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Lavinia Warren Stratton
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Within a year of the “Thumbs’” wedding it was announced that the
couple had become the proud parents of a baby girl, and images such as this portrait
of Lavinia holding an infant appeared. Some years later, it was revealed that
the story of the “Thumbs’” parenthood was a hoax, authored in all
likelihood by P. T. Barnum but carried out with the cooperation of the supposed
“parents.” In truth, the Strattons remained childless, and the baby Lavinia
posed with came from a foundling home. |
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Mathew Brady Studio (active 1844–1883)
Albumen silver print
Frederick Hill Meserve Collection
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
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