1889 is the crossroads where the descendants, living persons and ancestors of previous, current and future influencers meet on the chronological timeline of earth’s history.
Note: Wikipedia is the source the Catholic Bard quotes directly for all the bio descriptions read in these articles.
A lot of people lead ordinary everyday lives.
Some people lead extraordinary lives.
Some people led Ordinary Extraordinary lives.
- People who have lived over a century.
- People who are very small and very tall.
- People who never sleep.
- People who can do amazing things with their farts.
- Amazing animals that stand out among their own kind in the human world.
- People who can fly through the air with the greatest of ease and speed.
- People who can escape any chains they are put in.
- People who go down waterfalls in barrels.
- People who gather these people in shows for others to see.
These are some of the examples of the folks you’ll meet in this edition of Notable People Alive In 1889 .
And now….
Born in the 18th Century
Geert Adriaans Boomgaard
(September 21, 1788; baptized September 23, 1788– February 3, 1899)
She was a Dutch supercentenarian and is generally accepted by scholars as the first validated case on record.
Margaret Ann Neve
(May 18, 1792 – April 4, 1903)
She was the second validated supercentenarian after Geert Adriaans Boomgaard. Neve lived at Saint Peter Port on the island of Guernsey in the English Channel. She was also the first proven individual whose life spanned three centuries (18th to the 20th centuries).
Born in 1800’s
Salome Sellers
(October 19, 1800 – January 9, 1909)
She was an American centenarian who was the last known, verified person born in the 18th century.
Born in 1810’s
(Phineas Taylor) P. T. Barnum
(July 5, 1810 – April 7, 1891)
He was an American showman, businessman and politician remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and founding the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus with James Anthony Bailey (July 4, 1847 – April 11, 1906).

So in 1889, senior citizen Barnum, after everything he had done in Bridgeport, including the winter quarters for the circus, decided he had to build a new home. Barnum began to build next to his old house. He wanted a brick house, without drafts. He wanted to continue living near the water, but in a house that was more comfortable. He owned the land, and he loved the location. Barnum named his new house Marina. Barnum had a stroke in 1890 and he was confined to his new home. P.T. Barnum: The Later Years – Bridgeport History Center (bportlibrary.org)
Born in 1820’s
John Smith
Chief John “White Wolf” Smith
(1822–1826 (claimed 1784) – 6 February 1922)
He was an American longevity myth. He was a Chippewa (Ojibwe) Indian.
John Smith claimed to have been born around 1784 in Minnesota, USA. He lived in Cass Lake, Minnesota his entire life. He had eight wives and no children, except for an adopted son, named Tom Smith.
Smith converted to Catholicism in about 1914. Around 1915, he was knocked down by a switch engine. He spend three weeks at hospital, and managed to recover. One week before his death, he caught pneumonia.
John Smith died of pneumonia in Cass Lake, Minnesota, USA, at the claimed age of at least 138 years, 0 days. He is buried in the Catholic section of Pine Grove Cemetery in Cass Lake.
Dan Rice
(January 23, 1823 – February 22, 1900)
He was an American entertainer of many talents, most famously as a clown, who was active before the American Civil War. At the height of his career, Rice was a household name. Dan Rice also coined the terms “One Horse Show” and “Greatest Show” while popularizing the barrel-style “French” cuff. He was a figure in the new American mass culture brought on by the technological changes of the Industrial Revolution. Rice ran for President of the United States in 1868. With changes in circus venues and popular culture after the Civil War, his fame has gradually slipped into such historical obscurity that in 2001 biographer David Carlyon called him “the most famous man you’ve never heard of”.
Charles Blondin
(February 28, 1824 – 22 February 1897)
He was a French tightrope walker and acrobat. He toured the United States and was known for crossing the 1,100 ft (340 m) Niagara Gorge on a tightrope.
During an event in Dublin in 1860, the rope on which he was walking broke and two workers were killed, although Blondin was not injured.
