To read part 1: https://www.pchswi.org/post/the-engford-family-circus-part-1
To read part 2: https://www.pchswi.org/post/the-engford-family-circus-part-2
Family Tree
Robert Engford: June 8, 1883 - February 17, 1967.
Born in Germany, passed away in Plover, Wisconsin.
Amanda Auguste Louise Raduchel Engford: November 4, 1885 - February 15,1945.
Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Married Robert on March 10, 1904. Passed away in Plover, Wisconsin.
Harry William Otto Engford: May 15, 1905 - December 1, 1973.
Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Robert and Amanda. Passed away in Hammond, Indiana.
Lois Estelle Espenscheid Engford: April 17, 1912 - March 5, 1974.
Born in Plover, Wisconsin. Married Harry on February 19, 1936. Passed away in Chicago, Illinois.
Florence Clara Engford: January 1, 1909 - October 27, 2001.
Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Robert and Amanda. Passed away in Baraboo, Wisconsin.
Ruthie Engford Clark: April 15, 1940 - Present.
Born in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, to Harry and Lois. Married Frank on September 17, 1966.
Frank Edward Clark: October 15, 1929 - Present.
Born in Chicago, Illinois. Resides in Florida with Ruthie.
David Harry Engford: April 19, 1943 - Present.
Born in Plover, Wisconsin. Resides in Baraboo, Wisconsin.
Life After Retirement
After Robert, Amanda, and Florence left circus performing in 1939 their lives took a much different path than the lives of Harry, Lois, Ruthie, Frank, and David.
Robert Engford took a job at the Cash and Carry lumber company in Plover. After his experience building and maintaining the show caravan, trucks, tent, stage, and props, he was a well-qualified cabinet maker. He worked there until his wife, Amanda, passed away on February 15, 1945. Robert retired and devoted his time to a huge garden at home; he raised a variety of vegetables and gladiolas. He dug up the gladiola bulbs every fall and replanted them in spring. On Sundays he and the family would take a bouquet of flowers to Amanda's grave in the Plover Cemetery.
Robert's daughter, Florence, never married and lived in the family's Plover home for the rest of her life. Florence got a job at Weber's Fly Tying Company (also known as Weber's Fly Company and Weber's Tackle Company) in Stevens Point and worked there most days. Robert loved to cook and bake and would have dinner prepared for her homecoming each evening. They canned the garden's vegetables for winter and lived companionably together.
Florence was deeply involved in local organizations and had a thriving social and charitable life. Florence was part of the Rebekahs, the Plover Royal Neighbors of America, the Plover Seniors, and the Plover Methodist Church. At the church she was a part of the choir and a member of the Women's Society of Christian Service. In her free time she continued to play the piano, sing, and paint. She visited local nursing homes to give piano concerts and host sing-a-longs. She loved to give back and was always happy to see her family when they returned from circus tours and performances.
While in-between tour stops or during breaks in their traveling schedule, it was common for Harry, Lois, Ruthie, and David to return home to Plover to visit Robert and Florence. David enjoyed working backstage on the props, lighting, and technical side of the circus. Harry, Lois, and Ruthie would take the stage. Coming home was a respite from traveling life and allowed the family to reconnect after long months apart.
Life continued this way until a very special day for Robert in 1964. Harry, Lois, and Ruthie were performing at the Circus World Museum in Baraboo, Wisconsin, and Robert traveled to see them. During the show the ringmaster, Paul Luckey, made an announcement during the performance, explaining that they had a guest in the crowd who had operated a fully motorized circus during the 1920s and 1930s. Paul Luckey asked Robert to stand up and be recognized. David Engford had been working in the prop department at Circus World; was it him that tipped off Luckey about Robert's visit, or did Harry mention it to the ringmaster before the show began? We don't know how Luckey knew, but we know it was very appreciated; Robert had not been feeling well that year. Luckey later wrote a letter to Robert and encouraged him to rest and recuperate.
Robert Engford at the Circus World Museum in 1964. In the second photo, in order, are Ringmaster Paul Luckey, Florence, Lois, Robert, unknown, Harry. All photos from the PCHS collections.
Robert Engford died on February 17, 1967. His legacy as a circus performer would live on through his son Harry and granddaughter Ruthie. He had started a very unique record; with the exception of the years during WWII (1942-1945) there was an Engford circus performance every year from 1900 to 2000. Florence continued to live in the family home as the sole occupant. She continued her family's traditions of displaying a lush fern in the living room's bay window. During the Christmas holiday season a colorful tree would be placed there instead. Florence lived in the family home until 2000 when she moved to Jefferson Meadows Care Center in Baraboo, Wisconsin. The Engford family came to a decision and donated the building to the Portage County Historical Society. After it was moved to Heritage Park, PCHS volunteers worked with the family to record their history and display relevant artifacts from the Engford Family Circus.
