Jesse Woodson James

Notes:

BIOGRAPHY: [Broderbund WFT Vol. 15, Ed. 1, Tree #1589]
Jesse was murdered by Robert Ford in St. Joseph, Mo. He was buried 29 June 1902 in Mt. Olivet Cem., Kearney, Clay, Mo. after he was moved from St. Joseph, with his wife. The pallbearers for Jesse were men who served with Jesse under Quantrill. Jesse was anxious to surrender and serve time and get out to be with his family but that didn't work. Jesse Jr. looked through the files in Kansas City and found a lot of crimes were charged up to the account of his hunted and outlawed father. One week would be a bold robbery in MO , saying it was the James Gang. Then the next week there would be a robbery in Texas, again the James Gang. Jesse Jr. said to have committed one-fourth of these crimes, his father would have to have been equipped with some means of extra-terrestrial transportation for him to rob a bank in West Virginia on Monday night and hold up a train in Texas three nights later. The very day Jesse was killed there was a bank robbery in Texas that the newspapers attributed to Jesse James Gang.

BIOGRAPHY: [Broderbund WFT Vol. 7, Ed. 1, Tree #4693]
By Russell M. Marshall, Sr., 9357 Bruce Dr., Franklin, Ohio
Jesse James was killed from ambush by Bob Ford. These famous outlaws Frank and Jesse Woodson James roamed and robbed far and wide and their gang had many things attributed to them not done by them. Jesse's middle name is given from a relationship to the Woodson family a branch of my family Anna Arzella Woodson my great grandmother who married Andrew Johnson, their son John my grandmother and dad's mother's family who lived in Rockcastle County, KY where Frank and members rode through there and would hide out reportedly after some of their raids into West Virginia, etc. A would-be hero deputy of Rockcastle County, KY heard they might be coming that way and lay an ambush for Frank and cohorts and one of the gang was wounded but the rest escaped. Another Woodson relative and her niece visited me in 1994 from Independence, MO and told me her grandmother as a small girl as Frank James had stopped over at the Woodson home where they had been fed and kept hidden had bent over off of his horse and given her grandmother a gold coin which she had treasured into her old age. To date I've not uncovered the middle name association of Jesse Woodson James so maybe a future family might because I've not got the health or resources at this present time, 1996. Frank and Jesse's father died during the 49ers Gold Rush in California and Frank lived until 1915 and is buried in the same town as my mother's grandpa in Kearney, Nebraska. [The author may be confusing Kearney, Neb. With Kearney, Mo., but Frank isn't buried there either! He's in Independence, MO] . . .

Died:
gunshot

Jesse married Zerelda Amanda Mimms on 24 Apr 1874 in Wife's Sister's Home, Kearney, Clay County, MO. Zerelda (daughter of John Wilson Mimms and Mary James) was born on 21 Jul 1845 in Logan County, KY; died on 13 Nov 1900 in Kansas City, Jackson County, MO; was buried on 29 Jun 1902 in Mt Olivet Cemetery, Kearney, Clay County, MO. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Mary Jane Susan James was born on 17 Jun 1879 in Nashville, Davidson County, TN; died on 11 Oct 1935 in Kearney, Clay County, MO.
2. Gould James was born in 1877 in Waverly, Benton County, TN; died in 1877 in Waverly, Benton County, TN.
3. Montgomery James was born in 1877 in Waverly, Benton County, TN; died in 1877 in Waverly, Benton County, TN.
4. Jesse Edwards James was born on 31 Aug 1875 in Nashville, TN; died on 26 Mar 1951 in Glendale, CA; was buried after 26 Mar 1951 in Forest Lawn Cemetery, Glendale, CA.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: 28 Sep 1850, Platte, Clay, Missouri; Census

Notes:

BIOGRAPHY: [Broderbund WFT Vol. 15, Ed. 1, Tree #1589]
After Robert and Mary married they moved to Kentucky and settled near Adairville, Logan County. They bought a 275-acre farm and this is where Jesse was born as well as Susan. Robert graduated from Georgetown College in Kentucky in June 1843 and received a Master of Arts Degree in 1847. He was an ordained Baptist minister in 1839. Two years before he graduated, he met and married Zerelda Cole, who was a student in a Catholic convent in Lexington, Kentucky. Robert worked his farm during the week with seven faithful Negro servants and served God on Sunday as a preacher, but was never paid for preaching. Two of the churches he founded are still inexistence today. They are the Providence Baptist Church in Clay Co. and the Pisgah Baptist Church near Excelsior Springs, Mo. Robert was also one of the founders of the William Jewell College in Liberty, Mo. His wife, Zerelda, told she saw her husband baptize as many as 65 people on one occasion. Jesse was baptized near the same place years later after returning from the Civil War. It was said by Zerelda, that had not Robert gone to the gold fields of California in 1850 to preach to the miners for a year that Frank and Jesse would not have had their violent history. Jesse pleaded with his father not to go. It took four months to get there and just three weeks later Robert died.

