Essay On Lucille Mulhall

Lucille Mulhall was born on October 21, 1885 in Oklahoma and died December 21, 1940 in Oklahoma when she got in a terrible vehicle accident. She is the first born child of Zach (1847-1931) and Mary Agnes Mulhall (1859-1931). Her sister’s name is Margaret Reed (1906-1925) and she was the last child born. She married her first husband in 1916 and his name was Martin Van Bergen. Lucille then divorced this man and married a man named Thomas Loyd Burnett (1871-1939). He was born in Denton County, Texas and died in Wichita County, Texas on December 26, 1938. Lucille Mulhall was a soft spoken and beautiful young lady. She was very feminine and had a very good education. When she was a teenager, she was known as one of the top cowboy performers in

the West. She was very strong, physically and mentally, and could beat men at their own games.

She loved the rough, dangerous life and cowboying was in her blood. If she would have been a man, she would have been happy to work on a ranch, but since she was a woman, she was a novelty. The only way she could make use of her talents was in the show business. Mulhall was known for the Cherokee Strip in 1925, and she was famous for roping and tying down steers. During 1905 she was famous for her ability to train horses and trick riding. She was inducted into the Rodeo Hall of Fame of the Rodeo Historical Society. Lucille was the first all-around champion cowgirl. She had many names that people knew her as or gave her. She was known as America’s Greatest Horse Woman, The Queen of the Saddle, Queen of the Western Prairie, America’s First Cowgirl and The Rodeo Queen. According to some history research, it was said that Teddy Roosevelt had told Lucille that “if she could rope a wolf”, that he would “invite her to his inaugural parade”. They say she came back “three hours later dragging a dead wolf behind

her.”
Lucille had been called a “cowgirl” since the day she was born. Because of all of the amazing things this lady had done, some people would say that she was one of the first cowgirls to give the word an actual meaning. Mulhall was one of the first females to contend in roping and riding events against men. She received titles such as, “Champion Lady Steer Roper of the World” and “Champion Lady Steer Tier”.
In 1913 she formed her own group and in 1916 she created her own rodeo that she called Mulhall’s Roundup.

Soon after this is when she married her first husband named Martin Van Bergen who was a cowboy singer. Together they had a child and it was a boy. They named him William Logan Van Bergen. When he was five years old he was living with his grandmother in Kansas. During this time Lucille had recently divorced Martin. Martin Van Bergen was furious and filed to sue Lucille for divorcing him. He charged her with desertion and also naming Homer Wilson in other serious ways. He wanted to take custody of William. The petition had argued that Lucille had deserted him more than a year before and had been traveling around the country with a Wild West show. She had been one of the most popular performer in the “Stampede” shown in Winnipeg the year before. All of her success shown in roping and tying steers had made her many admirers. She won the world’s championship women’s bucking contest defeating several remarkable

horsewomen.

She then married Tom Burnett. She was married to him for three years before divorcing him in 1917. His father was Burk, who established the Four Sixes Ranch in Texas. Tom was a multi-millionaire stockman in western Texas. Tom’s love for horses drew him into the show business, when he met the beautiful Lucille Mulhall. They became rodeo promoters and Lucille had appeared in the roping numbers of the rodeo’s program. Soon after this she had filed a petition for divorce. Incompatibility was the cause of the complaint. A week later the divorce was secretly granted in Oklahoma City. From history records, it is believed that she received $200,000 in cash and 5,000 acres of land by the terms of the decree. After all of this had happened, it was said that she had taken up the management of her father’s ranch near Mulhall, Oklahoma.. Her father, Zack Mulhall was a general livestock agent of the Frisco railway for many years. After Lucille had taken over her father’s ranch, she had retired around 1922 on that same ranch.
Much of Lucille’s popularity was due to her perfecting timing with her rope, unusual balance on her horse, and her tiny size and ladylike manner. The most important thing was she was dependable, coming from a sincere ranch background. When Lucille was a young child, she never like playing with dolls or sewing, or taking piano lessons. Instead, she preferred to brand yearlings and enjoyed roping wolves and jack-rabbits. She loved breaking and training her small horses and practiced trick riding that made her famous all over the country.
In 1940 Lucille was in a vehicle accident. She was less than a mile away from her family ranch. Her father, Zach Mulhall, was buried on the ranch and she was near his grave when she lost her life. She never had any idea that she was inducted into the Rodeo Hall of Fame (1975) and the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame (1977). After people had realized everything this lady was capable of, she was viewed as America’s first cowgirl.