Rudolph Lucasie was born in Madagascar to French parents in 1833 and was married to his wife Antiana (sometimes called Antoinette) who was born in Venice in 1834.[2][3] They had one child, Joseph Rudolph Lucasie, who was born in Germany in 1850.[2][4] When they met P. T. Barnum they were living in Amsterdam and they moved to New York in 1858 to appear in his museum as one of the original "exhibitions."[2][5]
P. T. Barnum
Barnum claimed, in an 1860 pamphlet called The History of Rudolph Lucasie, that the family was from Madagascar and were "white Negroes" who had parents of African descent.[6] In an 1869 version of the same pamphlet Lucasie was said to have been "born of European parents" in Madagascar and were said to be "white Moors" who Barnum claimed were able to have children while "white Negroes" were not.[6][7] Despite the later clarification, this misunderstanding was repeated about Rudolph Lucasie into the 1920s by Ripley's Believe it or Not and in various publications about Barnum thereafter.[8][9]
Mary Brett has written that there was a second child with albinism, one who was female, who would perform with them to "increase the appeal of the act" but that she was unrelated.[2] Other sources claim that there was a sister who was either older or younger than Joseph but she was not named.[10] The family toured the US and Canada, appearing in Montréal where they were said to speak "perfect English and French."[11] Joseph learned to play the violin as part of the act and was both talented and popular.[5] The Lucasies were paid well relative to other non-Barnum sideshow work, but there was tension between them and Barnum. Barnum called them "disagreeable" and threatened their manager, Dr. Oscar Kohn, that he would "put them in jail" if things did not improve.[1][12] The Lucasies left New York when the original museum burned down in 1865.[5]
Public image
The family was the subject of four Currier & Ives color lithographs in the early 1860s where they were called "The Wonderful Albino Family" and "The Wonderful Eliophobus Family."[13][14] Eliophobus was a made up word meaning "afraid of the sun." They were also photographed by Matthew Brady and others, and there were many cabinet cards of them in circulation.[15][16]
The Lucasies also performed with W. W. Coles, and for the Kansas City Museum.[17][18] The family was living in Omaha, Nebraska, at the 1880 census where their employer was listed as Coles Circus.[3] Rudolph and Antiana died in 1898.[5] By 1883 a St. Louis, Missouri directory showed Joseph Lucasie living with Landon Middlecoff, a giant who was also a sideshow performer.[19][20] The two operated a saloon there in 1883.[21]
Joseph continued to tour as "the Madagascar violinist" with the Lemon Brothers and others where mention was only sometimes made of his albinism.[22][23] By 1902 he was listed solo in the Kansas City, Missouri business directory as an actor.[24] In 1906 he was touring with vaudeville promoter Chas. Philson.[25] Joseph Lucasie died of dropsy in 1909 in Kansas City.[5]
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