Treasure Chest Thursday: Grandpa John's 1939 Treasure Island World's Fair Rodeo Program

I've been looking for this for AGES!!! It's a program and day schedule for the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition (aka World's Fair) World's Championship Rodeo at Treasure Island, San Francisco. But that's not all: the day schedule for Saturday night, May 13, 1939, lists my Grandpa John Bartram along with several of his friends!

I always knew that Grandpa and his brother, Dutch, rode in the World's Fair rodeo that year. He told us lots of stories about his rodeo adventures, and we have this photo of him riding in one of the World's Fair parades. But definitive and documented proof that he actually competed in any of the events had always eluded me.

Well, eBay to the rescue! Every now and then, I head over to eBay and search for books or other ephemera that might be related to my ancestors (you'd be surprised how many of my kin made it into various historical books). A couple of months ago, I got it into my head to search for "Treasure Island 1939 rodeo" and up popped both the rodeo program and the schedule for one of the days that Grandpa John and his friends competed. Of course, I snapped them up immediately!

In addition to listing Grandpa competing in the Brahma Bull riding competition, the day program also lists Uncle Dutch as one of the competitors for the whole event. There were several other exciting rodeo attractions on night of May 13, including the famous rodeo trick rider, actor and stuntman, Montie Montana, as well as rodeo clown and bullfighter, Homer Holcomb, and his Brahma Bull Chariot.

To add to my delight, my eBay seller lives in San Francisco, and has offered to keep an eye out for any other Treasure Island rodeo ephemera for me. I *wish* the program still cost only 25 cents, but I feel like I got a bargain just by finding this actual treasure!

Grandpa John, riding bronc in another rodeo

I was so excited to finally put this documentation with Grandpa's World's Fair parade photo. I was even more happy to show it to my mom and the rest of Grandpa's family.

Since coming across this amazing find, I've been digging even deeper for more information on Grandpa John's rodeo experience at Treasure Island. I subscribe to a couple of different online newspaper archives, including NewspaperArchive, and have now found further evidence of Grandpa competing in the rodeo, and being INJURED. Here's an article from the May 20, 1939, Oakland Tribune that mentions Grandpa John being gored behind the ear by the very bull he was riding, and being saved from further injury (or worse!) by the aforementioned rodeo clown, Homer Holcomb. Wow!

So, what's the lesson here? I think it's to not just rely on Ancestry.com and Google searches and other more obvious places to find documentation about our ancestors' lives. Start searching in more unlikely places like eBay, or even your local antique store. You never know what you're going to find!

(Not so) Wordless Wednesday: Dutch & Grace Bartram

Here's a great photo of my great aunt and uncle, Grace Bartram Zwissig and Raymond "Dutch" Bartram.

Dutch (1907-1954) and Grace (1913-1975) were two of the many (actually, 16) siblings of my maternal grandfather, John Bartram. They were both born in Harveyville, Kansas, and ended up in Northern California by the 1920s (along with their parents, Grandpa John, and their sisters, Eunice and Lorna).

Uncle Dutch, along with Grandpa John, was a successful and popular rodeo cowboy in the Livermore Valley. He and Grandpa worked for Harry Rowell, who was a well-known rodeo stock contractor and owned the Rowell Ranch in Eden Valley, along what is now Hwy. 580. Aunt Grace married another stock contractor, Carl Zwissig, and was also a major part of the Livermore Valley rodeo scene.

As you can see, Uncle Dutch and Aunt Grace both shared the same zest for life that my Grandpa John had.

Talented Tuesday: A Poem About John "Bull" Bartram

One of the most fun aspects of sharing my blog with family members is that it really jogs their own memories of our family and its colorful members. I'm also learning that I have some really talented relatives.

My Aunt Brenda (Mom's sister) recently emailed to me a couple of poems that she wrote about her dad, my Grandpa John Bartram. I've already shared some of Grandpa John's rodeo adventures with you, but I think that this poem really adds some color to his cowboy exploits! Grandpa didn't have a middle name, but everyone called him John "Bull" Bartram, hence the title of Auntie Brenda's wonderful poem.