BIOGRAPHY: [Broderbund WFT Vol. 5, Ed. 1, Tree #2180]
Graduated from Georgetown College, Kentucky, and became a Baptist preacher. Moved to Clay Co., MO, and became pastor of New Hope Baptist Church there. Was a co-founder and trustee of William Jewell College. Went to California to look for gold in 1850 and died shortly thereafter. Was buried in an unmarked grave in California. (K. G. Lindsay)

Robert married Zerelda Elizabeth Cole on 28 Dec 1841 in Stamping Ground, Scott County, KY. Zerelda (daughter of James Cole and Sallie Lindsay) was born on 29 Jan 1825 in Black Horse Tavern, Woodford County, KY; died on 10 Feb 1911 in Oklahoma City, Cleveland County, OK; was buried after 10 Feb 1911 in Mt Olivet Cemetery, Kearney, Clay County, MO. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

BIOGRAPHY: [Broderbund WFT Vol. 15, Ed. 1, Tree #1589]
After Robert died in 1850 Zerelda Cole James remarried to a Dr. Reuben Samuel. She had four children by Reuben, but before she married Reuben she had married Benjamin Simms.
Zeralda had died while returning from a visit to Frank in Oklahoma. They took her off the train in OK City and later transferred to Kearney.
The James farm is located near Excelsior Springs, Clay, MO.
From this marriage came several notes of interest. Frances Peters Inskeep, niece of Simms, married Coleman Purcell Younger of Clay County and moved to San Jose, California. A nephew, named for the Younger, was the outlaw Cole Younger. Mary, the younger sister of Frances married Martin Ringo and also went to California. Their son, John Peters, was the "Johnny Ringo" of Tombstone, Arizona fame. Zerelda was therefore, by marriage, the great aunt of the Youngers and Ringo and hers sons cousins, but only by marriage. Also, another strange marriage was another distant relationship. Adaline Younger, who married James Lewis Dalton, became the mother of Bob, Grant and Emmett, the core of the famous Dalton Gang, was the half-sister of Coleman Purcell Younger. This made the James boys, the Youngers, Ringo and the Daltons distant cousins. And further coincidence is revealed that Bruce Younger, half-brother of Coleman, married Maybelle Reed, better known as Belle Starr.
Zerelda's hand was blown off and her youngest child (Archie-8 years old)was killed by a bomb that was thrown into her home at night by Pinkerton detectives who were seeking to kill or capture her "outlaw" sons. For this cowardly deed, Zerelda and her family were given a lifetime pass on the railroad. She made good use of the pass. When she couldn't find enough of her family she would "adopt" neighbors as family. They said she had a comic spirit always at hand. She had attended St. Catherine's Academy in Lexington, Kentucky and met Robert James there.

BIOGRAPHY: [Broderbund WFT Vol. 11, Ed. 1, Tree #0789]
At the age of fourteen (1839) Zerelda entered St. Catherine's Academy for women in Lexington, Ky. She met her husband, Robert, at a religious revival. Strong, domineering, outspoken, and fiercely protective of her surviving children (4 of eight), Zerelda had the size to back it up--5'8" and over 200 lbs. She married and buried three husbands to boot!

Notes:

BIOGRAPHY: [Broderbund WFT Vol. 15, Ed. 1, Tree #1589]
After John and Mary married they moved to Kentucky and settled in Adarville, Logan Co.

John married Mary Poor on 26 Mar 1807 in Goochland County, Virginia, USA. Mary (daughter of Robert Cornet Poor and Elizabeth Woodson Mimms) was born in 1790 in Goochland County, Virginia, USA; died in Feb 1827 in Logan County, KY. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

James married Sallie Lindsay in 1816/1826 in Scott County, KY. Sallie (daughter of III Anthony Lindsay and Alice Cole) was born on 15 Apr 1803 in Scott County, KY; died in 1829/1897 in Clay County, MO. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

BIOGRAPHY: [Broderbund WFT Vol. 5, Ed. 1, Tree #2180
Shortly after her second marriage, to Robert Thomason, the family moved from Woodford Co., Kentucky to Clay Co., MO.

William married Mary Hines on 15 Jul 1774 in Hanover County, Virginia, USA. Mary was born in 1736/1762 in England; died in 1791/1851. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Robert married Elizabeth Woodson Mimms on 7 Feb 1787 in Goochland County, Virginia, USA. Elizabeth (daughter of Shadrack Mimms and Elizabeth Woodson) was born on 3 Apr 1769 in Goochland County, Virginia, USA; died about 1823 in Kentucky. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Richard married Sally Yates about 1784 in Culpeper, KY. Sally was born in Oct 1763; died on 8 Nov 1836 in Midway, Woodford County, KY. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Anthony married Alice Cole in 1788 in Scott County, KY. Alice (daughter of Richard James Cole, Sr and Ann Hubbard) was born on 20 Jun 1769 in Kentucky; died on 7 Jul 1818 in Lindsay Station, Scott County, KY. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]