A Tattooed Affair: Earliest Tattooed Attractions
Researched & Written by Carmen Nyssen
The wondrous dime museum phenomenon built by circus magnate Phineas T. Barnum and his trusty protégé George Burr Bunnell manifested an extravaganza of never-before-seen tattooed attractions that brought a whole new spectacle to the realm of amusement. It was at the circus and museum venues of these men that the very first trade-specific ‘tattooed marvels’—the first to represent the then dubbed ‘sailor’s art’ on the dime museum and circus stage—displayed their shockingly decorated bodies and fascinated patrons of all ages. This was in contrast to earlier tattooed attractions—typically white men who had been tattooed with traditional Polynesian designs during the course of their travels.
[For more of the story, see Buzzworthy articles: Barnum & Bunnell’s Tattooed Humbugs: Manifesting a Tattoo Trade and Birth of the Tattoo Trade: New York Bowery].The visual of these trade-specific tattooed attractions, aka tattooed humbugs, who were customized for exhibition with typical motifs of the emerging American tattoo trade, was so alluring to audiences, and so lucrative, it instigated a frenzy of newly created tattooed people eager to display their bodies for a living. In order to stand out and maintain a competitive edge, these contrived tattooed performers employed every manner of promotional strategy. They enchanted show-goers with remarkable backstories of how they were forcibly tattooed by natives after being stranded on South Pacific islands or upon being kidnapped by North American tribes. Sometimes tattooed dogs and cats were included in their acts. Before long, tattooed couples also entered the scene and mounted an altogether new kind of hype.
Circus and museum proprietors specially promoted tattooed couples on broadsides and newspaper billings because of their ‘unique’ married status—some, even, had been joined in holy matrimony in front of audiences as part of the theatrics. What made tattooed couple acts captivating was that they embodied the dramatic flair of the sideshow stage, while also offering a ‘slice of life’ that resonated with audience members. Although they performed in an imaginary world of mirth, where their well-plotted-out, full-body tattoos and showy costumes didn’t represent real-life persons of the day, their romantic couplings highlighted their human-ness and invoked common ideals.
“The sideshow’s sensationalized theatrics of tattooed attractions, combined with the illumination of their human condition, was vital in bringing their being—something once unreal—into reality.” –Tattoo Historian, Carmen Forquer Nyssen. Barnum and Bunnell’s Tattooed Humbugs: Manifesting a Tattoo Trade.
In actuality, all tattooed acts, solo or couple, were somehow relatable within the parameters of the sideshow stage. The draw of any theatrical display is in conveying some essence of the human condition that the audience can engage in and bring into reality together with the performer. In the case of the newly-conceived ‘tattooed men,’ ‘tattooed ladies,’ and ‘tattooed couples,’ although they were only fantasy imitations of past attractions who wore genuine Polynesian designs, or perhaps, caricatures of the era’s heavily-tattooed sailors who were bonafide characters of gritty skid row neighborhoods, their etchings were thoroughly authentic and no less mesmerizing. Beyond their physical qualities, their performance narratives spoke to the human psyche of dime museum and circus patrons with a balanced mix of the macabre shadowy side of life (murders, kidnapping, torture, exploitation) and the more pleasant experiences of adventure, love, family dynamics, etc. This mimicking of life’s follies, foibles, and endearing sentiments transposed onto the concept of tattooed attractions, created an irresistible elixir, a microcosm of society at large with a twist, that hooked audiences into accepting the phenomenon of their being. This agreed upon idea of a tattooed attraction—between performer and spectator—rendered them entities unto themselves and made them decades-long staples of the sideshow platform.
What made the earliest tattooed performers so much more intriguing was that the ‘human factor’ in their acts wasn’t always mere promotion or ploy. For many, the flux and drama of their behind-the-scene lives, whether overtly sensationalized or not, intermingled with their stage persona in such a way that their acts were as ever-changing and novel as was called for in their line of work. Whether their circumstances were altered by marriage, childbirth, divorce, or remarriage, they found a way to incorporate real life with the surreal of the sideshow and keep audiences ‘oohing and aahhing’ over their illustrated epidermises and their over-the-top accompanying spiels.
“With the help of Barnum and Bunnell’s promotional expertise, ‘trade-specific’ tattooed attractions, ranked among the most sensational humbugs.” –Tattoo Historian, Carmen Forquer Nyssen, Barnum and Bunnell’s Tattooed Humbugs: Manifesting a Tattoo Trade.
