José Barrera became famous as Wild West showman, Mexican Joe.

Barrera was reportedly born in Juarez

Juárez

Juárez may refer to a number of places and things, most of which are named after Benito Juárez, President of Mexico on several occasions during the 19th century.Mexican cities and towns...

, Mexico in 1882. In 1897, Pawnee Bill’s Wild West Show was the first to hire Barrera as a performer. Only fifteen years old at the time, Barrera was already an expert equestrian and roper. Because of his accomplished use of the lariat from horseback, Wild West Shows

Wild West Shows

Wild West Shows were traveling vaudeville performances in the United States and Europe. The first and prototypical wild west show was Buffalo Bill's, formed in 1883 and lasting until 1913...

 billed him as the greatest trick roper in the world. He toured throughout the United States and Europe with Pawnee Bill

Pawnee Bill

Pawnee Bill , born Gordon William Lillie, was a Wild West showman and performer.Best known for his short partnership with Buffalo Bill, Pawnee Bill was born February 14, 1860, in Bloomington, Illinois. Pawnee Bill and his show made several false starts during the latter part of the nineteenth...

, Buffalo Bill Cody, and the Miller Brothers 101 Ranch

Miller Brothers 101 Ranch

The Miller Brothers 101 Ranch was an cattle ranch in the Indian Territory of Oklahoma before statehood. Located near modern-day Ponca City, it was founded by Colonel George Washington Miller, a veteran of the Confederate Army, in 1893. The 101 Ranch was the birthplace of the 101 Ranch Wild West...

 Show. He and other performers executed the spectacular “Bailable a Caballo” in which riders and horses danced in pairs to the music of a twelve piece band.

In 1905 José Barrera married Effie Cole. Effie became a star in her own right. Her specialties were hurdle jumping, piloting four horses in a chariot race, the High School Horse Act, and the Western Ballet. The couple had two children, one who died in infancy and a daughter, Mary. With their daughter, the Barreras lived and worked at the Pawnee Bill Ranch near Pawnee, Oklahoma

Pawnee, Oklahoma

Pawnee is a city in Pawnee County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 2,230 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Pawnee County.-Geography:Pawnee is located at...

 for decades. Barrera was the Pawnee Bill Ranch foreman, overseeing livestock and agricultural activities. He died of old age in Pawnee Oklahoma on November 17, 1949.

Song

The country singer Jim Reeves

Jim Reeves

James Travis Reeves , better known as Jim Reeves, was an American country and popular music singer-songwriter. With records charting from the 1950s to the 1980s, he became well-known for being a practitioner of the Nashville sound...

' first big hit in 1953 was called Mexican Joe

Mexican Joe (song)

"Mexican Joe" is 1953 single by Jim Reeves. Accompanying Jim Reeves on "Mexican Joe" were the Circle O Ranch Boys and was Jim Reeves' debut single on the country charts...

.