| My dad wrote on the back: CROWINSHIELD ELEPHANT Purchased in France, Jan. 3, 1796, arrived in America on Apr. 13 and was exhibited by a Mr. Owen along the seaboard cities as well as with Ceytano Circus in 1812. Unfortunately he was shot and killed by alarmed farmers while being led overland in 1822. Buckles |
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
The Crowinshield Elephant
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3 comments:
The disappearance of America’s first elephant has often been confused by circus historians with the death of later elephants so it is not surprising that your father wrote what he did. Yes, the first elephant arrived 1796 though I’ve never heard of it being purchased in France. Capt. Jacob Crowninshield of Salem, Massachusetts, sold his $450 speculation in New York for $10,000 and the unnamed two-year-old female elephant then visited numerous coastal cities and towns. By 1797 she was owned by Edward Savage, an important artist (who painted Washington and his family) and operator of a museum in New York City whose brother traveled with the elephant. An English traveler encountered the docile elephant on the road in Asheepo, North Carolina, as she and her keeper, who carried a map of his travels in his pocket, were headed to Savannah. After her appearance there for two weeks in March 1799, she entirely disappears from the records.
America's second elephant arrived in Boston from the East Indies during the spring of 1804 and also was soon purchased by Edward Savage. By August 13, 1808, however, she was owned by Hachaliah Baily [no e] of Somers, NY, who on that date leased two-thirds interest to two of his neighbors for one year for $2,400. This second elephant traveled extensively until shot in Alfred, Maine, in 1816, an event that was widely reported. This elephant was named Bet or Bette (pronounced Betty) and its body ended up on display in the New York Museum that Barnum would acquire in 1841. Within two months, Baily was arranging to replace his loss; such a move was not unusual for a man who had been speculating in and exhibiting animal curiosities and who would become known as the father of the menagerie business in this country.
The elephant shot and killed in 1822 by “alarmed farmers” was actually killed by several young boys in Rhode Island and was known as Little Bette.
Dick Flint
Baltimore
Dick - -Good to see that you are laying to rest the fiction that the 2nd elephant(1804)was an African.
Interesting to note the comment about the artist Edward Savage as having been involved with both the Crowninshield Elephant & Old Bet. Would like to know the source for Savage & Crowninshield. I have information indicating Old Bet toured to Louisville in 1809.
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