Phineas Taylor Barnum, an American showman and the founder of the Barnum & Bailey Circus, once said that “no one ever made a difference by being like everyone else.” Among the manufacturers, farm laborers and factory workers of Norwich, were a handful of residents who were likeminded, shunning the mills and hayfields for life under the big top.

William Lloyd Potter, the son of John and Sarah (Williams) Potter, was born in Norwich on Dec. 17, 1879. Potter spent decades employed as a clown in various circuses and, in 1914, worked as a performer and vaudeville actor for the Hagenback Circus. By 1918, he was working for 55-year-old Charles Ringling of Baraboo, Wisconsin. Ringling, whom his employees referred to as “Mr. Charlie,” was one of seven siblings who produced the Ringling Brothers Circus.

George Waterman Leonard was born in Norwich on April 22, 1905, and resided with his maternal grandparents before becoming a circus juggler and then manager of High Park Theatre Inc. in New Jersey.

Delore Cormier was born in Canada on June 27, 1890, and came to America when he was 10 years old. As an adult, he boarded with different Norwich families while working as a circus performer.

During the early 1940s, he gave up show business to work in a restaurant but soon went back into the entertainment industry, gaining employment with Happyland Shows.

Those who worked for Phineas Barnum during the late 19th century included Henry Burke of Norwich.

Mrs. Elizabeth Jordan, who resided with her husband’s family on Star Street, was an act in a circus side show.

Anthony Mark Galkofski, born in Norwich on Feb. 13, 1915, to Nicholas and Frances (Herueben) Galkofski, became a clown during the 1930s after working for the Colt Patent Firearm Manufacturing Company in Hartford. Having lost his mother when he was just 3 years old, to the influenza epidemic, he had resided with his older siblings until adulthood.

Despite his sister Rose barely escaping the infamous Hartford circus fire, he remained in the industry, traveling the world as “Mark Anthony,” the tramp clown. The Dan Rice Circus and the Ringling Brothers & Barnum & Bailey Circus were among the entertainments Galkofski was attached to and, in 1989, he was inducted into the Clown Hall of Fame.

Perhaps the most successful circus people to come out of Norwich were the Marvelous Seymours. Henry, Joseph, and Arthur Seymour were the sons of sewing machine agent Joseph Seymour and his wife Mathilde Gauthier. Daring acrobats, the brothers traveled the world making audiences gasp with their thrilling pyramid jumps, high somersaults and headfirst dives.

Another brother, Ovila G. Seymour, was a circus musician.

After being billed for years as the most famous gymnasts in America, the tumbling trio split up.

Joseph passed away in Illinois in 1897. Ovila went out on his own, touring the world as a vaudeville entertainer with the South American Tour Company of New York. Arthur, who was widely known as an expert trick jumper, became part of the vaudeville team Farnum & Seymour.

Henry went on to perform fearless acrobatics with the La Rose Brothers. He later joined Primrose & West’s Big Minstrels Show and the Weber & Fields Show. Having gained even more fame since the professional split with his brothers, he performed around the world.

While in Oklahoma in February 1910, Henry was out horseback riding when the animal strode into some quicksand. He was able to get the horse free but not himself. For several hours, he sank lower and lower into the freezing depths. A crowd of hundreds gathered around him, helpless to do anything. Finally, a man obtained a shovel and was able to dig him out.

Pneumonia was quick to set in and, on Feb. 23, a nurse informed the doctor that Henry was dead.

His family back in Connecticut received the sad news and an obituary ran in the newspapers.

It was therefore quite a shock to Arthur, who had put tumbling on the back burner to work at the firearm producing company Hopkins & Allen Arms, when the stranger who entered his place of business one afternoon in March 1912 introduced himself as his brother Henry.

Having returned from the brink of death two years earlier, and failing to let his family know, he looked nothing like Arthur remembered. He had lost a lot of weight and gained a great deal of worry lines.

However, he was back in show business and had teamed up with Rose La Verne, a sweet songstress who was often referred to as the “Little California Nightingale.”

Henry maintained a residence in Iowa while he and La Verne traveled the country as an Irish comedy duo, performing a sketch called “Finnegan’s daughter Mame” in which Henry dramatized an Irish accent to tell comedic stories and jokes while La Verne added song to the act.

By 1914, Arthur had also taken to the stage again and was performing a vaudeville act with his second wife. Then, at 4:45 p.m. on Oct. 12, 1915, the 40-year-old pressed a .38 caliber pistol to his chest and pulled the trigger. The bullet passed through his body and was found inside his clothing.

The following day, at 9:34 in the morning, he died at Backus Hospital. It was said he had been suffering from despondency.

These Norwich residents had indeed made a difference by not being like everyone else, however even clowns and comedians struggle through life.

Kelly Sullivan is a writer based in Rhode Island.