BARNUM, PHINEAS TAYLOR (1810-1891), American showman, was born in Bethel, Conn., on July 5, 181 o, his father being an innkeeper and storekeeper. Barnum first started as a storekeeper, and was also concerned in the lottery mania then prevailing in the United States. After failing in business, he started in 1829 a weekly paper, The Herald of Freedom, in Dan bury. In 1835 he began his career as a showman, with his pur chase and exploitation of a coloured woman, Joyce Heth, reputed to have been the nurse of George Washington, and to be more than 16o years old. With this woman and a small company he made well advertised and successful tours in America till though Joyce Heth died in 1836, when her age was proved to be not more than 7o. After a period of failure, he purchased Scudder's American Museum, New York, in 1841. Here he made a special hit by the exhibition, in 1842, of Charles Stratton, the celebrated "General Tom Thumb" (see DWARF). In 185o he toured America with Jenny Lind, who was engaged to sing at $1,00o a night for 15o nights, all expenses being paid by the entrepreneur. In 1871 he established the "Greatest Show on Earth," a travelling amalgamation of circus, menagerie and museum of "freaks," etc. This show, incorporated in the name of "Barnum, Bailey and Hutchinson," and later as "Barnum and Bailey's" toured all over the world. In 1907 the business was sold to Ringling Brothers. Barnum wrote several books, such as The Humbugs of the World (1865), Struggles and Triumphs (1869), and his Autobiography (1854, and later editions). He died on April 7, 1891.