Lt. Richard James COLE

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Richard Cole Jr. (4-23-1763 to 7-9-1839) married Sally Yates. He was a wealthy farmer; operated the Black Horse Inn; he was one of the first constables of Woodford County and was commissioned Lieutenant in the Woodford Light Infantry Company, November 10, 1796.

There were striking similarity in the personalities of Richard and his granddaughter Zerelda, they had strong personalities, blunt acceptance of facts pleasant or unpleasant, high courage and almost fanatical loyalty to their families. They were friends to be desired and enemies to be feared and avoided. Richard Cole Junior's latter days were marred by violent and tragic events, which did not cease with his death but continued to plague his family unto "the third and forth generation."

Richard and Sallie's children were:
William Cole, Mary Cole, Elizabeth Cole, Sally Cole, Jesse Cole, and Amos Cole who were killed in a fight at Black Horse Inn 1827. James Cole (2-8-1804 to 9-27-1833) was married to his first cousin Sally Lindsay. She had only two children before his death. It is said he died after being thrown from a horse. Zerelda was then only two years old, she continued to live at the Black Horse Inn with her grandfather as guardian. After James death her mother married again to Robert Thomason whom Zerelda did not favor. According to members of the family Zerelda "hated" Robert Thomason and became a favorite to her Grandfather, Richard Cole Jr. who gave her the proper education and training to become a lady of prominence. When Sally and Robert moved to Clay County Mo. Zerelda did not accompany them, instead she went to live with her Uncle James M. Lindsay, at Stamping Ground, Scott Co. Ky

Richard married Sarah Sally YATES in 1787 in Of Midway, Woodford, Kentucky. Sarah was born on 1 Oct 1765 in Pennsylvania; died on 8 Nov 1836 in Midway, Woodford, Kentucky; was buried in Nov 1836 in Cole Family Cemetery, Midway, Woodford, Kentucky. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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James Cole (2-8-1804 to 9-27-1833) was married to his first cousin Sally Lindsay. She had only two children before his death. It is said he died after being thrown from a horse. Zerelda was then only two years old, she continued to live at the Black Horse Inn with her grandfather as guardian. After James death her mother married again to Robert Thomason whom Zerelda did not favor. According to members of the family Zerelda "hated" Robert Thomason and became a favorite to her Grandfather, Richard Cole Jr. who gave her the proper education and training to become a lady of prominence. When Sally and Robert moved to Clay County Mo. Zerelda did not accompany them, instead she went to live with her Uncle James M. Lindsay, at Stamping Ground, Scott Co. Ky

By the time school ended in the spring of 1841 Robert James and Zerelda were not speaking. Most young men in those days had strong beliefs that a woman should be silent and not express their political thoughts. Zerelda was of the Cole and Lindsay Families, who had been famous for their courageous deeds during the Revolutionary War. She inherited these same traits, and with her education it made her unwilling to comply with his wishes. But three days later before fall 1841, the desire and love for Zerelda was too strong, Robert proposed to her and they were married December 28, 1841 at the home of Uncle Judge James Madison Lindsay, in Stamping Ground, Kentucky. He was 23 and she was 17 years old. The house is still standing and presently owned by Marguerite Sprague on Locust Fork Pike, Scott County.

The following August they left for Clay County, Missouri, to visit her mother Sarah, and her step-dad Robert Thomason. He returned to Georgetown leaving alone his pregnant wife with her mother. His desire was to finish his final year of theological training and return home by next Christmas, but the Missouri River was frozen the poor roads were treacherous, so it was spring after he had graduated before he arrived at Kearney, to reunite with his wife and a new son born January 10, 1843, Alexander Franklin James. He later returned to Georgetown College in 1848 where he received his Masters Degree. He then decided to settle in Clay County where he purchased a farm from Asa W. Thomason, near Centerville, a town which later changed it's name to Kearney. The farm had no house and they built a cabin during the next spring. Robert bought two slaves. He combined farming and preaching to make a living. He founded the Baptist churches at New Hope and Providence.

In 1851, he went to California. Jesse was only 4 years old at this time. He went in order to get money to educate his children. The trip lasted from April 21 to August 1, 3 months. Robert died 18 days after arriving in California. and is buried there. He died August 18, 1850 near Placerville El Dorado California.