‘Trade-specific tattooed attraction’ coined by Tattoo Historian Carmen Forquer Nyssen
Although, historically speaking, it’s reasonable to lump all ‘tattooed humbugs’ together under an overarching label, it doesn’t capture the breadth of their existence. These folks were multi-faceted, with as much depth and complexity as the next person. Yes, they were contrived sideshow performers. But they were also actors upon the stage of life; real people who experienced both trials and triumphs, the same as everyone. And they managed to make the most of their circumstances in a weird and wonderful setting for all to see and connect with. Their commitment to the physicality of their tattooed being, and the spark of creation(s) that came into the world with it through their individuality, speaks to a vibrancy and lust for life that can’t be faked.
Herein, lies a few of their stories…
Wesley Sinclair Baum & Mary De Silva
Despite probable intentions, some married tattooed performers never realized the benefits of being billed as a tattooed couple. Unlike other tattooed duos, Wesley Sinclair Baum (1858-1925) and Mary (De Silva) Baum seemingly didn’t start out in the bonds of tattooed couple-dom in the show world, and possibly didn’t make the mark as a ‘tattooed team’ at all.
If Mary Baum’s report in an October 11, 1884 Evening Star newspaper interview is valid, she was tattooed for exhibition in September of 1883, by an unnamed Bowery tattooer who later set-up in Red Bank, New Jersey. A notation on Wesley Baum’s promotional cabinet card indicates that he was likewise tattooed in 1883, by Philadelphia’s Stephen Asbury Rausel Lee (1847-1914).
The Baums’ life together, however, had commenced before they took the plunge to become tattooed attractions—at least nine months prior to March 13, 1882, the day their daughter was born.
According to their child’s birth certificate, in 1882, the couple resided at 4 Bond Street in Brooklyn, and Wesley was employed by a dime museum in some capacity. While it isn’t clear which of the several museums in the New York City and Brooklyn vicinity Wesley worked for or what his position was at the time, the Baums’ idea for becoming tattooed from neck to ankle was almost certainly inspired by the groundbreaking tattooed attractions on display nearby. As it happens, the Baums’ home was just a 10-minute walk from George B. Bunnell’s wildly prosperous Brooklyn dime museum branch at the corner of Court & Remsen streets, across from City Hall.
Around this time, at this locale, P. T. Barnum’s famed “tattooed Greek,” Capt. George Costentenus, who allegedly had been tattooed in Tartary and/or Burma while on expedition, was one of Bunnell’s headline acts (in 1881, until late October, and then again in April of 1882, after a several-month gig under Bunnell’s manager William Leonard Hunt aka, The Great Farini, at England’s Royal Aquarium).
Because of his collaborations with Barnum, Bunnell was actually the first American museum proprietor granted the privilege of exhibiting Costentenus (at his previous 103-105 Bowery and 325 Washington museums as well as the Court & Remsen location).
By 1880, Bunnell had also possibly introduced to the dime museum and circus world Harry Decoursey (aka William Denny, a Brooklyn jeweler) (1851-1903), who as far as is known, was the very first ‘trade-specific’ tattooed attraction created for the purpose of exhibition. His tattooing had been executed by New York City’s illustrious Martin Hildebrandt (1825-1890) in partnership with Stephen Asbury Rausel Lee (1846-1914).
Another of Bunnell’s early tattooed performers, a very special one, directly paved the way for Mary Baum’s career. On March 21, 1882, a week after the birth of the Baums’ first child, Bunnell presented a most extraordinary tattooed act at his 9th and Broadway New York City museum: Irene Woodward (aka Ida Lisk), the very first ‘tattooed lady’ attraction, who was said to have been created expressly and exclusively for his line-up by local premier tattooer Martin Hildebrandt [End Note 1].
It was the novelty and excitement of this comely, one-of-a-kind ‘tattooed lady’ that gave way to a full-blown explosion of brilliantly decorated tattooed attractions, with a lovely parade of women crowning the lot. Within just a year, tattooed men Melbournia the tattooed Australian (probably Fred Taylor), Alphonso E. Lewis, Robert R. Moffitt (possibly a fake?), Frank Ormond, James Grace, and Christ Hansen had appeared on the scene, as well as, tattooed ladies Annie Boyle, Nora Hildebrandt, and Andora Rightmyer (aka Dora Rolland) [End Note 1].
