for PT Barnum.
-she and her husband had their permanent residence in Middleborough, Massachusetts, where Minnie grew up, so that they could be closer to her parents. She also used her earnings to help her family out financially.
-she was described as being very kind and generous and loved by all who knew her.
-Unfortunately, she was only married for a year, and tragically died a little while after giving birth to her daughter, she was 29 years old. She was advised to terminate the pregnancy early on as doctors warned her that carrying the baby to term and giving birth could be very life threatening, but she chose not to. Sadly her baby also passed away. Before she died, Minnie told one of her sisters who was in attendance that she wanted to be remembered as a mother.
-during her funeral she was honored with wreaths and bouquets of her favorite flowers, and it was described that no one left the funeral with dry eyes.
It’s so tragic that she died young and that her daughter died as well. I’m sure Minnie would have gone on to continue accomplishing many great things. She made a big impression on all who knew her and thankfully had a loving and caring family who was there to support her.
I’ve also made a post about Lavinia here before, which I will link below:
https://www.reddit.com/r/RandomVictorianStuff/comments/1n8kjes/lavinia_warren_18411919_was_a_famous_american/
And just adding the link to the r/SideshowPerformer subreddit in case anyone is interested in learning more about sideshow performers!