Ringling brothers
circus sibling group
The Ringling brothers (originally Rüngling) were five American siblings who transformed their small touring-company of performers into one of the largest circuses in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Four brothers were born in McGregor, Iowa: Alfred T., Charles, John and Henry William; the family lived in McGregor for twelve years, from 1860 until 1872. The Ringling family then moved to Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, and finally settled in Baraboo, Wisconsin, in 1875. They were of German and French descent, the children of harness-maker Heinrich Friedrich August Ringling (1826–1898) of Hanover, and of Marie Salome Juliar (1833–1907) of Ostheim, in Alsace. Of the seven Ringling brothers, Alfred, Charles, John, Al and Otto Ringling were the main brothers in charge of the circus shows. All of the brothers were Freemasons. In 1919, they merged their Ringling Brothers Circus with America's other leading circus troupe, Barnum and Bailey, ultimately creating the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, which has operated continuously since except for a hiatus from 2017 to 2023.
Siblings
Albert Carl "Al" Ringling (1852–1916). Albert was married to Eliza "Lou" Morris in 1883.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ringling brothers” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.