He married three times and had eight children. His name became synonymous with tightrope walking.
Born in 1830’s
Jonathan (tortoise)
(hatched c. 1832)
He is a Seychelles giant tortoise (Aldabrachelys gigantea hololissa), a subspecies of the Aldabra giant tortoise (Aldabrachelys gigantea). His approximate age is estimated to be 191 as of 2024, making him the oldest known living land animal. Jonathan resides on the island of Saint Helena, a British Overseas Territory in the South is a Seychelles giant tortoise (Aldabrachelys gigantea hololissa), a subspecies of the Aldabra giant tortoise (Aldabrachelys gigantea). His approximate age is estimated to be 191 as of 2024, making him the oldest known living land animal.[4][5] Jonathan resides on the island of Saint Helena, a British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic Ocean.Ocean.

Annie Edson Taylor
(October 24, 1838 – April 29, 1921)
She was an American schoolteacher who, on her 63rd birthday, October 24, 1901, became the first person to survive a trip over Niagara Falls in a barrel. Her motives were financial but she never made much money from her adventure. She died penniless and her funeral was paid for by public donations.
Born in 1840’s
Mollie Arline Kirkland Bailey
(c. 1841—October 2, 1918)
Also known as “Aunt Mollie” and the “Circus Queen of the Southwest,” was an American businesswoman, circus performer, and spy.
Buffalo Bill
(February 26, 1846 – January 10, 1917),
He was an American soldier, bison hunter, and showman. Outside the exposition, other theatres and venues presented a range of spectacles including Buffalo Bill Cody and his Wild West Show, with the sharpshooter Annie Oakley.
James Anthony Bailey
(July 4, 1847 – April 11, 1906)
He was an American owner and manager of several 19th-century circuses, including the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (also billed as “The Greatest Show on Earth”).
James Edwin Wide
(1850- January 20, 1921)
James “Jumper” Wide had been known for jumping between railcars until an accident where he fell and lost both of his legs at the knee. To assist in performing his duties, Wide purchased Jack in 1881, and trained him to push his wheelchair and to operate the railways signals under supervision.
Jack (baboon)
(died 1890)
Jack was that Chacma baboon who assisted disabled railway signalman, James Wide, in South Africa.

Born in 1850’s
Millie and Christine McKoy
(July 11, 1851 – October 8, 1912)
They were African-American pygopagus conjoined twins who went by the stage names “The United African Twins” “The Carolina Twins”, “The Two-Headed Nightingale” and “The Eighth Wonder of the World”. The twins traveled throughout the world performing song and dance for entertainment, overcoming years of slavery, forced medical observations, and forced participation in fairs and freak shows.
The Ringling brothers (originally Rüngling) were five American siblings who transformed their small touring company of performers into one of the largest circuses in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Four brothers were born in McGregor, Iowa: Alfred T., Charles, John and Henry William, and the family lived in McGregor for twelve years, from 1860 until 1872. The Ringling family then moved to Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, and finally settled in Baraboo, Wisconsin, in 1875. They were of German and French descent, the children of harness maker Heinrich Friedrich August Ringling (1826–1898) of Hanover, and Marie Salome Juliar (1833–1907) of Ostheim, in Alsace. While there were seven Ringling brothers, Alfred, Charles, John, Al and Otto Ringling were the main brothers in charge of the circus shows. All of the brothers were Freemasons. In 1919, they merged their Ringling Brothers Circus with America’s other leading circus troupe, Barnum and Bailey, ultimately creating the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, which has operated continuously since except for a hiatus from 2017 to 2022.
- Albert Carl “Al” Ringling (1852–1916). Albert divorced his wife in 1914 and died of Bright’s disease at the age of 63 in Wisconsin.
- Augustus “Gus” Ringling (1854 – December 18, 1907). A founder of the circus, Augustus was largely self-educated. He died at age 53 from complications of various diseases at a sanatorium in New Orleans, where he had arrived two weeks earlier hoping the warmer climate would help his condition.
