The Orton Family #1

This is my maternal great grandfather Hiram Orton, early American Circus Pioneer, who started us all off in the circus business over 150 years ago. This bio was written by J. Lou Sampson (Iowa Circus Historian) in June of 1950. "In the year 1853, Hiram Orton was a sailor on the Great Lakes and made his home in Portage, WI which at the time was Portage City. In the Fall he made his last trip with a load of freight from Milwaukee down to Chicago and as the lakes froze over during the winter months, there was no shipping until the next Spring. While in Chicago Orton went to see a show which was making it's closing stand and performance for the season and afterward made up his mind that his own children could do everything he saw there". Circuses in those days traveled overland meaning that horses pulled the wagons from town to town. For several years in the 1850's the show became Orton & Older but the partnership was unsuccessful and Hiram regained full ownership. After a few more years he decided he liked the looks of the country around Adel, Iowa and purchased a farm three miles East of town, with the addition of circus people, animals and equipment, it became a community in it's own right and was named Ortonville.