Josephine Clofullia

Josephine Clofullia (1829–1870) was a famous Swiss-born bearded lady who is most famous for being part of P. T. Barnum's "American Museum."

Early life Madame Clofullia, as she was often billed, was born Josephine Boisdechêne in Versoix, Switzerland to Brigadier Joseph Boisdechêne and Françoise Masset. She was born hairy and reputedly had a two-inch beard at the age of eight.

At eight, she was sent to boarding school in Geneva to be educated by the same institution as her mother. When she was fourteen, her mother died shortly after the death of her fifth child, and her father removed her from the school.

Personal life Josephine gave birth to two children; the first, a girl named Zelea, born in December 1851, died eleven months later. Her son Albert, who was born in December 1852, was also born with a layer of hair.

While comfortable in her home village, in many places when going out in public she would wear a handkerchief over the lower half of her face to not provoke attention or be accused of being a man in women's clothing.

Touring career

By early 1851 she had taken up residence in London, to take part in the Great Universal Exposition. where she visited Charing Cross Hospital to discuss her unusual medical condition, and was the following year the subject of an article for The Lancet. For a period during her nine-month tenure her son was also featured as an attraction, where he was dubbed "Infant Esau", after the biblical character. Variations on this title would also later be used for other performers under Barnum, such as Annie Jones and Grace Gilbert. By hearsay it has been suspected that Barnum arranged the whole matter himself as a publicity stunt.