- Otto Ringling (1858–1911). Otto died at the home of his younger brother John, who lived on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. He was in New York at the time to see a show at Madison Square Garden.
- Alfred Theodore “Alf” Ringling (1861–1919). Alfred was a juggler. He had a son, Richard T. Ringling, and a daughter, Marjorie Joan Ringling, who was married to future United States Senator Jacob K. Javits from 1933 to 1936. His granddaughter, Mabel Ringling, married Richard Durant, an elephant trainer. In 1916, Alfred took up residence in Petersburg, New Jersey, now known as Oak Ridge, where he was responsible for the creation of Lake Swannanoa, the body of water that would later become the center point of the Lake Swannanoa lake community. The property was also used as the winter quarters for his son Richard’s circus, the R.T. Richards Circus. Alfred died in his 28-room New Jersey manor, three years after its completion, on October 21, 1919.
- Charles Edward Ringling (1863–December 3, 1926).
- John Nicholas Ringling (1866–1936). John was a singer and a professional clown.
- Henry William George Ringling (1869–1918). Henry was the youngest of the brothers, and died October 10, 1918, of a heart disorder and other internal organ disorders.
- Ida Loraina Wilhelmina Ringling (1874–1950). Ida married Harry Whitestone North (1858–1921) in 1902. Their sons were John Ringling North and Henry Ringling North. She’s the only girl and youngest sibling of all.
Aunt Sophie Campbell
(1855-1936)
Aunt Sophie was one of the best known women to ever roam the Great Smoky Mountains. She and her husband Uncle Tom lived for 40 years a’ top Mount Harrison, right across the river from Gatlinburg in a cabin Tom built with his own hands. Aunt Sophie was famous for her hand-made pipes that she hardened on the fire of her stone fireplace. The trail up the mountain was steep, yet for years, tourist would ford the river and make the laborious climb to the top to purchase her pipes and a heaping helping of hospitality and storytelling at the feet of a true master.When Sophie died, the mountains lost a legend. It was impossible to carry a coffin to the top of the mountain so her body was gently carried down in a hammock where she was laid to rest in White Oak Flats Cemetery in Gatlinburg.” -Squire Elroy Aunt Sophie Campbell, Gatlinburg, TN, 1930s | PBS LearningMedia
Le Pétomane
(June 1, 1857 – August 8, 1945)
He was a French flatulist (professional fartist) and entertainer. He was famous for his remarkable control of the abdominal muscles, which enabled him to seemingly fart at will. His stage name combines the French verb péter, “to fart” with the –mane, “-maniac” suffix, which translates to “fartomaniac”. The profession is referred to as “flatulist”, “farteur”, or “fartiste”.
It was a common misconception that Pujol passed intestinal gas as part of his stage performance. Rather, he was allegedly able to “inhale” or move air into his rectum and then control the release of that air with his anal sphincter muscles. Evidence of his ability to control those muscles was seen in the early accounts of demonstrations of his abilities to fellow soldiers.
Zip the Pinhead
(c. 1857 – April 9, 1926)
Known as Zip the Pinhead, was an American freak show performer known for his tapered head.
Bobby Leach
(1858 – April 26, 1926)
He was the second person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel, accomplishing the feat on July 25, 1911 —while Annie Taylor did it on October 24, 1901. He spent six months in hospital recovering from injuries he sustained during the fall, which included two broken knee caps and a fractured jaw. Leach had been a performer with the Barnum and Bailey Circus and was no stranger to stunting. After watching a stuntman die attempting to dive from a platform over 150 feet (45 m) into a pool 5 feet (1.5 m) deep, he made the dive successfully. Prior to his trip over the falls he owned a restaurant on Bridge Street and would boast to customers that anything Annie could do, he could do better.
Miss La La
(April 21, 1858 -March 21, 1945)
She was an expert aerialist who served as muse to Edgar Degas and was depicted in his 1879 painting Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando. She was also depicted in a poster for the Folies Bergère. She was the star of Troupe Kaira, a traveling circus act, and performed with the Cirque Fernando, based in Montmartre.
