Hyatt Frost

Son of James and Sophia (Kelley) Frost.

Hyatt was born and brought up in the neighborhood where originated the ide a of exhibiting wild anim als. Hyatt and his brothers also became deeply interested and when the first elephant Old Bet came to this country. it w as with great pride that Hyatt got the privilege of carrying water to her and also his brother Eli was made happy by the same vocation, and consequently had the privilege of seeing her for nothing, while others were paying a York shilling (twelve and a half cents)
Josephine Frost, The Frost Genealogy

Some accounts claim that Hyatt and Eli Frost first became involved in circus work when in 1838 they assisted their cousin, Albert Townsend, an elephant keeper for June, Titus, Angevine & Company.

By 1849, Hyatt was running a one-wagon sideshow for Van Amburgh that, capitalizing on the Gold Rush, featured a "big bug of California" (actually an armadillo). Hyatt and Eli Frost eventually held a variety of jobs in the Van Amburgh show. Eli, who continued to run the family farm in Harrisburg, Indiana, spent a number of years maintaining Van Amburgh’s equipment and taking tickets.

Hyatt served as Van Amburgh’s press agent and show manager. It’s possible that by the late 1850s Hyatt had become part-owner of the menagerie, and upon Amburgh’s death in 1865, he became the show’s sole proprietor.

In 1866, Hyatt entered into a partnership with P. T. Barnum (whose New York museum had just been destroyed by fire) and together established a combined Barnum and Van Amburgh Museum and Menagerie at 539-541 Broadway. Tragically, almost all of the show’s animals and equipment were destroyed by another spectacular fire in 1868.