Grandpa John Bartram (far left) and his cowboy
friends in Australia

JOHN BULL

By Brenda Bartram Cairo

My Dad rode Broncs and Bulls
In the Rodeos years ago
He even went to Madison Square Garden   
Where he put on quite a show

Our cowboys sailed for Down Under
To show those Aussie's up
My Dad regaled, in wonder
Sipping Four Roses from his cup

"Now those Aussies were plum crazy
Like the Broncs that they drove in"
With each sip his speech gets hazy
Then, he starts his tale again

Wild Bush horses the Aussies called them
Small and weedy were their lot
You could see by their decorum
Man or rope, had they seen not

So with sacks and ropes a flyin'
We tried to snub them down
You could see grown men a cryin
For, no chutes were to be foun'

George Marciel got tromped, I do not tattle
Ted Knight was staggerin 'round
Wild Aussies on their sissy English Saddle
Up and rode us to the ground

"But, then, came the real battle"
He says with an awful cuss
Those Aussies drank us under the table
Without so much as a wink or fuss

In earnest now, Dad's tears began to flow
To those sissy saddles, let us raise our glass
To those wiley little horses of long ago
They were way above our class

But most of all
To that wild and woolly wonder
Standing up there gruff and tall
To those Aussies from Down Under
They really stol' our show 

The Bartram Family:
Back: Jim, Brenda, Becky (Mom)
Front: Clay, Grandma Donna, Grandpa John

(Not So) Wordless Wednesday: Livermore Rodeo Queens

I love this newspaper photo featuring my maternal grandma, Donna Madsen Bartram (1919-1966), and her sister, Rae Madsen Christensen (1921-2010). I even have it framed and proudly displayed in my living room. The article is promoting the Livermore Rodeo, and is from the mid 1930s. I'm not sure of the date, but it's probably 1936 or 1937. Grandma and Grandpa met in 1936, and were married in March 1938, and the article identifies her and Aunt Rae by their maiden name (spelled incorrectly).

Aunt Rae is at the bottom, Grandma Donna is in the middle, and their friend,
Maxine Compoe is the girl in the hat (at the top)

In case you can't read the fine print on the image, here it is (misspelled names and all):

Snoozin' in the sun after doing full justice to a barbecue meal fit for a king -- and a California cowboy -- Maxine Compoe (top), Donna Modsen and Rae Modsen, stellar riders who will be seen next Saturday and Sunday in Livermore Rodeo events, enjoy a siesta. They're dreaming, perhaps, of the thousands of dollars to be given as prizes.

It just occurred to me that the 2011 Livemore Rodeo is happening this weekend (June 11-12) in Livermore, California. If you're in the area, it's a lot of fun!

Sports Center Saturday: Rodeo!

John Bartram, 1911-1987, bronc rider extraordinaire

We tend to think of athletes as football/basketball/tennis players, swimmers, runners and the like. We had athletes of a different sort in my family: bull riders, bronc riders and steer ropers. Let me tell you, these were tough guys! Rodeo is a hard sport: it takes some serious skill and determination to stay on an angry bull or bucking bronc for a full eight seconds and, even if you do, you run the risk of serious injury or even death. Steer roping is no simple task, either, especially when you're trying to rope a wily steer from the top of a moving horse. But the family and friends I knew who competed in rodeo events were passionate about the sport. And they excelled at it. 

I've already written a bit about my Grandpa John Bartram and his brother, Dutch. Here are some pictures and newspaper articles (thanks to Google News!) that detail their rodeo prowess.

June 2, 1934. Berkeley Daily Gazette
This one documents when Grandpa John
broke his back.

June 1, 1937. San Jose News
Ray "Dutch" Bartram was a winner
at the Madrone Rodeo

August 10, 1937. Lodi News-Sentinel
Both Grandpa John and Uncle Dutch
did well in the steer bucking and
steer roping events.

I don't know anything about this picture. He looks
just like my Uncle Jimmy (his oldest son) in it, though.

At the Rowell Ranch Rodeo in Hayward, California.
Grandpa John and Uncle Dutch both worked for Harry Rowell
in the 1930s and 40s.

Hard to believe anyone can stay on a bull for a full eight seconds.
These guys were true athletes!

Tombstone Tuesday: Raymond "Dutch" Bartram - 1907-1954

Raymond "Dutch" Bartram

I'm one of those strange people who loves traipsing through cemeteries. I love to pay respects to my own ancestors, but I'm really happy just to go exploring any old cemetery, admiring the beautiful gravestones and wondering about the lives of the people who now reside in these permanent homes.

