Part 491: Baraboo Lodge No. 34
While researching Masonic ties to the Ringling brothers, I stumbled across an interesting online article at the Phoenixmasonry Masonic Museum and Library website. The following information was first published in “10,000 Famous Freemasons” and then reposted at Phoenixmasonry: “In the middle 1800’s an Alsatian named Juliar had three daughters whose descendants were to make circus history. One married August Ringling, father of the Ringling Brothers; one married Gottlieb G. Gollmar, father of the Gollmar Brothers; and the third married Henry Moeller, father of the Moeller Brothers. The Ringlings and, in a more modest degree, the Gollmars were to acquire fame as circus owners and operators. The Moellers likewise became famous as manufacturers of circus wagons and materials. All of the branches of this family had early and strong connections with Masonry.” Here is the link: http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/masonicmuseum/circus_masonic_fdcs.htm.
The three Juliar sisters were Marie Salome, Katherine, and Mary. Marie “Salome” married August Ringling (Rüngeling). Katherine married Gottleib Gollmar. Mary married Henry Moeller. The three sisters had a brother Nicholas Juliar (1841-1920) who collected his sisters’ circus memorabilia. Juliar was a banker, auctioneer, and member of the Minnesota House of Representatives for two terms. His personal effects and family clippings are now part of the Memorial Library, Southern Minnesota Historical Center, Minnesota State University – Mankato.
I am not surprised about the fraternal connection to circus families; this would open the same doors that it did for traveling salesmen. Wherever they went, if there was a Masonic Lodge, there would be a network of support. But were there specific lodges that circus families connected with during their respite in winter quarters? We know that the entire Ringling family belonged to Baraboo Lodge No. 34 in Baraboo, Wisconsin. The Ringling Brothers’ Circus winter quarters were in Baraboo.
Gottlieb G. Gollmar (1823-1914), was one of seven charter members of Baraboo Lodge No. 34 (Wisconsin State Journal, 27 June 1942, page 3). He was also founder of the Gollmar Brothers circuses. Gottleib was the son on of Joachim Gollmar & Franziska Caroline Wolf, born in Baden-Würtemmberg, Germany. He immigrated to the United States at the age of 9 and the family settled in Valley City, Ohio. He married Mary Magdeline Juliar in Chicago on 17 Nov 1848. A blacksmith by trade, he had also worked as a driver on the Erie canal alongside his friend James A Garfield. He moved to Baraboo in 1851.
Mary Juliar Gollmar’s sister, Marie “Salome” Juliar, married August Rüngeling; their children formed the Ringling Brothers circus. The Gollmar Bros. Circus was operated by brothers Walter, Fred, Charles, Ben and Jake Gollmar and lasted until 1926, finally touring as the Patterson-Gollmar Bros. Circus.
Henry and Corwin Moeller were the first cousins to both the Ringling and Gollmar brothers, operating the Moeller Bros. Wagon Co., a blacksmith shop and wagon manufactory. The family business was founded by their father Henry Moeller in June 1856 (Wisconsin State Journal, 265 April 1937, page 12). Henry was born in Saxony and learned the trade of a wagon maker in Milwaukee over the course of four years when he arrived in the United States. He married the third Juliar sister Katherine.
Their shop was located at Third Avenue in Baraboo where they built many of the ornate wagons for the Ringling Brothers’ circus, including the famous Bell Wagon of 1892. For many years, the wagons used by the Ringling Brothers were made exclusively in the Moeller Bros. shops, costing as much as $800 each, exclusive of painting.
After the death of their father, the Moeller sons carried the business and transitioned more to the making of house cars and constructing special bodies for automobiles, instead of the carriages, buggies and wagons that Henry Sr. took pride (Wisconsin State Journal, 25 April 1937, page 12).
The Moellers, Gollmars and Ringlings all belonged to Baraboo Lodge No. 34.
To be continued…