Circus Life - the Second Generation on the Road
Robert's son, Harry, continued to travel with his family. His daughter, Ruthie described their travels and explained that "Plover is where we always came home to. We were always on the road and traveling to perform shows. We stayed a year in Pittsburg, part of a year in Des Moines, part of a year in Kansas City, a year in St. Louis, and so on. Always coming back to Plover several times during the year."
In the early 60's Harry, Lois, Ruthie, and David bought a mobile home in Chicago and lived there because work was closer there than in Plover. While living in Chicago Ruthie met her future husband, Frank Clark. Ruthie and Frank stayed in close contact while on separate performance tours. In the mid-1960s Ruthie was involved with the Circus World Museum in Baraboo, Wisconsin. She began performing under the pseudonym Estreleta (Spanish for "little star), with two shows a day and a daily "slide for life" act. The slide for life was a physically demanding performance where Ruthie would support herself using a strap around her head, with her weight resting on the strap's loop around the back of her neck. She would then plummet down a long zipline, reaching 60 miles per hour as she crossed above the raging Baraboo River before dismounting without injury.
Estreleta performs her slide for life, flying across the Baraboo river in front of a crowd. She is supported only by a looped strap positioned around the back of her head, and could reach over 60mph before coming to a stop. Photos are from the PCHS collections. The looped strap is also in the PCHS collections.
Harry, Lois, and Ruthie performed together from 1948-1966. When Ruthie married her husband, Frank Clark, they began traveling together as Francarro and Estreleta; America's Premier Aerialists. Harry and Lois continued to travel together and operate the Engford Circus as a booking agency. They hired various acts for their show, including Frank and Ruthie. Harry never quit; he worked until he passed away on December 1, 1973. Lois followed him on March 5, 1974. They were buried in the Plover Cemetery.
The Third Generation - Francarro and Estreleta
Frank and Ruthie met in Chicago while performing in the circus industry. As aerial artists, their first performance was under a flying helicopter. They felt it was only fitting to get married under one as well, and were married while hanging from a helicopter in Ontario, Canada. They wore earpieces so they could communicate with the best man, who was the pilot, and the minister and maid of honor who were riding inside.
That ceremony took trust, and their trust in each other would continue throughout their circus careers and their marriage. Traveling across the country, into Canada, and even overseas, Francarro and Estreleta would become known for incredible feats. They performed helicopter-boosted trapeze tricks until their pilot was lost in a crash (unrelated to their circus act) and they discontinued the stunts, instead switching to high trapezes, Roman Rings, and suspended hoops.
"We have been very lucky ourselves," said Ruthie in a 1983 interview with the Milwaukee Sentinel, "In all the years we have been performing, we have never had an accident".
This was incredible not just because of the daredevil stunts they performed, but because they did not use a safety net. They both trusted their physical abilities before their marriage, and they used their aerial skills to build their legacy together.
Above, photos of Estreleta in the Circus World Museum in 1965. Photos from the PCHS collections.
The love of performing was always part of Frank's life, even before he met Ruthie. While his father hoped that Frank would become a metallurgical engineer like he was, Frank instead was drawn to the circus arts. He started attending a school to learn gymnastics, tumbling, and dance. His first work in show business was performing with a dance group in stage productions that toured throughout the United States and Canada during the summer of 1952. Frank was taken in by a group of parallel bar performers called the "Noble Trio". One member of the trio was leaving the group and Frank was able to take their place. During this time he decided to learn how to balance on his head on a suspended trapeze. Frank said "the first head-balancing trapeze act that really impressed me was done by Mario Gaona. He climbed up to the rigging hand-over-hand, did a perfect one-arm planche, and stood on his head on the trapeze while it was swinging! Wow, I thought to myself, that is really something! The more I thought of it, the more I wanted to do that kind of work!" In 1972 he was interviewed in Louisville, Kentucky, before a performance. He remarked that;
"circus performers really enjoy their work. Not many people are paid to do what they enjoy. Somehow, you never lose the feeling, the love of the circus."
Francarro shows off his balancing skills on a moving trapeze. In the third photo he spins rings on his arms and ankles while the trapeze continues to swing. Photos from the PCHS collections.
Frank designed his own trapeze rigging and stunts while performing with the Trio and gradually learned more in-between his parallel bar performances. In 1963 a senior member of the Noble Trio booked a gig for Frank; he was going to show off his trapeze balancing on a Chicago TV show called Bozo's Circus. It went so well that he got to try it again, in person, at the indoor circus in Atlanta, Georgia. Remembering his show, Frank said "My goodness, the rigging looked so high! The spotlights! Such a huge audience! All the other performers watching to see my new act! Talk about being nervous. All I could think was, get up on the rigging and start! So I literally ran into the ring, climbed up, stood on my head and I could feel my legs shaking. But I finished the act and everybody was clapping!"