Miss La La, a mixed-race acrobat, known as la femme canon. The nickname came from her most sensational trick: to fire a cannon suspended on chains that she held in her teeth while hanging from the trapeze, hooked at the knees.
Aerialists made it to the limelight thanks to
Jules Léotard
(August 1, 1838 – August 16, 1870)
He was a French acrobatic performer and aerialist who developed the art of trapeze. He also created and popularized the one-piece gym wear that now bears his name and inspired the 1867 song “The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze“, sung by George Leybourne.
Lillian Leitzel ‘s Parent in-laws
Eduardo Codona (1859-1934)
+ Hortensia Codona (Buesley) (1869-1931)
= Alfredo Codona (1893-1937) He was the husband of
Lillian Leitzel
(January 2, 1892 – February 15, 1931)
She was a German-born acrobat who specialized in performing on the Roman rings, for the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus. The inaugural (posthumous) inductee to the International Circus Hall of Fame, Leitzel died in hospital two days after a fall during a live performance.
Paul Cinquevalli
(June 30, 1859 – July 14, 1918)
Born in 1860’s
Rossa Matilda Richter
(April 7, 1860 – 8 December 8, 1937)
She used the stage name Zazel, was an English aerialist and actress who became known as the first human cannonball at the age of 17. She began performing at a very young age, practicing aerial stunts like tightrope walking in an old London church. She took up ballet, gymnastics, and trapeze by the time she was 6 and, at 12, went on tour with a travelling acrobat troupe. In 1877, she was the first person to be fired out of a cannon, in front of a large crowd at the Royal Aquarium.

Franz Winkelmeier
(April 27, 1860 – 24 August 24, 1887)
He was an Austrian man who was promoted as the world’s tallest man at 8 ft 6 in (2.59 m), however he was measured in 1885 at only 2.28 m (7 ft 6 in).He was known as the Giant (German: Riese) of Friedburg-Lengau. At the London Pavilion, he performed on the same bill as the juggler
On June 22, 1887 Franz was presented to Queen Victoria.
Tom Norman
(May 7, 1860 – August 24, 1930)
He last exhibitor of Joseph Merrick who was otherwise known as the “Elephant Man”. Among his later exhibits were a troupe of little people, a “Man in a Trance”, “John Chambers, the armless Carpenter”, and the “World’s Ugliest Woman”.
Annie Oakley
(August 13, 1860 – November 3, 1926)
She was an American sharpshooter and folk heroine who starred in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West. Since her death, her story has been adapted for stage musicals and films, including Annie Get Your Gun.
Al Herpin,“The Man Who Never Slept”.
(January 1, 1862 – January 3, 1947)
Al Herpin died on (January 3, 1947), reportedly at the age of 94. His obituary in The New York Times read:
Death came today for Alfred E. Herpin, a recluse who lived on the outskirts of the city and insisted that he never slept. He was 94 years old and, when questioned concerning his claim of “sleeplessness”, maintained that he never actually dozed but merely “rested”.
No other person with total insomnia has lived for such a long period of time. It was likely that he died for other reasons, not sleep deprivation, as his insomnia did not seem to have any effect on his health.

Vincent van Gogh
Date: 1890
Joseph Merrick
(August 5, 1862 – April 11, 1890)
Often erroneously called John Merrick, was an English artist known for his severe physical deformities. He was first exhibited at a freak show under the stage name “the Elephant Man“, and then went to live at the London Hospital, in Whitechapel, after meeting Sir Frederick Treves, subsequently becoming well known in London society.
Conjoined Twin’s Family Tree
Chang Bunker and Eng Bunker
(May 11, 1811 – January 17, 1874)
They were Siamese (Thai)-American conjoined twin brothers whose fame propelled the expression “Siamese twins” to become synonymous for conjoined twins in general. They were widely exhibited as curiosities and were “two of the nineteenth century’s most studied human beings”.