Mary Baum, as reported in 1884, joined the ranks of tattooed stardom by becoming the next ‘tattooed lady’ in existence (she said she was the fourth). The “dark-eyed” Mary claimed she had been covered all over the previous September after seeing the other tattooed women work their magic on the dime show stage. “It took six weeks to do it,” she said, “and the tattooing was done publicly in the Bowery, New York; …he [the tattooer] worked on me ten hours a day.”
Intriguingly, if Mary and Wesley had aspirations of becoming a tattooed couple, they don’t appear to have ever billed themselves as such. Evidence isn’t available in public sources anyway, nor is confirmation of which of the two was tattooed and exhibited first. Even though Mary underwent the operation among the earliest wave of tattooed ladies, she isn’t mentioned by name in museum advertisements until 1884.
Perhaps it was because she was two-months pregnant (with a third child) when she committed to her tattooing sessions in September of 1883 and didn’t realize her condition at the time; exhibiting in a skimpy outfit was likely off limits once she started showing signs. It wasn’t until after she gave birth to her baby girl, Clarinda Baum, on April 22, 1884, and sadly laid her to rest in August of 1884, that she was publicized as a solo-performing ‘tattooed lady’ under the curious title “Mrs. Baum,” and also “Mary Baum,” at: Forepaugh’s Museum in Philadelphia, and in New York, at Batchellor & Keith’s and the New York Museum.
As for Wesley, the precise date of his entrance into the world of tattooed wonders isn’t clear. Mary didn’t mention him in her 1884 interview (unless he was the New Jersey tattooer that she said executed her tattoos), and he’s not documented in the press as a tattooed man until the following year [End note 2].
Wesley Sinclair Baum & Gennetta Powell
Wesley Baum’s claim to fame as a tattooed attraction, at least in the media, was delayed until November of 1885. Evidently, he and Mary had parted ways by then and he had found a new suitor, who united with him in a well-publicized ‘tattooed couple’ act. On the 16th of that month, Baum (alias Pete Robinson) married a “flaxen-haired, blue-eyed” tattooed woman named Jennetta Ammersley Powell, stage name Lillian Marco, in the presence of a packed room of friends and patrons at the New York Bowery’s Alexander Musee. According to a November 17, 1885 New York Herald article, “Professor Williamson and Professor [Elmer] Getchell of Boston” had “got in some fine work on their respective epidermata.” [Read Buzzworthy Tattoo History biographical sketch about Elmer Getchell’s early tattooed attractions]
The numerous newspaper reports about the thrilling event, which fail to note Wesley’s previous marriage, heralded the pair as the world’s one and only tattooed couple. These exposés laid out a lovelorn tale about how the two had met six years earlier after getting tattooed, but couldn’t reconcile their love because of their callings in separate cities.
Truth though there may have been to their dramatic story, it was mostly an exaggeration for spectacle, a promotion for themselves as well as the museum. For one, the first American tattooed lady, as mentioned, was Irene Woodward, who debuted only 3 years prior, not six; and Wesley supposedly wasn’t yet tattooed in 1879. Secondly, as aforementioned, Wesley had been wedded to a tattooed lady (Mary Baum) beforehand, even if he hadn’t capitalized on it. Also of note is that there were other tattooed couples traveling the circus and dime show circuit at the time (i.e. Frank and Annie Packard aka Howard) [End Note 3]. Considering the extent of fabrication in their matrimonial tale, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Baum-Powell marriage was among the purely staged affairs, especially since their union was so short-lived …and since Lillian held another secret!
According to a barrage of sensationalized newspaper snippets, a month later, in December of 1885, Wesley Baum’s tattooed wife left him. As varying media reports gushed, Lillian had abandoned Wesley either because she was offered a better, solo contract by a Boston dime museum manager or because she was jealous of a fellow tattooed woman who ‘had designs’ on him. As it so happens, Lillian herself had a roaming heart, a fact that affected her performance status at least indirectly.
From the beginning, her tangled private life intertwined with her flashy sideshow presence so that one was not separable from the other. Jennetta A. Powell, alias Lillian Marco tattooed lady, was actually on her second marriage when she was hitched-up with Wesley—and without having divorced her first husband, Ira James Ordway. But she kept people guessing about her true identity. Though she didn’t hide her birth name, she claimed English nativity for her stage persona and on marriage records, and also gave a false birth year of 1852. Contrary to her cover-ups, she was born in Merrimack, New Hampshire, in 1863 (to Alfred Dumond Powell and Clarinda Clarissa Randall/Rowell, who divorced in 1869).
