Alpheus George Barnes Stonehouse
Encyclopedia
Al G. Barnes Circus
-History:Stonehouse started the show in 1895 with a pony, a phonograph, a stereopticon. His circus was purchased by the American Circus Corporation in 1929 and was merged with the Sells-Floto Circus, John Robinson Shows, and Sparks Circus. That same year John Nicholas Ringling bought out the...
Biography
Barnes was born on September 1, 1862, in Lobo, Ontario, Canada, to Thomas S. Stonehouse (1826-1882) and Sarah Barnes (1825-1883). He married three times: Dollie Arminta Barlow, Sarah Jane Hartigan, and Margaret Goldsboro. All three wives survived him. Dolly falsely accused him in divorce court in 1916, of having many lovers and deserting her. The divorce proceedings lasted five years and he became involved with Babe Eckhart, his calliope player. When he refused to marry her, she killed herself with a gun on the steps of his Pullman railcar in Idaho in 1919. In 1922 his divorce from Dolly was complete. He then married Sarah Jane Hartigan, who was from a prominent West Virginia family. The marriage produced three children, before they divorced. He then married Margaret Goldsboro.In January 1929, he sold his circus to the American Circus Corporation
American Circus Corporation
The American Circus Corporation, consisted of the Sells-Floto Circus, the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus, the John Robinson Circus, the Sparks Circus, and the Al G. Barnes Circus. It was owned by Jerry Mugivan, Bert Bowers and Ed Ballard. They sold the company in 1929 to John Nicholas Ringling for $1.7...
. He died on July 25, 1931 in Indio, California
Indio, California
Indio is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, located in the Coachella Valley of Southern California's Colorado Desert region. It lies east of Palm Springs, east of Riverside, and east of Los Angeles. It is about north of Mexicali, Baja California on the U.S.-Mexican border...
. He had been ill for most of the past year with pneumonia.