As of 2006, descendants of Chang and Eng’s 21 children number about 1,500. Much of the extended family still lives in western North Carolina, and the family has hosted annual get-togethers since the 1980s, usually on the last Saturday of June.
Chang’s was the father of
Margaret Elizabeth “Lizzie” Bunker Haynes (1863-1950)
Margaret
+ Caleb Hill “Cape” Haynes II (1863-1949)
= Caleb V. Haynes
(March 15, 1895– April 5, 1966)
He was a United States Air Force (USAF) major general. The grandson of Chang Bunker, a famous Siamese Twin, he served in the Air Force as an organizer, able to create air units from scratch. He commanded a large number of groups, squadrons and task forces before, during and after World War II.
Lucía Zárate
(January 2, 1864 – January 15, 1890)
She was a Mexican entertainer with dwarfism who performed in sideshows. Zárate is the first person to have been identified with Majewski osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism type II. She was entered into the Guinness World Records as the “lightest recorded adult”, weighing 4.7 pounds (2.1 kg) at the age of 17.
Francis Joseph Flynn
(October 6, 1864 – October 15, 1898)
Better known as General Mite, was an American dwarf who performed as a showman at various competitions around the world.
William Preston Hall
(1864–1932)
Aka “The Colonel”, “Diamond Billy”, and “Horse King of the World” was an American showman, businessman, and circus impresario. The William P. Hall House in Lancaster, Missouri, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. He made the Circus Hall of Fame in 1977.

Claire Heliot
(December 3, 1866 – June 9, 1953)
She was a German lion tamer.
She followed in the footsteps of
Isaac A. Van Amburgh
(1808–1865)
He was an American animal trainer who developed the first trained wild animal act in modern times. By introducing jungle acts into the circus, Van Amburgh paved the way for combining menageries with circuses. After that, menageries began using equestrian and clown performances in circus rings. Gradually the distinction between circus and menagerie faded.
From the humble beginning of cage-cleaner in the Zoological Institute of New York, Van Amburgh quickly gained notoriety for his acts of daring, for example placing his bare arm and even head inside the jaws of a wild cat.[ Also known for his domineering attitude toward his animals, he earned the title “The Lion King.”
Despite the disapproval of some for his brutal treatment of animals, Van Amburgh remained very popular and successful, beginning his own menagerie which he took to Europe. He died a wealthy man, and his name continued to be used in the circus world for more than a century after.
John Rogan
(February 12, 1867 – September 11, 1905)
He was an American sharecropper who was recorded as the tallest non-mobile person ever, and the second-tallest person ever at 8 feet 9 inches (267 cm), behind only Robert Wadlow.
Florence Pannell
(1868 – 1980)
A 108-Year-Old Woman Recalls What It Was Like to Be a Woman in Victorian England | Open Culture
Florence Pannell was born in London in 1868, 3 years after the US abolished slavery and eleven before the advent of the electric lightbulb.
The AIDS crisis is one event of global historical importance that Mrs. Pannell missed—barely—she died in 1980, a few months shy of her 112th birthday.
Ildebrando Zacchini
(1868 – July 17, 1948)
He was a Maltese-born painter, inventor, and travelling circus owner.
Inspired by the works of Jules Verne, Zacchini came up with an idea for a human cannonball act.Instead of explosives, Zacchini’s human-firing cannon used compressed air, and he first tested it on his son Hugo Zacchini.
The idea for the cannonball act was initially proposed to the Italian government as a military maneuver to be used in conjunction with parachutes; when the proposal was rejected Zacchini looked to use the technique as part of an entertainment act.
Zacchini died in Tampa, Florida in 1948. Members of the Zacchini family were later inducted into the Ringling Brothers Circus Hall of Fame.
His sons were
Edmondo Zacchini (1894–1981)
Hugo Zacchini (1898–1975)
While not all human cannonballs, all of papa Zacchini’s children were circus performers of one sort or another.