In the early 1880s, she and her brother Harry had fled home for Boston, each leaving behind unrealized marriages. It was reportedly while laying low in the city, which was home to a flourishing dime museum scene and the well-known tattooer Prof. Getchell, that she was introduced to the idea of becoming a tattooed lady. This move is also what led to her meeting the two men who kept her life so interesting. While her marriage to Wesley boosted her professional career, her next one, on December 26, 1885, to Bostonian auctioneer Warren F. Auld, one month later (under the name Henrietta Ordway), was less than beneficial. The wayward Warren was involved in thievery and ended up in jail during their marriage.
In the years to follow, Jennetta embraced her lonely lot—she stayed true to her individual ‘tattooed lady’ status and continued exhibiting as Lillian “Marco,” not Baum or Auld, at Boston’s Austin & Stone’s Dime Museum. She retired after a brief career, between 1889 and 1892, and returned to Merrimack, where she legally divorced Warren Auld in April of 1892. She died on August 29, 1892 under the name “Nettie L. Auld.” [End Note 4]
Mary De Silva and William H. Brooks
In getting back to the Baums …lack of publicity references for Mary Baum after her separation from Wesley suggest that the split-up ended her tattooed lady career …but perhaps not!!
On April 6, 1885, one Mary De Silva married Fitchburg, Massachusetts barber William Henry Brooks, son of sash-blind maker Eli Andrew Brooks. This Mary’s residence on the marriage certificate is listed as 210 Bowery, none other than the location of the New York Museum, where Mary Baum had very recently been employed as a tattooed lady.
Except for the fact that records list Mary (De Silva) Baum as a native of England and, Mary (De Silva) Brooks (1862-1913) as a native of Isle de Madeira, Portugal, it’s likely the two were one in the same. In addition to working at the same dime museum in the same period, they were the same age, and it was just after the Brooks-De Silva marriage took place that “Mary Baum, tattooed lady” disappears from museum advertisements and “Mary (aka May) Brooks, tattooed lady” appears.
If they were indeed the same person, Mary and Wesley’s marriage had either dissolved by the end of 1884 or Mary had engaged in an extra-marital affair. William H. Brooks’ wife “Mary” was four months with child when they exchanged vows.
Upon marrying, the Brooks didn’t scramble to make their debut as a tattooed couple on the sideshow and dime museum circuit. Instead, they settled in William’s hometown of Fitchburg, and Mary, whose name temporarily dropped from museum advertisements, apparently took a hiatus from exhibiting until her daughter Mabel Brooks was born on September 13, 1885. It wasn’t until some months later, in May of 1886, that Mary finally graced the stage of Boston’s Scollay Square Austin and Stone’s Dime Museum. Interestingly, her husband wasn’t in tow as part of the act. Four years went by, and two pregnancies for Mary, before William had his own body etched all over and accompanied her on the show circuit—and he did so in quite a spectacular fashion.
In keeping with the over-the-top pageantry of the show world, in March of 1889, William broke into his new occupation by having his unadorned body tattooed publicly on stage at the Kohl, Middleton & Co. Curio Hall. He and Mary had bedecked this particular museum platform next to an awe-inspiring assemblage of highly decorated men and women. Though one of this tattooed troupe was probably the artist behind William’s tattoos—which ironically turned out less than stage-worthy—museum advertisements didn’t identify this person. The only documentation of who executed William’s designs is a note on the back of a cabinet card pitch photo stating that his tattooer was an “amateur” [End note 5].
1889 Mar 2 New York Clipper pg. 813
Kohl, Middleton & Co-Curio Hall: “Ball and reception of tattoed [sic] people, including Frank and Annie, Nora Hildebrandt, Capt. De Coursey, John O’Reilly, Wesley Baum, Ida List, Frank Thornton, Donald McIntosh, Lulu Woodson, Mary Brooks, Miss Frazer, Capt. Cassadoria, Lillian Marco, and Wm. Brooks, who is undergoing the operation of being tattoed [sic].”