James married Sarah "Sallie" LINDSAY in 1824 in Woodford, Kentucky. Sarah (daughter of Anthony LINDSAY and Ailsey COLE) was born on 15 Apr 1803; died on 12 Oct 1851 in Clay, Missouri. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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Notes:

James Cole (2-8-1804 to 9-27-1833) was married to his first cousin Sally Lindsay. She had only two children before his death. It is said he died after being thrown from a horse. Zerelda was then only two years old, she continued to live at the Black Horse Inn with her grandfather as guardian. After James death her mother married again to Robert Thomason whom Zerelda did not favor. According to members of the family Zerelda "hated" Robert Thomason and became a favorite to her Grandfather, Richard Cole Jr. who gave her the proper education and training to become a lady of prominence. When Sally and Robert moved to Clay County Mo. Zerelda did not accompany them, instead she went to live with her Uncle James M. Lindsay, at Stamping Ground, Scott Co. Ky

By the time school ended in the spring of 1841 Robert James and Zerelda were not speaking. Most young men in those days had strong beliefs that a woman should be silent and not express their political thoughts. Zerelda was of the Cole and Lindsay Families, who had been famous for their courageous deeds during the Revolutionary War. She inherited these same traits, and with her education it made her unwilling to comply with his wishes. But three days later before fall 1841, the desire and love for Zerelda was too strong, Robert proposed to her and they were married December 28, 1841 at the home of Uncle Judge James Madison Lindsay, in Stamping Ground, Kentucky. He was 23 and she was 17 years old. The house is still standing and presently owned by Marguerite Sprague on Locust Fork Pike, Scott County.

The following August they left for Clay County, Missouri, to visit her mother Sarah, and her step-dad Robert Thomason. He returned to Georgetown leaving alone his pregnant wife with her mother. His desire was to finish his final year of theological training and return home by next Christmas, but the Missouri River was frozen the poor roads were treacherous, so it was spring after he had graduated before he arrived at Kearney, to reunite with his wife and a new son born January 10, 1843, Alexander Franklin James. He later returned to Georgetown College in 1848 where he received his Masters Degree. He then decided to settle in Clay County where he purchased a farm from Asa W. Thomason, near Centerville, a town which later changed it's name to Kearney. The farm had no house and they built a cabin during the next spring. Robert bought two slaves. He combined farming and preaching to make a living. He founded the Baptist churches at New Hope and Providence.

In 1851, he went to California. Jesse was only 4 years old at this time. He went in order to get money to educate his children. The trip lasted from April 21 to August 1, 3 months. Robert died 18 days after arriving in California. and is buried there. He died August 18, 1850 near Placerville El Dorado California.

Their children were:
Alexander Franklin James (Frank) - born Jan. 10, 1844
Robert James - born July 19, 1845 - he died in infancy
Jesse Woodson James - born Sept. 5, 1847 - died April 3, 1882
Susan L. James - born Nov. 25, 1849. She married on Nov. 11, 1870 to Allen H. Palmer. She died in 1889.

Zerelda James remained a widow for four (4) years, and then she was married to a Mr. Sims, who died. She then married Dr. Reuben Samuels in 1855.

Their children were:
Sarah L. Samuels - born Dec. 26, 1858. She was married on Nov. 28, 1878 to William Nicholson.
John T. Samuels - born May 25, 1861. He married on July 22, 1885 to Norma L. Maret.
Fannie Quantrell Samuels - born Oct. 18, 1863. She married on Dec. 30, 1880 to Joseph Hall.
Archie Payton Samuels - born July 26, 1866. He was murdered by Pinkerton detectives on Jan. 26, 1875.

Dr. Samuels and Zerelda lived in a neighborhood of Northern sympathizers, of course Dr. Samuels and Zerelda were Southern sympathizers, which lead to cruelty towards their family. Dr. Samuels was hung up three times because he did not know the whereabout of Quantrell's band. Jesse was in the fields working at this time. The Militia went to the fields and whipped Jesse up and down the rows of corn and then took him to the barn where they were torturing his step-father. The Militia then went to the house and confronted Mrs. Samuels (Mrs. Robert James) at gun point. They then took Mrs. Samuels and her daughter to jail at St. Joseph and imprisoned them for 25 days. Jesse James decided after this incident that he would not allow the militia, lawmen, or anyone else to treat him that way again. It is no wonder that Jesse joined the Quantrell's gang after his family was beaten, imprisoned, tortured, persecuted at every turn and driven from home.
Legend said that the two brothers were brutal murders and came from an illiterate family. The brothers robbed banks and stole from the railroads because those institutions were forcing people into poverty, raised grain prices which forced farmers to sell their farms. Jesse came to their aid. As far as being illiterate, there are alot of letters written by Frank and Jesse that were well written.

