The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-07-05

general public. Barnum was then little more than 15 years old.
 Though there are now very few of the aged Bethelites who recall Bar mum a boy about their town, most of the older residents of the town readily recall the tales they have heard of the boyhood and early man. hood of their famous townsman.
 Barnum's old home was fronted by delight to amuse his friends with anecdotes of his boyhood in Bethel. | None pleased him more to tell, than that of his fathers setting out from the house one morning with his shot gun to shoot what young Barnum had told him was a huge hen hawk. He blazed away at the feathered crea- ture, and down from the topmost bougks of the huge elm came toppling the remains of the prize gobbler tur- key of the Barnum poultry yard. This historic old tree remained in front of the Barnum home for years until the building of the Danbury & Bethel Street Railway resulted in the removal of tfie tree, despite the protests of those who cherished the pleasant rec ollections of youth with the command ing outlines of the huge Elm.
 | When Barnum was four years old | his maternal grand father, known as Uncle Phin, gave him a track of land known as Ivy Island. It was a part of the old Phineas Taylor farm, and in the midst of a marshy meadow land. Rich crops of hay grew in the meadow, but the immediate environ ment of the island was hopeless mOraSS.
 It was customary in Barnum's day in Bethel, to require the voters in cer- tain town elections to be possessed of land. Barnum's title to Ivy Island made him eligible. but the land itself was worth little or nothing. Yet with much relish do the old Bethel folks relate how Barnum, when he effected ft deal by which he secured control of the American Museum iE New York with only nomiral sum, represented himself as the owner of the extensive Ivy Island of Bethel. Conn. The New York people took it for granted that the man who owned Ivy Island, in Bethel, must have considerab ble wealth, for they readily believed Ivy Island was big tract of land in beautiful lake.
 Barnum was resourceful and witty youngster One day he stood beside a piggery talking with Charley Black man, boyhood companion. "I'll wager you a jug of rum can throw you into that pig sty,'', said Barnum. Blackman accepted the wager. He was much more robust than Barnum. Barnum went to a sign post nearby, carved the letter 'fU'' from a paper thereon, and tossed ''U'' into the pen. Then he demanded the stake.
 Blackman was so wroth that he picked up Barnum bodily and threw him into the nire of the pig sty.
 Barnum and his mothers brother, meadow near Ivy Island. The men but up a job on Barnums uncle. much to the future showman's delight. The first man to lost his temper must buy a gallon of rum. they agreed. Then they waited until the men marched to leaned over to drink from the well, young Barnum showed him into the pool, headf1rst. Choking, he leaped up, and was about to explode in wrath declared. 'Fll buy no rum today Young Barnum, however, grew up to be a total abstainer.
 while to a private school, in Bethel where the more select townsfolks sent their children He was exceptionally bright in mathematics but in other studies was not considered a marvel. Full of the Old Nedr' was the way they characterized the irrepressible youth. He tOrmented the venerable l.. F. Hickok, who ran the private school beyond endurance. The pre- ceptor one day hurled a ferule at his head! Barnum saw the missile com- ing, lodged and 1t continued beyond him and struck his schoolboy sweet heart, Eliza Taylor. Hickok was con- siderably taken aback at missing his mark. But the young woman who proved the target was not a model of propriety and Hickok only half heartedly apologized. '"That can ap- ply to some time when you deserve it, Miss Taylor" he said.
 Illustrative of the hcmeiy fashion of living of Barnum's early boyhood is his story of his visit to Dr. lyle Tay- Tor, the village dentist Barnum us- ed to like to absent himself from school. He was a perfectly normal boy in that respect. He had a tooth that he could make bleed at the slight est provocation. He complained of toothache and proved his plaint with bloody expectoration. His father sent him to the dentist to have the tooth extracted, but at sight of the formida- ble array of dental tools, he fled pre- cipitately. On his reaching home, his father took a huge turnkey and des- bite the youths protestations, yanked out the inoffensive yet often useful tooth.
 Colonial families. The original Dan- bury Barnum, as far as the Colo- nial records can esta ablish, was Thomas Barnum, of Fairfield, who was one of the eight orinigal set tiers of Danbury, Conn.,, which then
 
 bury 1885, He had a grant of land in Danbury given before 1863. He left a widow, five sons and five daughters. The original Danbury Taylor, from whom Barnum's mother was descend ed, was Thomas Taylor, born in Wind sor 1643 He married Rebekah daughter of Edward Ketcham of Strat- ford, Conn, 1877, and died at the age of 92, in 1735.
 Six of the 9S members of Captain Benedict's company recruited in Dan- bury for the Revolution were Bar nuns. One of the two Danbury pri- soners of the Revolution was a Bar mum, who died in Sugar House prison. The father of the prisoner was so af- fected by his sons tragic death that one day he seized his musket and pur- suing an inoffensive tory through the streets of Bethel. shot him dead The tax list of Danbury in 1795 show 30 Benedicts and g Barnums, and in Bethel there were 20 Benedicts and 12 BarnumS.
 As for the immediate geneaiogy of P T. Barnum, Ephraim Barnum sec. ond grand son of Thomas Barnum 2nd, married Kezah Vovell in 1753 There were 10 children. In Feb. 1776 he married Mrs. Rachel Starr as his second wife, and five more children were born, among them PhilG Barnum born ITS. Philo married Polly Fair child of Newtown who died 1908 leav. ing 5 children. Then he married Irene daughter of PhineaS and Molly