Regardless of William’s somewhat inferior body décor, he and Mary performed on the circus and dime museum circuit as tattooed couple “Will and Mary Brooks” for six years. As previously noted, at times, they were also billed in group acts touted as a “galaxy,” “convention,” or “ball” of tattooed people …right alongside Mary’s old beau Wesley Baum, Baum’s second estranged wife Lillian Marco and also his third wife, and a number of other well-known tattooed attractions of the era.
In due time, the Brooks’ marriage came to an end, as did their tattooed couple status. In March of 1895, Mary divorced William Brooks and married a railroad agent named William Weick. Since Mary had established the greater part of her career under the name Brooks, however, she continued using the surname for her solo show business career for the duration of her life (d. 1913). Conveniently for her, William Brooks’ run as a tattooed man seems to have fizzled out shortly after the couple parted ways [End Note 6].
Wesley Baum and Lulu Aggie Kramer
Wesley Baum, on the other hand, didn’t give up on show life when his second marriage failed in the public eye. During the four years after Lillian Marco left him, he continued traveling the circuit, joined by a very special tattooed attraction, his dog “Old Sport.” Eventually, he enhanced his act with yet another addition to the family. In the course of traveling from museum to museum exhibiting with others of his etched ilk, he met a young woman who became both his third wife and his performing partner, Miss Lulu Aggie Kramer (possibly alias Woodson) (1867-1911).
“Lulu, the tattooed princess,” as she was often billed, had likewise been covered in designs at the height of the early tattooed people trend [End note 7]. By the spring of 1886, the Cincinnati, Ohio beauty was displaying her masterpieces as far west as California with the John Robinson Circus. It’s quite possible the then 17-year-old Lulu had been commissioned by Robinson’s venue to become a tattooed lady, given that the show held winter quarters in her hometown. Not to mention, her younger sister Sarah, a well-known equestrian-acrobat whose husband was star horse rider Benton Hughes, was connected with this circus.
Lulu trouped with Robinson’s circus for a good number of years, and during the winter off-season exhibited in big city dime museums, such as Epstean’s in Chicago, Illinois. Though it’s unclear when and where she met Wesley Baum, the two were married in the “Windy City” in March of 1889. The pair then performed on the dime show and circus circuit together with “Old Sport” and later another dog named “Nelly Bly.”
Outwardly, the Baums and their dogs made for an exciting act, astonishing audiences with their novel “tattooed family,” around the U.S. and as far north as Toronto, Canada [End note 8]. Off stage, unfortunately, they had a tumultuous relationship that resulted in Lulu sometimes exhibiting by herself throughout the 1890s.
According to a March of 1900 divorce document, Wesley wasn’t the most loyal husband; he was in-and-out of Lulu’s life for the entirety of their marriage and quite abusive. Testimony given by ticket seller Charles W. Taylor informed that Wesley had once awakened Lulu in a circus train sleeping car and slapped her around and tried to choke her. Taylor had also witnessed Wesley throw a tent stake at Lulu while they were working the sideshow. After enduring the humiliation of such assaults and a final two-year-long desertion, Lulu ended their marriage contract for good. The divorce was filed April 9, 1900, in the Chicago Circuit Court, and Lulu subsequently began her tattooed lady persona anew.
On November 21, 1900, she tied the knot with fire eater and comedian Frank Foignet (1853-1812), aka “Del Fuego,” at her mother’s Cincinnati home; in a double wedding ceremony with her sister Sarah who married printer George S. Walker (Sarah’s first husband had died). The dual-wedding, which was announced in nation-wide newspapers, was a big event attended by many circus friends.
In honoring her vows and revitalizing her now solo career, Lulu discarded the Baum name after re-marrying, and proudly crowned herself “Lulu Del Fuego, tattooed lady.” Although she and her new love didn’t perform as a team, they traveled with the same shows until their respective deaths in 1911 and 1912, and they were recognized in entertainment publications, such as the New York Clipper and Billboard Magazine, as “Mr. and Mrs. Del Fuego.”
Around this time, after three unsuccessful marriages in the spotlight, Wesley Sinclair Baum turned in his tattooed performer’s trunks. Once his divorce from Lulu was finalized, he retired from show business and returned to his hometown, Jersey City, New Jersey, where he worked as a railroad man. He died there in September of 1927.
Other Tattooed People & Mates
As an aside, several of the earliest tattooed ladies, while they didn’t marry into tattooed couple acts, did pair with fellow show performers.
