I remember from my almost five decades in the public-school system the ongoing conversation we often had about minorities and women and their underrepresentation in the history curriculum. Specifically, in our American history courses, was it really possible (or even logical) to conclude that almost all the important contributions over the years were made by white males?

The good news is that there now appears to be a genuine effort in public education to present history in a more factual and balanced manner.

With retirement, I found myself writing a number of historical articles about local women. That was not because I was artificially trying to balance any imagined scale, but just because women happened to quite naturally be significant contributors to our collective past.

Modern day female writers, historic reenactresses, town historians, a women’s prison superintendent along with a prison doctor, would be examples. Famous female travelers to our area such as Sarah Kemble Knight, Waterford’s Anne Rogers Minor of Daughters of the American Revolution fame and Block Island emigrant Mercy Raymond, who had survived an encounter with the notorious pirate Captain Kidd, would be others. A female Littlefield ancestor would also be tossed into the mix.

But there was one woman in particular, one who in my mind distanced herself from the others. All achievements aside, perhaps it was the great unfairness of being so good at what she did early in life, only to fade into relative obscurity with time, that attracted me to her story. Her name was Tillie Baldwin, and, simply put, she was a cowgirl. In fact, it might be said with little or no exaggeration, the woman was a “cowgirl extraordinaire.”

It would take a visit by an Oklahoman whose father was once married to the woman, an enigmatic tombstone and a “heads up” from the East Lyme town historian for me to meet this person for the first time.

Her grave lay in a familiar cemetery, but I never noticed it. She enjoyed national fame, but I never read about it. She lived quietly in East Lyme in her later years and even briefly rented Littlefield property in town, but nobody had ever bothered to pass that information along to me.

No, Tillie Baldwin and I were complete strangers.

The story of Tillie Baldwin, whose birth name was Anna Winger, began in Norway with her birth in 1888. At age 18 she came to the United States to live with an aunt in New York City. This young woman was attractive and extremely athletic. She had excelled at skiing, skating and canoeing in her native land but her new dream in America was to become a hairdresser.

She learned English quickly and enrolled in cosmetology school, but that would not become her life’s work. On a chance outing with friends on Staten Island, Winger would observe several Hollywood cowgirls practicing trick and bronc riding for a movie that was being made with Will Rogers and several other notable western actors. Those images became indelibly etched in her young mind.

Winger had never ridden a horse before, but with her athletic skill and a friend who had access to a horse stable, she soon learned. Not satisfied with just becoming an accomplished rider, she soon began to challenge herself in other ways. She was fearless and creative.

Winger found she had an intuitive knowledge of horses. She soon joined a small wild west touring group as a trick and bronc rider. While working for Captain Johnny Baldwin, she changed her name to Tillie and took his last name, although the two never married. The stage was now set for this woman to travel a path that would eventually lead to her induction into the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum’s Rodeo Hall of Fame.

Elizabeth Hall Kuchta is the East Lyme town historian and very good at what she does. I’ve worked with her on many historical “cold cases” over the years. She asked me some time back if I had ever heard of Baldwin. Kuchta had recently run into someone special at a historical society function and said if I was interested in pursuing this story to contact Susan Slate Stromberg out in Oklahoma.

Stromberg was the daughter of William Slate from Old Lyme, who just happened to once be married to this famous cowgirl.

Stromberg promptly responded to my phone calls, emails and eventually came in person with her husband to visit our home in Niantic. The story of Tillie Baldwin slowly began to unfold.

“The way I heard it told, it started with a chance encounter with Will Rogers,” Stromberg began. “Got her to move west to Oklahoma to begin a career as a professional cowgirl. She entered and won numerous cowgirl contests and joined several Wild West shows along the way. She became a superstar, doing things that most men found extremely dangerous. Roman riding done while standing on the backs of two horses, and steer bulldogging, to name just two.

“No other woman at the time jumped from the back of a speeding horse, grabbed a bull by the horns and wrestled the beast to the ground. She dressed differently than the other girls, too, in her signature black outfit with bloomers and a middy blouse which allowed her to perform handstands and other athletic tricks that would have been impossible to do in skirts. She was exciting to watch and gained the love and admiration of many thousands who were lucky enough to have seen her perform.”

Baldwin might stand on her saddle or balance on her hands while on horseback, sometimes acrobatically dropping to one side with her head stopping just inches from the ground. She was an expert at the dangerous but popular event called “drunk riding” where the horseman pretended to be intoxicated and would narrowly escape repeated falls from the saddle, much to the delight of the cheering crowd.

Many press clippings from the early 1900s dot the pages of a new book recently sent to the East Lyme Historical Society titled “Tillie Baldwin: Cowgirl Extraordinaire” by Connie Fairfield Ganz. (It is good to see Tillie is finally getting some of the attention she deserves.)

“There is probably no more fabulous a character in the bright annals of women’s sport than Tillie Baldwin, cowgirl.”

“Tillie Baldwin, world champion cowgirl will perform her blood-tingling equestrienne stunts tomorrow…”.

“She is the most daring horsewoman in America today.”

“Tillie performed a splendid exhibition, despite the fact that her own horse had not yet arrived.”

“Miss Baldwin was proclaimed the world’s champion female bronco buster.”

“Tillie defended her star reputation today with yet another victory.”

“Tillie Baldwin rode with wild abandon at a headlong pace and brought the crowd to their feet.”

“Tillie wins again.”

“World champion trick rider, Tillie Baldwin, adds the international championship ladies relay cup to her collection.”

“Tillie was the main feature of today’s Stampede.”

“Tillie Baldwin won the cowgirl’s relay race again, as usual.” “Tillie Baldwin, bronco buster, is once again headliner.”

“Miss Tillie Baldwin rode away from the arena today, covered in dust and tired to the bone, but bearing (her new) crown as the crowd cheered, cheered, cheered and cheered.”

Many more headlines and testimonials are included in Ganz’s book.

“As her fabulous rodeo career began to wind down, she was introduced by her friend, Will Rogers, to a man by the name of Fred Stone, who was a well known comedic actor and vaudevillian,” Stromberg said. “Fred had a ranch in East Lyme, Connecticut, and asked Tillie if she would consider moving east to manage it. She took him up on that offer and ran what was called the ‘Star Riding Academy’ for a number of years.” (“Stone’s Ranch” is now the National Guard facility on Boston Post Road.)

According to Ganz, Stromberg’s father lived there with Baldwin after they were married in 1925, and the couple later bought a home on Four Mile River Road in Old Lyme.

Tillie Baldwin died of heart complications at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital in New London in 1958. William Slate remarried shortly after her death to Annie Eikeland (coincidently, also of Norwegian ancestry) and became a father for the first time as he approached the age of 60. They would have three daughters together, Stromberg being one.

Slate died in 1975, but his second wife lived until 1998. She is buried in Coventry.

Why and when Baldwin was buried in the Union Cemetery family plot next to her earlier husband in East Lyme remains a mystery. (It should be noted that her name on the Slate family tombstone was “Anna M. Winger,” which may also help to explain Baldwin’s increasingly low profile with time.)

But thanks to recent interest and research, Tillie Baldwin has managed to return to us once again.

Perhaps she brings with her a lesson for today’s readers to consider. “Grab life by the reigns, folks,” we might hear her announce with the enthusiasm that had always defined her. “And then hold on for dear life and ‘just let ‘er buck.’”

Jim Lttlefield is a longtime retired history teacher in East Lyme. His column also appears in the Post Road Review.