Career
Barrera was reportedly born in Monterrey, Mexico in 1876. In 1897, Pawnee Bill"s Wild West Show was the first to hire Jose as a performer. Only fifteen years old at the time, Jose was already an expert equestrian and roper.
He toured throughout the United States and Europe with Pawnee Bill, Buffalo Bill Cody, and the Miller Brothers 101 Ranch 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 Barrera married Effie Cole.
Cole became a star in her own right. Her specialties was the High School Horse Acting.
Jose was the Pawnee Bill Ranch foreman, overseeing livestock and agricultural activities.
He died of old age in Pawnee, Oklahoma on November 17, 1949. The country singer Jim Reeves" first big hit in 1953 was called Mexican Joe.
