The Casting Campbells, The Peerless Cronans or The Peerless Campbells?
Who and What Were They?
(Continued)

So what was that vehicle that looks like wagon? Did it have wheels on it and was it towed by another vehicle? And how the heck did it end up on Hogan’s farm in Burlington 70 years later?

Picture taken in Nevada 1927 .........Picture taken in Burlington 2009

Alice Szezesniak recalled in her interview in 1995 with Romily that the Hogan Brothers always had an eye out for a bargain and they purchased the trailer from Cronin during the war. The Hogan’s used it for their farm workers (mostly kids) who would work at the farm during the summer months. Most came to the farm through a farm bureau program.

The Casting Campbells went by many names over the years. As previously mentioned they were “The Flying Rubes”. They also used the names “The Peerless Campbells” and even “The Peerless Cronins”. Steve Bekasi told Romily that they used multiple names so that if they were booked at a circus or a fair in the same city, the change of names would make them appear to be different acts.

Its pretty amazing that as we travel on RT 4 in our busy daily lives that we are oblivious to a farm that was the headquarters to such a famous troupe and another farm that has been the resting place for the troupes traveling home. Isn’t local history amazing?

Sources: Campville Cronicles by Romily Cofrancesco
Tracy Mirsky
Mary Bekasi
Historic Hartford Courant