Ida May Busey and James C. Mitchell
The pretty Ida May Busey (1868-1945), aka “Mlle. Aimee,” was married to farmer Ransom L. Aikin (1851-1907) at the time she was tattooed by Prof. Edwin Thomas (c. 1884 in Cincinnati). Later, she officially tied the knot with soap-eater, actor, and dime museum manager, James Coleman Mitchell (1860-1899), on April 10, 1886, in Washington, D.C. As with so many dime museum couples, the two afterward exchanged vows on stage for the theatrical sport of it, to awe friends and show patrons in the nearby National Musee, where they were engaged for work. Until James’ death on February 14, 1899, the pair brought their individual talents to museums and sideshows around the U.S. and Canada—from Cincinnati (James’ hometown), Detroit, Philadelphia, New York City and Atlantic City to Toronto [End Note 8]. Often times, James managed the dime museums where “Mlle Aimee” showed off her tattoos and sometimes danced with snakes.
After James died, Aimee and her son, James C. Mitchell Jr. (1890-1968), resided in Philadelphia and Camden, New Jersey, where she operated boarding houses and he worked in advertising.
Note: C. 1884 Prof. Edwin Thomas, usually of New York City, had also tattooed Annie Grace, widow of tattooed man James Grace, in Cincinnati. See Buzzworthy links: Edwin Thomas: Infamous Bowery Tattooer and also Saloon Tattoo Shops of New York City’s 4th Ward.
Dora Rolland and James Irwin
Dora Rolland (born Andora Rightmyer, 1855-1911), of Reading, Pennsylvania, who was among the very first of Bunnell’s tattooed ladies, was allegedly single when she decided to become a tattooed marvel in March of 1882, at age 27. Media reports claimed that her husband did her tattooing and her wealthy parents footed the bill for the work. In truth, shortly after Dora was born, her father removed to California and burdened her mother with the task of being the family’s sole caretaker. At the tender of age of 16, Dora was married-off and bore three children by Michael John Daily, who deserted her. Having little means to make a living in her hometown, sometime before 1881, she went to New York City to seek work. Upon losing two young daughters to diphtheria, she made the brave leap to become one of few existing tattooed ladies. According to Dora’s account, a New York City sailor named Tom was the artist behind her designs, not her husband. (Incidentally, Dora’s stage spiel was that she was born in California of “Indian” parents who had picked up the custom of tattooing. Her father, Henry Rightmyer, actually had moved to the California frontier & left his family behind in Pennsylvania, but he was of German descent & not a tattoo artist as far as is known).
It was by virtue of her new livelihood that Dora met her true-love, aerialist and juggler James Irwin, while traveling with the John Robinson Circus in California. The two were married on September 1, 1883 in Sacramento, and Dora continued exhibiting as a tattooed attraction for some years more. Eventually, however, she was incorporated into James’ acrobatic act, as was their son James Leo Irwin when he came of age. Sadly, after James Jr. contracted pneumonia and died on April 10, 1910, Dora’s health failed due to depression. She passed away a year later on February 24, 1911 in Rahway, New Jersey.
End Notes
1-For a wonderful in-depth history of Ida (Lisk) Woodward, Nora Hildebrandt, and many other tattooed ladies, see Amelia Osterud’s The Tattooed Lady: A History book.
2-As mentioned, Wesley Baum, at least, was involved with dime museums by 1882, but it’s not clear in what regard. The Baums’ second child, James Sayres Baum, died in July of 1883 on Coney Island, suggesting Wesley had an ongoing connection with amusement venues up until the time he was supposedly tattooed.
3-Frank and Annie Howard were exhibiting as a tattooed couple before Wesley Baum and Lillian Marco, by about 7 months. Franklin Howard Packard (aka Frank Howard) (1857-1925) and Annie Jane Morrison (1859-1911) undoubtedly met in Providence, Rhode Island, where both of them were born and raised. Although a marriage record can’t be located, records indicate they were coupled by June of 1880. Frank, a jeweler, was still listed in the 1879 Providence City Directory, but by 1880, he and Annie are enumerated on the Federal Census as married and living in Chicago, Illinois. [See 2014 Tattoo Archive Booklet: Life & Times of Frank Howard, research by Carmen Nyssen].
