MSS 930 AV Eisenbarth Family papers

              MSS 930 AV
Eisenbarth Family Papers
Page 1
OHIO HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Manuscripts/ Audiovisual Collections
MSS 930 AV
EISENBARTH FAMILY PAPERS
OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION
Number:
MSS 930 AV
Title:
THE EISENBARTH FAMILY PAPERS
Creator:
Eisenbarth Family
Dates:
1880s- 1987
Media:
MSS; Audiovisual
Quantity:
3 cf.
Location:
MSS: 3/ 33/ 3- A
AV: 3/ 11/ 4- B; 5th Floor Nitrate Storage Area
OVS folder: 5/ Rm. 527/ Choir- robe cab./ Dr. 1
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF E. E. EISENBARTH & FAMILY
Ellsworth Eugene Eisenbarth was born October 22, 1864 in Ironton, Ohio. The family later moved to Wetzel County, West Virginia. Ellsworth attended the theological seminar at Waynesburg College in Pennsylvania, but by 1884, he had moved back to West Virginia and opened a stationary and print shop in New Martinsburg. The following year, Ellsworth began publishing The Weekly Paragraph in New Matamoras, Ohio. On February 28, 1886, he married Julia Ann Henderson, daughter of Judge Robert Henderson, in Sistersville, West Virginia.
In 1888, he was known as “ Dr. E. E. Eisenbarth” and hawking the wares of the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company, of which he was the proprietor. Billed as a “ traveling medical institute,” the company sold items such as “ Ka- ton- ka,” modoc oil, worm eradicator, and cough syrup. By 1889, Eisenbarth was traveling the Mid- Atlantic States in The Oregon Indian Medicine Show, which featured such entertainment as real cowboys and “ Indians.” He next bought a floating store, which he refitted as a showboat and christened The Eisenbarth Wild West & Floating Opera. The endeavor lasted from 1891 to 1895. During the same time period, Eisenbarth and his wife Julia apparently operated the “ Chow- Chow Show” which traveled by rail from Michigan to Louisiana. This traveling variety show featured a calliope, parade, acrobats, dancers, jugglers and comedy sketches. By the late 1890s, the pair had founded The Eisenbarth & Henderson Mammoth and