Entitled: "The Murays Midgets, tripplet brothers, age 19 years." Very little is known about the Murray brothers (John, James and Joseph). They were billed as triplets when exhibited at Barnum's American Museum, but according to an 1880 newspaper article they were brothers, but not triplets, born in New York between 1860 and 1870. The smallest of the brothers stood 37 inches tall; the tallest 42. Their mother was their manager and toured with them. Midget is a term for a person of unusually short stature that is considered by some to be pejorative. While not a medical term, it has been applied to persons of unusually short stature, often with the medical condition dwarfism, particularly proportionate dwarfism. Midgets have always been popular entertainers. P. T. Barnum indirectly helped popularize the term "midget" when he began featuring General Tom Thumb, Lavinia Warren and Commodore Nutt in his circus. "Midget" became linked to referencing short people put on public display for curiosity and sport. Barnum's midgets, however, were elevated to a position of high society, given fantasy military titles, introduced to dignitaries and royalty, and showered with gifts. Photographed by Charles Eisenmann, 1880.