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Joice Heth (c. 1756 February 19, 1836)"Joice Heth", Hoaxes.org was an African-American woman who was exhibited by P.T. Barnum with the false claim that she was the 161-year-old wet nurse of George Washington. Her exhibition under these claims, and her public autopsy, gained considerable notoriety.
Lindsay introduced her as having been the childhood nurse of George Washington, but, lacking success, he sold her in her old age to P.T. Barnum. Posters advertising her shows in 1835 included the lines, "Joice Heth is unquestionably the most astonishing and interesting curiosity in the World! She was the slave of Augustine Washington, (the father of Gen. Washington) and was the first person who put clothes on the unconscious infant, who, in after days, led our heroic fathers on to glory, to victory, and freedom. To use her own language when speaking of the illustrious Father of this Country, 'she raised him'. Joice Heth was born in the year 1674, and has, consequently, now arrived at the astonishing age of 161 years". Joice Heth Poster, 1835.
She was, toward the end of her life, blind and almost completely paralyzed (she could talk, and had some ability to move her right arm)Benton (1891). when Barnum started to exhibit her on August 10, 1835, at Niblo's Garden in New York City. For those skeptics who discredited the legitimacy of Heth's age, her body aided in the belief of her exaggerated age. Harriet Washington writes that, at the time of her display, Heth had a very small frame, deep wrinkles, was toothless, and had fingernails that resembled talons. Washington claims that Heth's toothless mouth was the result of Barnum forcefully extracting her teeth so that she would look older. As a 7-month traveling exhibit for Barnum, Heth told stories about "little George" and sang a hymn.Freed cites this to Phineas T. Barnum, Barnum's Own Story, ed. Waldo R. Browne (Massachusetts: Peter Smith, 1972), p. 49.
Eric Lott claimed Heth earned the impresario $1,500 a week, a princely sum in that era ().Lott (1993). Barnum's career as a showman took off."P.T. Barnum", Britannica Eleventh Edition references Barnum's claim that Heth was George Washington's nurse and lists Barnum's exhibiting her as the first significant event in his career.
Her case was discussed extensively in the press. As doubt had been expressed about her age, Barnum announced that after her death she would be publicly autopsied. She died the following year (1836), in Bethel, Connecticut at the home of Barnum's brother, Philo. Barnum stated that Joice's remains were "buried respectably" in his home town of Bethel, Connecticut. The Life of P.T. Barnum: Written By Himself. Originally published 1855. Reprint ed., Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2000;
Public autopsy
Joice Heth died in New York County, New York on February 19, 1836, believed to have been around 79 or 80. To gratify public interest, Barnum set up a public autopsy. Barnum engaged the service of a surgeon, Dr. David L. Rogers, who performed the autopsy on February 25, 1836, in front of fifteen hundred spectators in New York's City Saloon, with Barnum charging admission of . When Rogers declared the age claim a fraud, Barnum insisted that the autopsy victim was another person, and that Heth was alive, on a tour to Europe. Barnum later admitted the hoax in writing.
See also
Notes
, Edgewood Publishing, 1891; accessed December 3, 2007. The most detailed of these accounts, including information about Barnum's purchase of Heth, a detailed description of her appearance, how Barnum exhibited her, etc.
External links
Categories: 1750s Births, 1836 Deaths, Impostors, 19th-century American Slaves, American Blind People, American Entertainers With Disabilities, Hoaxes In The United States, Longevity Myths, 19th-century Hoaxes, Year Of Birth Uncertain, Date Of Birth Unknown, Place Of Birth Unknown, Place Of Death Missing, 19th-century African-american People, 19th-century African-american Women, 19th-century American Women, Circus Performers Of African Descent, People Enslaved In Kentucky
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