Warren, Lavinia (1841–1919)

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Warren, Lavinia (1841–1919)

American performer. Name variations: Mrs. Tom Thumb; Mrs. Charles Sherwood Stratton; Mercy Lavinia Stratton. Born Mercy Lavinia Warren Bump or Bumpus, Oct 31, 1841, on a farm in Middleboro, Massachusetts; died Nov 25, 1919, in Middleboro; dau. of James S. Bump and Huldah (Warren) Bump; m. Charles Sherwood Stratton (also known as General Tom Thumb), Jan 10, 1863 (died 1883); m. Count Primo Magri (young Italian dwarf, piccolo player and pugilist who stood 3′9), 1885; children: none, though one was reported.

Performer who turned her genetically endowed dwarfism to her advantage through the showmanship of P. T. Barnum; joined Barnum's American museum (1862); her romance with 3-foot-tall General Tom Thumb was a press agent's dream; following marriage at Manhattan's Grace Church (Feb 10, 1863), with 2,000 attendees, including Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt (Sophia Johnson Vanderbilt), honeymooned in Washington, DC, where she met Abraham Lincoln; with husband, set off on a world tour (1869) that lasted 3 years and covered 56,000 miles.

See also Women in World History.