As for when and by whom Frank was tattooed, a February 1886 Memphis Appeal article about him mentions that “Bender the Greek” commenced tattooing him in 1884. This date coincides with Frank’s ‘tattooed man’ debut in Gregory’s Dime Museum, in St. Louis in October of 1884. In another February of 1886 Memphis Appeal newspaper article, “Capt. Bender” is mentioned as a tattoo artist attraction working at a dime museum alongside Frank and Annie. Additionally, a note on the back of a Frank Howard cabinet card photo states that he was tattooed by “Prender” (evidently a corruption of Bender) aka “Providence Dutch” in Chicago. According to newspaper articles and genealogical records, William Bender was a tattoo artist who went by the name “Tattoo Dutch” (he hailed from Providence, RI and was of German background). Early 1880s newspaper articles place him mainly in St. Louis and Chicago, the cities where Frank and Annie resided and/or exhibited at the time they were tattooed. The first record of Annie’s appearance as a ‘tattooed lady’ is in an April 11, 1885 New York Clipper notice, which places both her and Frank at St. Louis’ Broadway and Theyer’s Museum. Most references indicate that Frank Howard executed her tattoos.
As noted in Amelia Osterud’s book The Tattooed Lady: A History, Frank DeBurgh (James Burke) and Emma Kohl were married under the Sells’ Circus tent on July 25, 1885. Although it’s unclear whether Emma had been tattooed by this date, it’s quite possible she and Frank were also exhibiting as a tattooed couple before Wesley Baum and Lillian Marco came together.
1885 July 27 The Evening Gazette pg.4
“Two of the curious freaks of a sideshow connected with Sells’ circus were married at Burlington Saturday. The tatooed man was wedded to a Chicago lady whose eccentricities are not mentioned.”
4-According to Wesley Baum and Jennetta Powell’s marriage record, Jennetta’s usual residence was Boston. As stated, she left Wesley and married Warren F. Auld in the city; under her previous married surname Ordway and the first name Henrietta, a nickname/variation of her birth name (as noted on one early census record). (Her brother Harry named one of his daughters Jennetta A. Powell, after her). Interestingly, Jennetta might have been married yet one more time. On May 27, 1889 in Brooklyn, Kings, NY, a Lillian Marco, alleged soubrette performer, married William M. Dickinson, a lithographer. The marriage certificate gives the bride’s birth year as 1861 (close to Jennetta’s birth year, 1863); birthplace as England (Jennetta’s feigned birthplace); and parent’s names as Nathan D. Marco and Lucy Randolph. As it happens, Jennetta’s father (Alfred D. Powell) had remarried to a woman named Lucy Rowell in 1870, when Jennetta was 7 years old. The similarities in names and dates might be coincidental, but it’s worth researching further.
5-Notes on the reverse of the identified William Brooks and Mary/May Brooks cabinet cards, in Potter & Potter Auctions, Nov 18, 2017 08:00AM PST, state that the couple was tattooed in Paris. Given what is known of their history, this was likely a phony pitch narrative.
6-William and Mary Brooks’ one son who lived to adulthood, William H. Brooks Jr. (1886-1972), resided in New York City into the 1940s, where he worked as a stage hand briefly. He eventually moved to Georgia, where he spent his last years.
7-Thank you to Cassandra de Alba for sharing a scan of A Short Sketch of the Life of Miss Lulu Aggie, Detailing the Method and Manner in which She was Tattooed (New York: New York Popular Publishing Co., n.d.), 3. 16 R.; as shared with her by Amelia Osterud.
Note: Lulu’s pitch pamphlet is all fantasy, and unfortunately, doesn’t indicate who tattooed her or when.
For additional history on tattooed ladies see Cassandra de Alba’s April of 2015 Master’s thesis: Flowers, Flags, and Faith: The Iconography of the American Tattooed Lady, April 2015. For further interest in her creative works, please refer to her poetry publications website: https://www.cassandradealba.com/#home-section
8-Thank you to Jamie Jelinksi for providing Canadian newspaper advertisements. For more information about his related research see www.jamiejelinksi.ca
Additional Notes:
Cabinet card notations for Wesley Baum, William Brooks, William Bender, and Frank Howard sourced from: National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution, Photo of Wesley Baum, William Brooks, and Frank Howard, MSP #715.
As an interesting aside, a number of tattooed ladies falsely reported their birth place as England, including Mary Baum/Brooks, Lillian Marco, and Aimee Mitchell. Both Nora Hildebrandt and Leonora Basso claimed to be born in England as well, including on vital records, though it’s not clear whether they were fibbing or not.
Questions or Comments? Email:
carmennyssen@buzzworthytattoo.com
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