Charles Sherwood Stratton (1838-83), also known as "Tom Thumb" and "General Tom Thumb", was an American midget, born in Bridgeport, Conn. His parents were of normal height and weight, and Charles Stratton appeared to be normal also until, at the age of seven months, the rate of his growth became phenomenally small; when four years old he was two feet one inch in height and weighed about fifteen pounds. In 1842 his parents brought him to the attention of the American showman Phineas T. Barnum, who exhibited him in his "American Museum" of curiosities and freaks, New York City, and from 1844 to 1847 exhibited him in England and other European countries. Stratton subsequently grew to be three feet and four inches tall and to weigh about seventy pounds. In 1863 he married Lavinia Warren (about 1841-88), a dwarf, and they toured the United States and other countries giving exhibitions together.
