My wife is fascinated by “little people.” I don’t just mean people who are about five feet tall here, I mean well dwarves. Midgets. The height-impaired. Whatever the least offensive term is here, my wife is interested in them. She watches any TV show involving little people: “Little People, Big World,” “Little Women: LA,” “The Real Housewives of Oz” You get the drift.

So I expected her to be excited when I learned that P.T. Barnum and his circus acts visited Lock Haven several times. Tom Thumb was one of Barnum’s performers, and he was probably the most well-known, but there were a few others. Thumb was often joined by his wife, Mercy Lavinia Warren Bump. Also along were her sister, Minnie Warren, and Edmund Newell, known as “Commodore Nutt.” All of them little people – their combined heights couldn’t have reached my cookie jar.

I started this research when I received an e-mail from Susan Dolan of Lock Haven alerting me to their local connection. Supposedly, Minnie Warren and Commodore Nutt were married here in Lock Haven in July 1877. I was delighted; this was another of Lock Haven’s secrets that I could seek out and write about. If I could figure out where they were married, that would make a pretty good article.

So far, I have not managed to figure that out. And maybe they weren’t even married at all.

According to most sources, Thumb was the first one working for Barnum. Later, Barnum brought the others on board: Lavinia, Minnie and Nutt. Both Nutt and Thumb fell for Lavinia, but she chose Thumb, probably with some encouragement from Barnum himself. At this point, Nutt allegedly proposed to Minnie and they were married in Lock Haven.

I can verify that they were here. An 1849 ad in the Democrat mentions General Tom Thumb, “one of the greatest curiosities of the age,” performing in the old courthouse, where Robb Elementary now stands. Another ad, from April 1878, says that all four of them were performing at the Opera House, as well as “the Mischievous Monkey.” I have no idea what the Mischievous Monkey entailed, but no way am I leaving him out of the article.

A 1913 Express interview with Lavinia talks about her times in Lock Haven. She fondly remembered purchasing a hat from Emma Dunn, who ran a shop at 132 E. Main St., about where Samantha’s Kitchen now stands. “I want to say that I got my full money’s worth,” she said.

In 1913, Lavinia was staying at the Fallon while she was in town performing at the Martin Theater. “I would like to greet every man, woman, and child in Lock Haven during my visit here as this is positively my farewell tour,” she said. “I believe that I have earned a rest as I have been before the public gaze for 35 years. On Wednesday afternoon at the Martin Theater I hope to bid adieu to my Lock Haven friends.”

It was an interesting interview, but it brought me no closer to finding out where Nutt and Minnie were married. Most of the performers seemed to be Episcopal or Presbyterian, which would suggest Great Island Presbyterian or Saint Paul’s Episcopal. But a search of both churches and their records turned up nothing, which may or may not prove much. The courthouse didn’t start recording marriages until 1885, which was about eight years too late for this instance. Wikipedia says that they were married in Lock Haven but doesn’t give many details, and if you trust Wikipedia, I’d like to sell you the Jay Street Bridge. (Motto: “We let the general public edit it, so you know it’s accurate.”)

However, Wikipedia also references the book “P.T. Barnum: America’s Greatest Showman,” which our ILL Librarian Sue McDermit was kind enough to order for me. The book went a long way toward explaining what may have happened.

Remember, both Nutt and Thumb were interested in Lavinia, but she chose Thumb. According to the book, Barnum then concocted a false wedding between Nutt and Warren as a publicity stunt. The book says, “An alternate romance between the Commodore and Lavinia’s even shorter younger sister, Minnie, was cooked up by Barnum. Nutt’s on-the-knee proposal was a sham. Although the two performed together for years, no liaison ever developed.”

Why choose Lock Haven? Most likely because they were performing here at the time, or close to it. The group came to Lock Haven several times, and it was as good a place as any.

So, the bad news: This wedding I was so desperate to find may not have even happened. Good news: I got an article out of it anyway, because Lock Haven seems to have been the site of a fictional midget marriage. I swear I can’t make this stuff up.

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Lou Bernard is a Lock Haven resident with a keen interest in the history of this area. He is adult services coordinator at Ross Library and may be reached at ross13@rosslibrary.org or 570-748-3321.