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Lucasie Family
Rudolph, Antiana and Joseph Lucasie

The Lucasie Family were a family with albinism who worked at P. T. Barnum's American Museum who were called "one of his most popular exhibits" by the New York Times.[1]

Early lives

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Rudolph Lucasie was born in Madagascar to French parents in 1833 and was married to his wife Antiana (sometimes called Antoinette) who was born in Venice in 1834.[2][3] They had one child, Joseph Rudolph Lucasie, who was born in Germany in 1850.[2][4] When they met P. T. Barnum they were living in Amsterdam and they moved to New York in 1858 to appear in his museum as one of the original "exhibitions."[2][5]

P. T. Barnum

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Barnum claimed, in an 1860 pamphlet called The History of Rudolph Lucasie, that the family was from Madagascar and were "white Negroes" who had parents of African descent.[6] In an 1869 version of the same pamphlet Lucasie was said to have been "born of European parents" in Madagascar and were said to be "white Moors" who Barnum claimed were able to have children while "white Negroes" were not.[6][7] Despite the later clarification, this misunderstanding was repeated about Rudolph Lucasie into the 1920s by Ripley's Believe it or Not and in various publications about Barnum thereafter.[8][9]

Mary Brett has written that there was a second child with albinism, one who was female, who would perform with them to "increase the appeal of the act" but that she was unrelated.[2] Other sources claim that there was a sister who was either older or younger than Joseph but she was not named.[10] The family toured the US and Canada, appearing in Montréal where they were said to speak "perfect English and French."[11] Joseph learned to play the violin as part of the act and was both talented and popular.[5] The Lucasies were paid well relative to other non-Barnum sideshow work, but there was tension between them and Barnum. Barnum called them "disagreeable" and threatened their manager, Dr. Oscar Kohn, that he would "put them in jail" if things did not improve.[1][12] The Lucasies left New York when the original museum burned down in 1865.[5]

Public image

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The family was the subject of four Currier & Ives color lithographs in the early 1860s where they were called "The Wonderful Albino Family" and "The Wonderful Eliophobus Family."[13][14] Eliophobus was a made up word meaning "afraid of the sun." They were also photographed by Matthew Brady and others, and there were many cabinet cards of them in circulation.[15][16]

  • Lucasie Family cabinet card
    Lucasie Family cabinet card
  • Lucasie Family cabinet card
    Lucasie Family cabinet card
  • Lucasie Family cabinet card
    Lucasie Family cabinet card
  • Currier & Ives lithograph of Lucasie Family
    Currier & Ives lithograph of Lucasie Family
  • Currier & Ives lithograph of Lucasie Family
    Currier & Ives lithograph of Lucasie Family
  • Barnum 1860 broadside highlighting Lucasie Family
    Barnum 1860 broadside highlighting Lucasie Family

Later life

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The Lucasies also performed with W. W. Coles, and for the Kansas City Museum.[17][18] The family was living in Omaha, Nebraska at the 1880 census where their employer was listed as Coles Circus.[3] Rudolph and Antiana died in 1898.[5] By 1883 a St. Louis, Missouri directory showed Joseph Lucasie living with Landon Middlecoff, a giant who was also a sideshow performer.[19][20] The two operated a saloon there in 1883.[21]

Joseph continued to tour as "the Madagascar violinist" with the Lemon Brothers and others where mention was only sometimes made of his albinism.[22][23] By 1902 he was listed solo in the Kansas City, Missouri business directory as an actor.[24] In 1906 he was touring with vaudeville promoter Chas. Philson.[25] Joseph Lucasie died of dropsy in 1909 in Kansas City.[5]

References

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  1. ^ a b Kunhardt, Philip (August 20, 1995). "For An American that Loved Freaks". New York Times. p. 40. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d Brett, Mary (2015). Freaks of sideshow and film. Schiffer Publishing Ltd. pp. 163–164. ISBN 9780764348457. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
  3. ^ a b "Nebraska Census Record - R. Lucasie". FamilySearch. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
  4. ^ "The Albino Family". Buffalo Post. January 15, 1869. p. 3. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
  5. ^ a b c d e "Famous Albino Whom P. T. Barnum Exhibited is Dead in Kansas City". Syracuse Herald-Journal. October 3, 1909. p. 2. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
  6. ^ a b Martin, Charles D. (2002). The white African American body : a cultural and literary exploration. New Brunswick, N.J: Rutgers University Press. pp. 101–104. ISBN 0813530318. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
  7. ^ History of Rudolph Lucasie,: A Native of Lenabon, Madagascar, and an Albino of the First Class; Also a Brief History of His Wife and Child; with an Account of the Extraordinary Physical Phenomena Termed "albinoism." : Compiled from the Best and Most Authentic Sources. W.H.F. Ligon,. 1869. Retrieved 2025-02-01.
  8. ^ "Believe it or Not". Kansas City Star. Mar 2, 1924. p. 11. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
  9. ^ Andronik, Catherine (1994). Prince of Humbug : a life of P.T. Barnum. New York: Maxwell Macmillan International. p. 64. ISBN 0689317964. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
  10. ^ "A Barnum Albino Dying". Kansas City Journal. September 25, 1909. p. 5. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
  11. ^ Gay, Daniel (2004). Les Noirs du Québec, 1629-1900. Sillery, Québec: Septentrion. pp. 324–325. ISBN 289448397X. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
  12. ^ "Nineteenth Century Images of Albinism - Lucasie Family". Nineteenth Century Images of Albinism - Lucasie Family. April 10, 2001. Archived from the original on April 10, 2001. Retrieved February 2, 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
  13. ^ Historical American views and portraits, colored lithographs by Currier and Ives (auction catalog). American Art Association. 1923. pp. n6, n13. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
  14. ^ Cook, James W., ed. (2005). The Colossal P.T. Barnum Reader : Nothing Else Like It in the Universe. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0252030540. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
  15. ^ Kunhardt, Dorothy; Kunhardt, Philip (1977). Mathew Brady and His World. Time-Life Books. ISBN 9780316849036. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
  16. ^ Ewen, Elizabeth; Ewen, Stuart (2006). Typecasting : on the arts & sciences of human inequality : a history of dominant ideas. New York: Seven Stories Press. p. 179. ISBN 9781583227350. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
  17. ^ "Kansas City Museum". Kansas City Star. November 17, 1885. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
  18. ^ "19th C The Albino Family Barnums Museum New York Sideshow Fairground Circus For Sale". 1stDibs.com. 2025-01-04. Retrieved 2025-02-01.
  19. ^ "Ronald G. Becker Collection of Charles Eisenmann Photographs An inventory of the collection at Syracuse University". Syracuse University Libraries. 2007-06-27. Retrieved 2025-02-01.
  20. ^ "United States City and Business Directories - Lucasie". Family Search. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
  21. ^ "St. Louis (Missouri) city directory - Joseph Lucasie". Family Search. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
  22. ^ "At the Musee". Harrisburg Telegraph. February 25, 1895. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
  23. ^ "Tent Shows". The Billboard. 17 (20): 19. May 20, 1905. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
  24. ^ "Kansas City, Missouri, City Directory, 1902". Ancestry.com. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
  25. ^ "Circus Gossip". The Billboard. 18 (25): 22. June 23, 1906. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
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