Tehama - The Magazine

October 2014, TEHAMA - THE MAGAZINE 23 and Fred, and she and her husband use JBR for Jim and Bev Ross. Ross' brother now uses her parents' brand, which is still displayed on the old barn from her parents' days of raising cattle in the Flournoy area. Barton has had a long history with cattle in her family, who has used a few different brands over the years, she said. Her great-grandfather, Hillman Willard, was the first to raise cattle under the brand HW in the late 1800s, however, a problem with cattle theft caused him to shift to raising sheep. The family, who was living on Hogsback at the time, began to notice that while they had a whole bunch of cows, there weren't any calves. At the time, they had a suspicion as to who was stealing the calves with the theory that the person was sneaking in, taking the calves and putting his own brand on them. But the family was never able to catch the suspect in the act, Barton said. In the 1940s, Barton's father, Lyman Willard, decided to go back into cattle after having a difficult time getting hired help for sheep and suffering losses to coyotes and other predators. His symbol is a Lazy W, which means the W is turned 90 degrees. Today, both her daughter and granddaughter carry on the tradition of raising cattle with their families. Brand exhibit More than 50 cattle brands are on display at the Tehama County Museum, 275 C. St., in the city of Tehama. There one will see a legend helping to define some of the symbols, which the display interpretive board denotes originate from Egyptian hieroglyphics, such as bar, half circles and crosses. Museum Board President Chris Bauer said he is glad to have the display of brands from the courthouse. The display is in the Marty Graffell annex. "I hope people can see the educational value of having them on display," Bauer said.

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