Although they were not the first men to perform the human cannonball act, nor the only, the brothers quickly became well known for their doings. As well as being human cannonballs, the brothers were also wire walkers, tumblers, trapeze artists and riders. Throughout the years, the Zacchini Brothers worked with various traveling circus companies including Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Their show was often referred to as The Greatest Show on Earth and was considered to be a “continental sensation”.
Born in 1870’s
Emma Wilson
(May 12, 1870 – October 13, 1983)
She was a validated American supercentenarian who was also the World’s Oldest Person.
Mathew Beard
(July 9, 1870 – February 16, 1985: 114 years, 222 days)
He was believed to have been the oldest living person in the world from the death of Emma Wilson till his own death.
Ella Ewing
(March 9, 1872 – January 10, 1913)
She was a Missouri woman considered the world’s tallest female of her era. She would use her great height to earn a living as a sideshow attraction, popularly known as “The Missouri Giantess.”
Mary Ann Bevan
(December 20, 1874 – December 26, 1933)
She was an English nurse, who, after developing acromegaly, toured the circus sideshow circuit as “the ugliest woman in the world”.
Harry Houdini
(March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926)
He was a Hungarian-American escape artist, illusionist, and stunt performer, noted for his escape acts.
Famous Tightrope Walker’s Parents
Cornelius Sullivan (1874–1952),
+ Julia Vittorine Sullivan (1878–1953)
= Con Colleano
(December 26, 1899 – November 13, 1973)
He was an Australian tightrope walker. He was the first person to successfully attempt a forward somersault on a tightrope and became one of the most celebrated and highly paid circus performers of his time. He was known as “The Wizard of the Wire” or “The Toreador of the Wire”.
Topsy (elephant)
(c. 1875 – January 4, 1903)
She was a female Asian elephant who was electrocuted at Coney Island, New York, in January 1903.

May Wirth’s Mother
Dezeppo (Beaumont) Lawson (1875-1962)
was the mother of
May Wirth
(June 6, 1894 – October 18, 1978)
She was an Australian circus and vaudeville performer famous for her ability to do somersaults forwards and backwards on a running horse. She was born in Queensland and adopted by Mary Elizabeth Victoria Wirth as a child into the Wirth circus family.
Jeanne Calment,
(February 21, 1875 – August 4, 1997)
She was a French supercentenarian and, with a documented lifespan of 122 years and 164 days, the oldest person ever whose age has been verified. Her longevity attracted media attention and medical studies of her health and lifestyle. She is the only person verified to have reached the age of 120 and beyond.
According to census records, Calment outlived both her daughter and grandson. In January 1988, she was widely reported to be the oldest living person, and in 1995, at age 120, was declared the oldest verified person to have ever lived.
Bess Houdini,
(January 23, 1876 – February 11, 1943)
She was an American stage assistant and wife of Harry Houdini.
Franz Reichelt
16 October 1878 – 4 February 1912)
He was an Austro-Hungarian-born French tailor, inventor and parachuting pioneer, now sometimes referred to as the Flying Tailor, who is remembered for jumping to his death from the Eiffel Tower while testing a wearable parachute of his own design. Reichelt had become fixated on developing a suit for aviators that would convert into a parachute and allow them to survive a fall should they be forced to leave their aircraft in mid-air. Although he created and experimented with multiple prototypes of wings and parachute suits over the years, they were by and large failures, to the point that it was a point of contention between newspapers after his death whether or not any of his designs were ever functional.
Bob the Railway Dog
(c. 1878 – July 29, 1895)
Bob is part of South Australian Railways folklore. He travelled the South Australian Railways system in the latter part of the 19th century, and was known widely to railwaymen of the day; he is part of the folklore in the area, and has been commemorated over the years.
Susanna Bokoyni
(April 24, 1879 – August 24, 1984)
Also known as “Princess Susanna”, was a Hungarian centenarian and circus performer who was listed in Guinness World Records as the longest-lived dwarf on record.
