James Anthony Bailey was the creator of the modern circus

Circus

A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...

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Biography

He was born James Anthony McGuiness in Detroit, Michigan

Detroit, Michigan

Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...

. Orphaned at the age of eight, McGuinness was working as a bellhop in Pontiac, Michigan

Pontiac, Michigan

Pontiac is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan named after the Ottawa Chief Pontiac, located within the Detroit metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 59,515. It is the county seat of Oakland County...

 when he was discovered by Fred Harrison Bailey (a nephew of circus pioneer Hachaliah Bailey

Hachaliah Bailey

Hachaliah Bailey is the eponym of Bailey's Crossroads, Virginia and a relative to several famous individuals involved in early American circuses...

) as a teenager. Bailey gave McGuiness a job as his assistant and the two traveled together for many years. James Anthony eventually adopted Bailey's surname to become James A. Bailey. Bailey later associated with James E. Cooper and, by the time he was 25, he was manager of the Cooper and Bailey circus. He then met with P.T. Barnum and together they established Barnum and Bailey's Circus (for which Bailey was instrumental in obtaining Jumbo

Jumbo

Jumbo was a large African Bush Elephant, born 1861 in the French Sudan – present-day Mali – imported to a Paris zoo, transferred to the London Zoo in 1865, and sold in 1882 to P. T...

 the Elephant) in 1881. In 1919, Barnum and Bailey's joined with the Ringling Brothers

Ringling Brothers Circus

The Ringling Brothers Circus was a circus founded in the United States in 1884 by five of the seven Ringling Brothers: Albert , August , Otto , Alfred T. , Charles , John , and Henry...

 to form the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus. James Anthony Bailey was married to Ruth McCaddon of Zanesville, Ohio

Zanesville, Ohio

Zanesville is a city in and the county seat of Muskingum County, Ohio, United States. The population was 25,586 at the 2000 census.Zanesville was named after Ebenezer Zane, who had constructed Zane's Trace, a pioneer road through present-day Ohio...

. He died of erysipelas

Erysipelas

Erysipelas is an acute streptococcus bacterial infection of the deep epidermis with lymphatic spread.-Risk factors:...

 in 1906 in Mount Vernon, New York

Mount Vernon, New York

Mount Vernon is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. It lies on the border of the New York City borough of The Bronx.-Overview:...

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