The Ringling brothers were seven siblings who transformed their small touring company of performers into one of America's largest circuses in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in McGregor, Iowa

McGregor, Iowa

McGregor is a city in Clayton County, Iowa, United States. The population was 871 at the 2000 census. McGregor is located on the Mississippi River across from Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. Pike's Peak State Park is located just south of the city...

 and raised in Baraboo, Wisconsin

Baraboo, Wisconsin

Baraboo is the largest city in, and the county seat of Sauk County, Wisconsin, USA. It is situated on the Baraboo River. Its 2010 population was 12,048 according to the US Census Bureau...

, they were the children of Heinrich Friedrich August Ringling (1826–1898) of Hanover

Hanover

Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 and Marie Salome Juliar (1833–1907) of Ostheim

Ostheim, Haut-Rhin

Ostheim is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.-References:*...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. They merged their Ringling Brothers Circus

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...

 with America's other leading circus troupes, ultimately creating the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is an American circus company. The company was started when the circus created by James Anthony Bailey and P. T. Barnum was merged with the Ringling Brothers Circus. The Ringling brothers purchased the Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1907, but ran the circuses...

, which still tours today under their name.

Siblings

• Albert Ringling (1852–1916). He divorced his wife in 1914 and died of Bright's disease
  Bright's disease
  Bright's disease is a historical classification of kidney diseases that would be described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis. The term is no longer used, as diseases are now classified according to their more fully understood causes....
  
   in Wisconsin.
• Augustus Gustav Ringling (1854–1907).
• Otto Ringling (1858–1911). He died on April 2, 1911 at the home of his brother, John on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan
  Manhattan
  Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
  
  . They were in New York for a show at Madison Square Garden
  Madison Square Garden
  Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
  
  .
• Alfred Theodore Ringling (1861–1919), was a juggler. He had a son Richard Ringling. He also had a granddaughter Mabel Ringling who married Richard Durant, an elephant trainer.
• Charles Edward Ringling (1863–1926).
• John Nicholas Ringling (1866–1936), could sing and clown.
• Henry Ringling (1869–1918) died on October 10, 1918.
• Ida Loraina Wilhelmina Ringling (1874–1950) who married Harry Whitestone North (1858–1921) in 1902. Their sons were John Ringling North
  John Ringling North
  John Ringling North was the owner of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus from 1937 to 1943 and from 1947 to 1967. In 1967 he sold the circus to Irvin Feld.-Biography:...
  
   and Henry Ringling North
  Henry Ringling North
  Henry Ringling North was the vice president, treasurer, director and operations chief, while his brother, John Ringling North, was the president and chairman of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.-Biography:...
  
  .

External links

• Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus - Official website