Born in 1880’s
Ota Benga
(c. 1883 – March 20, 1916)
He was a Mbuti (Congo pygmy) man, known for being featured in an exhibit at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri, and as a human zoo exhibit in 1906 at the Bronx Zoo. Benga had been purchased from native African slave traders by the explorer Samuel Phillips Verner,[3] a businessman searching for African people for the exhibition, who took him to the United States. While at the Bronx Zoo, Benga was allowed to walk the grounds before and after he was exhibited in the zoo’s Monkey House. Benga was placed in a cage with an orangutan, regarded as both an offense to his humanity and a promotion of social Darwinism.

George Claude Lockhart
(1885–1979)
He was the first ringmaster to wear the “pink” hunter tails and top hat, and was referred to in his World’s Fair obituary as “The Doyen of Ringmasters”. He was best known for being the ringmaster of the International Circus at Belle Vue, Manchester, England, and Blackpool Tower Circus.
The Collyer brothers
Homer Lusk Collyer
(November 6, 1881 – March 21, 1947)
Langley Wakeman Collyer
(October 3, 1885 – c. March 9, 1947),
They were two American brothers who became infamous for their bizarre natures and compulsive hoarding. The two lived in seclusion in their Harlem brownstone at 2078 Fifth Avenue (at the corner of 128th Street) in New York City where they obsessively collected books, furniture, musical instruments, and myriad other items, with booby traps set up in corridors and doorways to crush intruders. Both died in their home in March 1947 and were found (Homer on March 21, Langley not until April 8) surrounded by more than 140 tons (127,000 kg) of collected items that they had amassed over several decades.
Since the 1960s, the site of the former Collyer house has been a pocket park, named for the brothers.
Alice Elizabeth Doherty
(March 14, 1887 – June 13, 1933)
She was an American woman born with the condition hypertrichosis lanuginosa. Although this condition is very rare, other individuals were known for their similar appearances: Fedor Jeftichew (“Jo-Jo the Dog-faced Man”), Stephan Bibrowski (“Lionel the Lion-faced Man”), Jesús “Chuy” Aceves (“Wolfman”), and Annie Jones (“the bearded woman”). Hypertrichosis has many different variations, including differences in causation.
William “Red” Hill Sr.
(November 17, 1888 – May 14, 1942)
He was a Canadian daredevil and rescuer, born in Niagara Falls, Ontario, in 1888. In 1896 he received his first medal for bravery when he rescued his sister from their burning house which was followed by a life-saving medal in 1912, achieving the status as a local hero. A bootlegger on occasion during the Prohibition, Hill went on to receive a total of four medals in addition to being credited with saving 28 lives and the recovery of 177 accident and suicide victims from the Niagara River just below the Falls.
Hill’s reputation grew as a renowned Canadian daredevil in 1930 with a five-hour journey in a 6-foot-long (1.8 m) steel barrel which began just below the falls at the Maid of the Mist boat landing and through the treacherous Niagara lower rapids ending up several miles down stream at Queenston, Ontario.

Pelorus Jack
(fl. 1888 – April 1912; pronounced)
He was a Risso’s dolphin (Grampus griseus) that was famous for meeting and escorting ships through a stretch of water in Cook Strait, New Zealand. The animal was reported over a 24 year period, from 1888 until his disappearance after 1912. Pelorus Jack was usually spotted in Admiralty Bay between Cape Francis and Collinet Point, near French Pass, a notoriously dangerous channel used by ships travelling between Wellington and Nelson.
While it is claimed in the British book Breverton’s nautical curiosities : a book of the sea that he was named after the pelorus, a marine navigational instrument, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand explains that, based on local knowledge, the name came from Pelorus Sound / Te Hoiere because it was at the entrance to that stretch of water where he would regularly meet ships to accompany them.
Pelorus Jack was shot at from a passing ship, and was later protected by a 1904 New Zealand law.
