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For the similarly named Governor Of New Jersey , see Charles C. Stratton . General Tom Thumb was the Stage Name of '''Charles Sherwood Stratton''' ( January 4 , 1838 – July 15 , 1883 ), a Little Person who achieved great fame under Circus pioneer P.T. Barnum . Stratton was a son of a Bridgeport , Connecticut , carpenter. Born to parents of medium height, he was quite a large baby, weighing 9 pounds 2 ounces at birth. He developed normally for the first six months of his life, at which point he was 25 inches long and weighed 15 pounds. Then he stopped. By late 1842 , when he was nearly five years old, Charles Stratton hadn't grown an inch. Otherwise he was a normal child. His parents were reportedly embarrassed by his size. The 6-foot-2 Barnum taught him to sing, dance and perform. In 1844 , Barnum took young Stratton on a tour of Europe , making him an international celebrity. Stratton appeared twice before Queen Victoria . In 1851 he stood 2 foot 3 and a half inches tall and five years later he measured 2 foot 6 inches. Stratton's marriage on February 10 , 1863 , to another little person, Lavinia Warren , was front-page news. They stood atop a Grand Piano in New York City 's Grace Episcopal Church to greet some 2,000 guests. The Best Man at the wedding was George Washington Morrison ("Commodore") Nutt , another diminutive performer in Barnum's employ. Following the wedding, the couple was received by President Lincoln at the White House . At the time Stratton was 2 feet 9 inches tall and on his 30th birthday in 1868 stood two inches taller. Stratton owned a specially adapted home on one of Connecticut's Thimble Islands . He died of a Stroke at the age of 45, 3 foot 4 inches tall and weighing 70 pounds. Over 10,000 people attended the funeral. EXTERNAL LINKS
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