In the two years before Frank and Ruthie married, they spent most of their time apart on separate circus contracts. Ruthie was working with her family circus and was dedicated to the Circus World Museum in Baraboo. Frank was booked to spend a full year with the Billy Smart Circus in England. His time abroad was wonderful and he got to perform for English royalty; Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon were in attendance for one of his final shows. Then Frank was booked to visit the Paris Cirque D'Hiver and Cirque Medrano before he spent another season with Billy Smart in England. But time apart was wearing on both Frank and Ruthie. In February of 1966 Frank left multiple work offers in Europe and returned to Ruthie in Baraboo.
Ruthie had just seen Bill and Trudy Strong perform an aerial act they called "The Pharohs". They were artistic, they were graceful, and they made a stunning entrance in floor-length jeweled capes. While Frank was wrapping up his work in Europe, Ruthie asked Mayme Ward, a retired aerialist and the head of wardrobe design at both the Circus World Museum and the Great Milwaukee Circus Parade to create a set of glorious capes for her and Frank to use, just in case he returned.
Ruthie's trust in Frank paid off and together Francarro and Estreleta were aerialist royalty. They performed across Canada in 1966 before their public marriage on September 17, 1966.
Just a few of the gorgeous costumes, with matching capes, that Francarro and Estreleta performed in. Their stunts often relied on each other, with Frank hanging from one perch and holding out the trapeze, roman ring, or ladder that Estreleta would be hanging from. They had deep trust in one another for these performances. All photos from the PCHS collections.
For 35 years Frank and Ruthie performed together. Frank continued his head-balancing trapeze act continuously from 1963 to 1980. At that time he replaced it with a foot-juggling act he called "The Francarros" where Ruthie would give him different objects to juggle, most notably a large red and gold cylinder and a large white ball. Later they retired The Francarros and ran a comedy act called "The Brigadier; last of the Great Welsh Cannonballs" that used a car cannon, puppets, and musical instruments.
Francarro and Estreleta in various foot-juggling shots from their performance as The Francarros. The red and gold cylinder is part of the PCHS collections. Photos from the PCHS collections.
Various photos from Francarro and Estreleta's performances as The Brigadier; a comedy act. Photos from the PCHS collections.
An interview with Ruthie Engford, including some photos and clips of her performances. This interview was conducted before 2015. Video is from the PCHS collections.
Into the Future; the 2000's and Beyond
Frank and Ruthie retired together in 2000. They started working behind the scenes for opera performances, stage plays, and musicals in Sarasota, Florida. They loved supporting other passionate performers and could uniquely relate to the "opening night nerves" and demands that constant practice put on the cast and crew. Frank and Ruthie have continued to work backstage and are grateful to still be involved in the world of entertainment.
In 2018 Ruthie shared that "Frank has worked at the Sarasota Opera for 12 years, nine of them he was property master and head of the department. The "props" at the Opera consists of anything that moves on and off stage, like chairs, tables, lanterns, torches, swords, rifles, glasses, cups, etc. This 'on and off' of items must go smoothly, noiselessly, and accurately."
Turning to her own involvement, Ruthie said "I have been at the Sarasota Opera for 18 years, 17 of them as department head of wardrobe in charge of all the costumes for the running of the performances. Making sure all three floors of dressing-rooms are changed over to the next set of costumes for the next performance, which is a different opera. Many operas will have a hundred or more separate costumes. I have a crew of 6 dressers and it is our job to assist the performers getting into and out of the costumes, often huge dresses that lace up the back or heavy Medieval-style doublets with capes for the men." Ruthie's experience as a third-generation costume designer and seamstress really came into play here.
Ruthie and her brother, David, have donated a number of items to the Circus World Museum including the Engford truck, which has been restored and now carries a calliope. They also donated an Engford caravan and many items from their shows, including early musical instruments.
Ruthie, David, and Frank also donated a number of items to the Portage County Historical Society. Here in Portage County there were no more Engfords living in the family home, and the items that Florence left behind also had historic significance. The Engford house was known locally as the circus house and was the oldest continuously inhabited home in Portage County as of 2000. The home was moved in December of 2000. The family has donated other items to the Society, including an Engford caravan for traveling, family furniture, a circus tent, photographs and DVD recordings of their acts, performance props and costumes, and musical instruments.
Ruthie, David, and Frank stayed involved with the Portage County Historical Society after donating so much of their history. They visited the park many times over the years, and would bring extended relatives to show them their home and history. The Engford family also gave PCHS permission to use wood from their original barn in the construction of the barn that is now at Heritage Park, in Plover.
Portage County's circus history lives on through PCHS. During our open hours, events, and yearly Heritage Days celebration, we invite you to visit us in Plover to learn more about this fascinating family and their impact on our community.
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