Dutch and his sister, Grace Bartram

One of my favorite family graves, though, is that of my Great Uncle Dutch (aka Raymond Bartram), who was born September 1, 1907, in Harveyville, Kansas. Dutch was my Grandpa John's older brother and rodeo partner-in-crime. He and Grandpa John were the first of our Bartram pioneers in California. Having caught a freight train out here to start their cowboy lives, they eventually went back to Kansas, and then came back to the Golden State with their parents and several other siblings.

Tragically, Uncle Dutch's life was cut short on January 12, 1954, when he was walking across San Pablo Avenue and was hit by a bus. His wife, Helen, had this wonderful gravestone made as a tribute to his full, yet too short, life.

Dutch was buried at Lone Tree Cemetery in Hayward, Alameda County, California. The tribute reads:

I have hung up my spurs and saddle
Put my horse in the old Corral
Bid Goodbye to my pals in the bunkhouse
And the range that I loved so well.

Treasure Chest Thursday: An Actual Treasure Chest!

My very treasured chest from Grandpa John

For Treasure Chest Thursday, I thought it might be fun to share with you my favorite treasure chest!

This beautiful little hand-carved box was a gift from my Grandpa John Bartram (the bull rider from this post) to his mom, Alice Veale Bartram. Grandpa procured the box while he was on his trip to Australia to compete in the rodeo events at the World Games in 1936. At one point during their travels, the ship docked in Tahiti, and Grandpa did a little shopping while he was there.

Grandpa lived with us while I was growing up, and after he passed away in 1987, my mom ended up with the box. A few years ago, she gave it to me. It now holds some of my own treasures, including some vintage buttons, photos of my 1969 VW Beetle and a bunch of old security passes from when I worked at The Fillmore in San Francisco.

Here's another picture of Grandpa and a bunch of his rodeo friends at the World Games in Australia.

John Bartram is on the left

Finding your history in the oddest places

John Bartram, 1911-1987

One of our family's favorite pastimes has always been trolling the antique stores. My mom and I make a game of seeing if we can find items similar to the treasures that either of us grew up with: the dinnerware set that our family friend, Granny Sis, had when Mom was a little girl, a penguin ice bucket (or bun warmer, if you prefer) like the one Mom and Dad received as a wedding gift in 1964 (it's in my kitchen now) or Madame Alexander dolls that my sister and I collected as kids. It's a kick finding these things that remind us of our past, and we sometimes even bring them home. But, we never expected to find our own family in an antique store up in the California foothills.

Actually, my mom and her husband did the finding. I just reaped the benefits!

Here's how it happened: Just before Christmas, Mom and Rodney took a drive up to Mariposa, where several of Rodney's family are buried. They decided to snoop around the downtown antique stores, and boy was Mom surprised when she spotted some framed rodeo programs that featured her dad, John Bartram! She purchased a couple to give to my Aunt Brenda and Uncle Clay for Christmas, found out the name of the vendor who was selling these treasures, and asked him if he had any more. So, the day after Christmas, we wisely avoided the malls and headed back up to Mariposa to pick up some framed family history for ourselves.

Check it out!

This is a rodeo program from the Rowell Ranch Wild West Rodeo in Dublin, California, on June 4, 1941. Grandpa competed in three events that day: Brahma Bull Riding, Steer Wrestling and, of all things, Wild Cow Milking. That last event was a new one for us!

Not only was it fun to see Grandpa John's name all over this program, but also the names of so many of his good friends from back then. We recognized a lot of names from the stories Grandpa often told.

Here's the cover of the rodeo program. Grandpa John and his brother, Dutch, both worked for Harry Rowell from the 1930s through the early 1950s. Harry raised rodeo stock that was used for events not only at his own arena, but throughout the West. You can still see the rodeo grounds as you drive east on I-580 into Dublin, California.

Grandpa John is the #5 rider in the Brahma Bull Riding event. He competed professionally from 1932 until 1954. During that time, he participated in the rodeo portion of the 1939 World’s Fair in San Francisco, and joined rodeo greats Johnny and Frank Schneider and Joe Berl to make up the American team of rodeo riders sent to the World Games in Australia in 1936. You can imagine some of the wild stories Grandpa had to tell about his adventures!