At the age of 16, John "Jack" W. C. Barnett, pictured above, began performing with the Barnum and Bailey Circus as a midget known as Dainty Dewey. He was later joined in the act by his brother, Herbert. Together they performed as the Barnett Midgets. 

Jack was my first cousin twice removed. Specifically, he was my mother's father's first cousin--and she remembers meeting him when she was a child.

Jack was one of four sons of Mary Susan and Samuel Curry Barnett.  He was born in Roxboro, North Carolina in 1891 and died there in 1935.  He was about 42 inched tall.  (Herbert grew to be about 36 inches tall.)

I got this photo from http://phreeque.tripod.com/jack_barnett.html.  The photo was taken in the 1920s when Jack was about 39 years old.