Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus Memories

Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Circus And the War After

A memoir by: Robert Lewis Martin
with: C. Lee Martin


Prologue:

Robert Lewis Martin arrived in this world on March 21, 1925 in Detroit, Michigan. His parents were Lewis Wesley Martin, born April 1, 1898 and Emma Butterman Martin, born March 26, 1898. The birth of both parents was registered in the State of Indiana.

Lewis and Emma met and fell in love in Brazil, Indiana, when Emma was working as a nurse. Lewis, who had been injured during World War 1, while serving in the Army Air Corps, was sent to this same hospital for treatment for his injuries.

The union of these two people would have been an unlikely one anywhere else. He came from an aristocratic long line of an old American family and she was descended from German immigrants who arrived here from Sedantland, Germany. Emma came from a large family and her grandmother was part of the Cherokee Indian tribe.. Emma, as rumor would have it, also had a Civil War deserter in her ancestry.

Lewis on the other hand, was descended from Francis Cooke, who came over on the Mayflower. Francis Cooke was one of the men who signed the original Mayflower Compact. This was the first step the colonists took to help achieve independence from the British and establish religious freedom in the new world.

Some of the more famous descendants of Francis Cooke include three presidents; Franklin D. Roosevelt, George Bush and George W. Bush. Artists and entertainers; Grandma Moses, Richard Gere, and the Beach Boys.

One of the ancestors of the Martin clan was James Tappan, who fought in the Revolutionary War and their descendants have been involved in every major battle up to the Korean War when my dad's younger brother, Jack Wesley Martin was involved. That was the end of the military men in battle in the Martin clan, but it seems as if, that is enough. Although Jack Wesley Martin the 2nd, my younger brother, was in the army but never had to go into battle.

Lewis Martin's military service in the Army Air Corp was with the 148th Aerosquadron with Captain Elliott White Springs of the Springmaid family in South Carolina. For years I remember my grandfather visiting the Myrtle Beach area and reuniting with the remaining members of his squadron until they finally were all too old and started dying. Colonel Springmaid, as he was called, left a codicil in his will that the squadron would be able to meet there as long as they wanted to, after his death. The old homestead that used to belong to the Springmaid family is now an art museum on the Atlantic Ocean, the Franklin B. Burroughs - Simeon B. Chapman art museum. Don't know why it isn't the Springmaid Museum? That would seem more appropriate to me.

While Lewis and Emma were living in Detroit, Michigan, they established a home and two more children were born into the family. Joan Martin, who was born February 3, 1928 and Jack Wesley, born September 9, 1931. Thus making Robert (Bobby as he was called then) the oldest of three. During the 1930 census Lewis was working as a superintendent at the General Motors plant.
In 1940, when Lewis left the family, my grandparents were divorced. I don't think my grandmother ever forgot it, although she did marry again many years later. The first 3 years of my life were spent in the house her and grandad bought for only $3,000.00 and my brother Robert Wesley (Butch) Martin was born in Detroit on October 17, 1946. I had been born in St. Petersburg, Fla during the war, where my mother was staying with her parents, while dad was in Europe fighting the Nazi's.

After Lewis left the family home, Robert as the eldest at 15, left school. He had only completed the ninth grade, but had to help support the family. The money his dad sent did not appear to be enough to support his mother and two younger children, so it fell to him to work and make up the difference. He worked at various jobs in the Detroit area including the following: Loading cement blocks on a truck at a cement factory, pumping gas at a service station, working as a helper in a car repair garage, and on an assembly line in one of the automotive plants. He also worked with an acrobatic group doing shows in bars, nightclubs, burlesque houses, theaters and other show places. He did tumbling, teeterboard, adagio dancing (a combination of acrobatics and ballet), along with chorus numbers. That must have given Robert his first taste of performing for an audience and eventually became a part of his lifestyle. He never lost the performing aspect of his personality and in some way or other was always "on stage!"

Next: The Circus years. to be continued.......