Father: [Name?] Kennebel
Mother: Rose [Surname?] Kennebel
---
DOCKRILL, ELISE. (1852-1919) Daughter of Rose Kennebel and sister of Francois and Eugene Kennebel, French clowns. A one, 4 and 6-horse rider. Said to be the first woman to ride and drive 4 horses. Praised as an attractive rider "on a fine gray horse coursing around the ring at full speed," leaping over banners and jumping through "balloons." One of her most thrilling feats was grasping the girdle of the horse and supporting herself with only her hands while the steed leaped over fences. Named "The Empress of the Arena" by Barnum, who offered $10,000 to anyone to equal her 6-horse act. Commanded a weekly salary of $500 for full 12 months of the year while with Barnum between 1872-79, also had half use of Barnum's private railroad car. 1877, took over the Great London Circus with husband Richard Dockrill, John J. Parks, and Homer Davis. P. T. Barnum's, Hippotheatron, NYC, December 1872 (first appearance in USA on December 16); Great London, 1877-78; P. T. Barnum's, 1879-80; Barnum, Bailey & Hutchinson, 1881-82. Injured in a fall at Cohoes, NY, and another at Portsmouth, VA, 1883. Walter L. Main's, 1899. Suffered dislocated knee while alighting from a horse in Caracas, Venezuela, and was unable to ride again. When the circus company became afflicted with yellow fever, the Dockrills returned to USA without a penny, having lost over $100,000 in 7 months. By 1912, they had a home at Delavan Lake, WI. Lost a daughter, Eliza Hermina, to diphtheria, September 10, 1881, age 7. Died in poverty in Delavan, WI, and is buried in an unmarked lot.
SOURCE: "Olympians of the Sawdust Circle - A biographical dictionary of the ninteenth century American circus.", Compiled and Edited by: William L. Slout.
Source [link]: http://www.circushistory.org/Olympians/OlypiansA.htm
Mother: Rose [Surname?] Kennebel
---
DOCKRILL, ELISE. (1852-1919) Daughter of Rose Kennebel and sister of Francois and Eugene Kennebel, French clowns. A one, 4 and 6-horse rider. Said to be the first woman to ride and drive 4 horses. Praised as an attractive rider "on a fine gray horse coursing around the ring at full speed," leaping over banners and jumping through "balloons." One of her most thrilling feats was grasping the girdle of the horse and supporting herself with only her hands while the steed leaped over fences. Named "The Empress of the Arena" by Barnum, who offered $10,000 to anyone to equal her 6-horse act. Commanded a weekly salary of $500 for full 12 months of the year while with Barnum between 1872-79, also had half use of Barnum's private railroad car. 1877, took over the Great London Circus with husband Richard Dockrill, John J. Parks, and Homer Davis. P. T. Barnum's, Hippotheatron, NYC, December 1872 (first appearance in USA on December 16); Great London, 1877-78; P. T. Barnum's, 1879-80; Barnum, Bailey & Hutchinson, 1881-82. Injured in a fall at Cohoes, NY, and another at Portsmouth, VA, 1883. Walter L. Main's, 1899. Suffered dislocated knee while alighting from a horse in Caracas, Venezuela, and was unable to ride again. When the circus company became afflicted with yellow fever, the Dockrills returned to USA without a penny, having lost over $100,000 in 7 months. By 1912, they had a home at Delavan Lake, WI. Lost a daughter, Eliza Hermina, to diphtheria, September 10, 1881, age 7. Died in poverty in Delavan, WI, and is buried in an unmarked lot.
SOURCE: "Olympians of the Sawdust Circle - A biographical dictionary of the ninteenth century American circus.", Compiled and Edited by: William L. Slout.
Source [link]: http://www.circushistory.org/Olympians/OlypiansA.htm
Father: [Name?] Kennebel
Mother: Rose [Surname?] Kennebel
---
DOCKRILL, ELISE. (1852-1919) Daughter of Rose Kennebel and sister of Francois and Eugene Kennebel, French clowns. A one, 4 and 6-horse rider. Said to be the first woman to ride and drive 4 horses. Praised as an attractive rider "on a fine gray horse coursing around the ring at full speed," leaping over banners and jumping through "balloons." One of her most thrilling feats was grasping the girdle of the horse and supporting herself with only her hands while the steed leaped over fences. Named "The Empress of the Arena" by Barnum, who offered $10,000 to anyone to equal her 6-horse act. Commanded a weekly salary of $500 for full 12 months of the year while with Barnum between 1872-79, also had half use of Barnum's private railroad car. 1877, took over the Great London Circus with husband Richard Dockrill, John J. Parks, and Homer Davis. P. T. Barnum's, Hippotheatron, NYC, December 1872 (first appearance in USA on December 16); Great London, 1877-78; P. T. Barnum's, 1879-80; Barnum, Bailey & Hutchinson, 1881-82. Injured in a fall at Cohoes, NY, and another at Portsmouth, VA, 1883. Walter L. Main's, 1899. Suffered dislocated knee while alighting from a horse in Caracas, Venezuela, and was unable to ride again. When the circus company became afflicted with yellow fever, the Dockrills returned to USA without a penny, having lost over $100,000 in 7 months. By 1912, they had a home at Delavan Lake, WI. Lost a daughter, Eliza Hermina, to diphtheria, September 10, 1881, age 7. Died in poverty in Delavan, WI, and is buried in an unmarked lot.
SOURCE: "Olympians of the Sawdust Circle - A biographical dictionary of the ninteenth century American circus.", Compiled and Edited by: William L. Slout.
Source [link]: http://www.circushistory.org/Olympians/OlypiansA.htm
Mother: Rose [Surname?] Kennebel
---
DOCKRILL, ELISE. (1852-1919) Daughter of Rose Kennebel and sister of Francois and Eugene Kennebel, French clowns. A one, 4 and 6-horse rider. Said to be the first woman to ride and drive 4 horses. Praised as an attractive rider "on a fine gray horse coursing around the ring at full speed," leaping over banners and jumping through "balloons." One of her most thrilling feats was grasping the girdle of the horse and supporting herself with only her hands while the steed leaped over fences. Named "The Empress of the Arena" by Barnum, who offered $10,000 to anyone to equal her 6-horse act. Commanded a weekly salary of $500 for full 12 months of the year while with Barnum between 1872-79, also had half use of Barnum's private railroad car. 1877, took over the Great London Circus with husband Richard Dockrill, John J. Parks, and Homer Davis. P. T. Barnum's, Hippotheatron, NYC, December 1872 (first appearance in USA on December 16); Great London, 1877-78; P. T. Barnum's, 1879-80; Barnum, Bailey & Hutchinson, 1881-82. Injured in a fall at Cohoes, NY, and another at Portsmouth, VA, 1883. Walter L. Main's, 1899. Suffered dislocated knee while alighting from a horse in Caracas, Venezuela, and was unable to ride again. When the circus company became afflicted with yellow fever, the Dockrills returned to USA without a penny, having lost over $100,000 in 7 months. By 1912, they had a home at Delavan Lake, WI. Lost a daughter, Eliza Hermina, to diphtheria, September 10, 1881, age 7. Died in poverty in Delavan, WI, and is buried in an unmarked lot.
SOURCE: "Olympians of the Sawdust Circle - A biographical dictionary of the ninteenth century American circus.", Compiled and Edited by: William L. Slout.
Source [link]: http://www.circushistory.org/Olympians/OlypiansA.htm
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