One of the most beautiful and tragic bearded ladies – though perhaps more a hairy woman than a simple bearded lady – was Annie Jones, born in Marion, Virginia, July 14, 1865. At birth she was covered head to toe in a thin layer of coarse, dark hair, which took the shape of a beard and mustache on her face. "We called her Esau, because of this peculiar growth on her face," said Annie's mother. At just nine months of age, she possessed a full beard and attracted the attention of P.T. Barnum. Annie's parents agreed to let the showman take her on tour, as they sorely needed the funds for their eleven other children, but only on the condition that Annie's mother could travel with her. Before she was a year old, "The Infant Esau", as Annie was called, was bringing in $150 a week (about $2,100 in contemporary dollars) – enough to provide handsomely for her entire family. Her mother remained by her side until she was nine years old, but ultimately had to return to Pennsylvania to care for the other children.
She was, at the time, one of the highest-paid freaks in the nation, and her income only increased as she grew into a classic beauty. Attractively dressed in figure-hugging fashions of the day, Annie lounged provocatively across countless photographer's sets, displaying not only a luxuriant beard (which I suspect was retouched in more than a few prints) but also floor-length raven hair. Her arms were likewise adorned with a fine coat of black hair, though she often modestly hid them under long Victorian gloves. She was said to have a beautiful speaking voice (a common trait among hypertrichotic women, such as Percilla Bejano), and to be a fine mandolinist.
At one point young Annie was allegedly kidnapped by a phrenologist and her mother took the man to court to get Annie back – although this may indeed have been an elaborate Barnum publicity ruse. When she was just fifteen, Annie married a Barnum circus talker named Richard Elliot. He was cold toward Annie, if not downright abusive, and she divorced him five years later. Almost immediately after, she was married again, to circus wardrobe man William Donovan, who whisked her away to Europe. She appeared at the Imperial Palace in St. Petersburg and delighted the Czar and Czarina. In Germany, France and Italy, she met with royals and was showered with tributes. After Donovan took ill and died in Europe, Annie returned to the United States she signed on with the Barnum Circus again and earned an alleged $500 a week – more than the President of the United States at the time.
Unlike many freaks of her day, Annie was said to be a smart investor who put her money into real estate and kept a substantial rainy-day fund, fearing that any day she could lose her beard and her meal ticket. Alas, she was never able to enjoy these savings, as she came down with tuberculosis while appearing at Nimes, France, with the Barnum & Bailey Circus. She returned to the U.S. and moved in to her mother's apartment on Cornelia Street in Brooklyn. Annie's father had died some years before and her mother remarried to a man named Pogue. Mrs. Pogue's attempts to nurse Annie back to health over the coming months were in vain. Annie passed away on October 22, 1902, at the age of just thirty-seven. Her dying request was to be buried with her whiskers uncut.
Photo: Annie Jones Elliot, age 19. Cabinet card by Charles Eisenmann, ca. 1874.
Created 1.18.09.