Martha Jane Barnhill to George W. Barnhill, a Russian Jewish itinerant wagon maker, and Nancy Shaw, a woman of Irish and Catawban ancestry. When she applied for her social security card in May 1939, she gave her parents as George Barnell and Nancy Shaw. Her mother's name is not mentioned in the interviews she gave. She was their second child, and she had three sisters and two brothers. She was named after her maternal grandmother. Her mother was from York County, South Carolina. By two years of age, she was capable of growing a beard. Her mother thought she was cursed
Career
Barnell's mother sold the 3-year-old Jane to the Great Orient Family Circus and Menagerie while her father was away on business
Barnell toured for a time with a number of circuses, including the Ringling Brothers circus, and later joined Hubert's Museum in Times Square, New York City. She appeared in a Tod Browning's Freaks (1932) which, according to the DVD documentary, left her unhappy with the overall portrayal of the sideshow performers in the film.
In April 1935, she was working at the Ringling Brothers' sideshow at Madison Square Garden.
Barnell died on July 21, 1945, in Manhattan, New York Her remains were cremated by the New York and New Jersey Cremation Company.
Manhatton
Personal life
Barnell was married four times.