Photograph: "Gen. Tom Thumb's Wife & Child" (verso)

M. Lavinia Warren sits in the center of the image, an infant in her arm. A white background is around them. In actuality, M. Lavinia Warren and Charles S. Stratton never had a child together, the baby was a part of their act and a publicity stunt. While on tour they would borrow a local baby to display as their child. Mercy Lavinia Warren nee Bump (October 31, 1842-November 25, 1919), then Mercy Lavinia Magri, was a well known entertainer during the 1800s. She began her show business career on a river boat, as exhibiting those with dwarfism was profitable at the time. Warren signed with P.T. Barnum at age 21, along with her younger sister Minnie Warren, who also had dwarfism. Later on, Lavinia began to date fellow Barnum performer Charles S. Stratton (General Tom Thumb), and the two eventually wed. They worked and toured together as celebrities, and had a happy marriage. Following Stratton's death, Warren married Primo Magri, an Italian entertainer of a similar stature to Warren, on April 6, 1885. Magri and Warren operated a roadside stand in Middleboro, Mass. Warren died on November 25, 1919, and is buried besides Stratton at Mountain Grove Cemetery. No photographer is named. Likely taken between 1863-1865.