William Henry Barnum (September 17, 1818 – April 30, 1889) was an American

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

, serving as a state representative, congressman, U.S. senator, and finally as chairman of the Democratic National Committee. He was also known as "Seven Mule Barnum".

Life and career

Barnum was born in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, the son of Laura (Tibbals) and Milo Barnum. Barnum moved to

Lime Rock, Connecticut Lime Rock is a village and historic district (listed as Lime Rock Historic District) in the town of Salisbury, Connecticut, United States, situated on the Salmon Kill. The village center and the historic district are substantially similar. The su ...

, and served in the state house of representatives from 1851 to 1852. He then served in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

for Connecticut's 4th District from March 4, 1867, until his resignation on May 18, 1876. Barnum then became a U.S. senator, serving until March 3, 1879. He was chairman of the DNC from 1877 to 1889. He died in Lime Rock on April 30, 1889, and is buried in Lime Rock Cemetery. In addition to Barnum's political attainments — which also include defeating his third cousin, the famous showman

P. T. Barnum Phineas Taylor Barnum (; July 5, 1810 – April 7, 1891) was an American showman, businessman, and politician, remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and founding the Barnum & Bailey Circus (1871–2017) with James Anthony Bailey. He was ...

, for Congress, and notably being the longest-serving chair of the Democratic National Committee — Barnum was a prominent industrialist. Th
Barnum Richardson Company
of which he was chief executive, was headquartered in Lime Rock (now a neighborhood of Lakeville), and was the leading company in the

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of ...

iron district of that time, owning or controlling iron mines, charcoal production resources, limestone quarries, and rail transportation. Barnum Richardson Company was also the preeminent manufacturer of railroad car wheels at a time when the railroad industry held a place in the economy analogous to the computer industry today. In 1872 he partnered with Collis P. Huntington to finance

Ensign Manufacturing Company Ensign Manufacturing Company, founded as Ensign Car Works in 1872, was a railroad car manufacturing company based in Huntington, West Virginia. In the 1880s and 1890s Ensign's production of wood freight cars made the company one of the three larg ...

, a

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

freight car A railroad car, railcar (American and Canadian English), railway wagon, railway carriage, railway truck, railwagon, railcarriage or railtruck (British English and UIC), also called a train car, train wagon, train carriage or train truck, is a ...

manufacturer. Among Ensign's products were the largest wooden

hopper car A hopper car (US) or hopper wagon ( UIC) is a type of railroad freight car used to transport loose bulk commodities such as coal, ore, grain, and track ballast. Two main types of hopper car exist: covered hopper cars, which are equipped with ...

s built for the Central Pacific Railroad as well as a large number of high-capacity wood

boxcar A boxcar is the North American ( AAR) term for a railroad car that is enclosed and generally used to carry freight. The boxcar, while not the simplest freight car design, is considered one of the most versatile since it can carry most ...

s for the Southern Pacific Railroad (both railroads were controlled in part by Huntington). Ensign was one of the 13 companies that merged in 1899 to form the

American Car and Foundry Company ACF Industries, originally the American Car and Foundry Company (abbreviated as ACF), is an American manufacturer of railroad rolling stock. One of its subsidiaries was once (1925–54) a manufacturer of motor coaches and trolley coaches und ...

. William H. Barnum was a founder of the Barnum & Richardson Company of Lime Rock, Connecticut, and

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, Illinois. The corporation grew to immense profitability and industrial volume, and became one of the foremost metal products manufacturers in the world. William H. Barnum had a nephew,

Milo Barnum Richardson Milo Barnum Richardson (February 13, 1849 – May 17, 1912) was president of the Barnum Richardson Company. He served as a state representative and a state senator. Richardson was the son of industrialist Leonard Richardson. Milo B. Richard ...

, who was a leader in New York City finance and insurance, having acted as a founder of the New York City branch of the Caledonian Life Insurance Company of Scotland. Milo B. Richardson, who also was a leader in the development and management of New England railroads, served as president of the Barnum & Richardson Company. Through the marriage of his sister to Connecticut industrialist and financier Leonard Richardson, William H. Barnum was collaterally related to the

Jacob Bunn :''This article concerns John Whitfield Bunn, Jacob Bunn, and the entrepreneurs who were interconnected with the Bunn brothers through association or familial and genealogical connection.'' John Whitfield Bunn (June 21, 1831 – June 7, 1920)Ill ...

and John Whitfield Bunn industrial and financial family of Springfield, and Chicago, Illinois. William H. Barnum was a pioneer in

religious tolerance Religious toleration may signify "no more than forbearance and the permission given by the adherents of a dominant religion for other religions to exist, even though the latter are looked on with disapproval as inferior, mistaken, or harmful". ...

. Although an Episcopalian (he was the principal donor for the construction of, and chairman of the incorporators o
Trinity Episcopal Church
in Lime Rock), he did not discriminate against

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

s as so many in that area of New England did at the time. Notably, according to several stories in 1883 in the ''New York Times'', he contributed around $6,000 to St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church of Lakeville, and later contributed $500 to build a new Roman Catholic church in Cornwall Bridge. Importantly, when the local community angrily responded to the raising of a

crucifix A crucifix (from Latin ''cruci fixus'' meaning "(one) fixed to a cross") is a cross with an image of Jesus on it, as distinct from a bare cross. The representation of Jesus himself on the cross is referred to in English as the ''corpus'' (Lati ...

by the local Catholic priest by demanding that Barnum fire all his Catholic workmen, he declined to do so.

References

Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Barnum, William Henry 1818 births 1889 deaths People from Berkshire County, Massachusetts American people of English descent Democratic Party United States senators from Connecticut Democratic National Committee chairs People from Salisbury, Connecticut Democratic Party members of the Connecticut House of Representatives 19th-century American politicians 19th-century American Episcopalians Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Connecticut