Zerelda married Rev. Robert Sallee JAMES on 28 Dec 1841 in Stamping Ground, Scott, Kentucky. Robert (son of John Martin JAMES and Mary Gardner "Polly" POOR) was born on 17 Jul 1818 in Lickskillet, Logan County, Kentucky; died on 18 Aug 1850 in Placerville, El Dorado County, California. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Zerelda married Dr. Reuben SAMUELS in 1855. Reuben was born on 12 Jan 1828 in Owen, Kentucky; died on 1 Mar 1908 in Saint Joseph, Buchanan, Missouri. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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Alexander Franklin "Frank" James was born in Kearney, Missouri, to Baptist minister Reverend Robert Sallee James and his wife Zerelda (Cole) James. The couple came from Kentucky. He was of English, Welsh and Scottish descent. Frank was the oldest of three children. His father died in 1851 and his mother remarried Benjamin Simms in 1852. After his death, she married a third time to Dr. Reuben Samuel in 1855, when Frank was 13 years old. As a child, James showed interest in his late father's sizable library, especially the works of William Shakespeare. Census records show that James attended school regularly, and he reportedly wanted to become a teacher.

Civil War
The American Civil War began in 1861, when James was eighteen years old. The secessionists in Missouri, including Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson, attempted to drive the Union army out of the state, but were eventually defeated. The James family was from the heavily Confederate western portion of the state. On September 13, 1861, the Missouri State Guard, including private Frank James, besieged Lexington, Missouri. James fell ill and was left behind when the Confederate forces retreated. He surrendered to the Union troops, was paroled, and was allowed to return home. On his arrival, however, he was arrested by the local pro-Union militia and was forced to sign an oath of allegiance to the Union.

After the withdrawal of regular Confederate troops in the fall of 1861, a bitter guerrilla conflict soon began between bands of pro-Confederate irregulars (commonly known as bushwhackers) and the Union homeguards. By early 1863, Frank, ignoring his parole and oath of allegiance, had joined the guerrilla band of Fernando Scott, a former saddler. He soon switched to the more active command led by William Clarke Quantrill.

Union militiamen searching for Fernando Scott raided the Samuel farm and hanged Dr. Reuben Samuel (though not fatally), Frank's stepfather, torturing him to reveal the location of the guerrillas. Shortly afterward, Frank took part with Quantrill's company in the August 21, 1863 Lawrence Massacre where approximately 200 mostly unarmed civilians were killed.

Frank James was paroled July 27, 1865 in Nelson County, Kentucky. There is a report that after his parole, Frank was involved in a gunfight in Brandenburg, Kentucky with four soldiers that resulted in two soldiers killed, one wounded, and Frank wounded in the hip. However, there is an alternative account that claims in the autumn of 1865, Frank, who was in Kentucky going to Missouri, was suspected of stealing horses in Ohio and that Frank shot two members of a posse and escaped.

During his years as a bandit, Frank James was involved in at least four robberies between 1868 and 1876 that resulted in the deaths of bank employees or citizens. The most famous incident was the disastrous Northfield, Minnesota, raid on September 7, 1876, that ended with the death or capture of most of the gang.

Five months after the killing of his brother Jesse in 1882, Frank James boarded a train to Jefferson City, Missouri, where he had an appointment with the governor in the state capitol. Placing his holster in Governor Crittenden's hands, he explained,

'I have been hunted for twenty-one years, have literally lived in the saddle, have never known a day of perfect peace. It was one long, anxious, inexorable, eternal vigil.' He then ended his statement by saying, 'Governor, I haven't let another man touch my gun since 1861.'

Accounts say that James surrendered with the understanding that he would not be extradited to Northfield, Minnesota.

He was tried for only two of the robberies/murders: one in Gallatin, Missouri, for the July 15, 1881, robbery of the Rock Island Line train at Winston, Missouri, in which the train engineer and a passenger were killed, and the other in Huntsville, Alabama, for the March 11, 1881, robbery of a United States Army Corps of Engineers payroll at Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Among others, former Confederate General Joseph Orville Shelby testified on James's behalf in the Missouri trial. He was acquitted in both Missouri and Alabama. Missouri accepted legal jurisdiction over him for other charges, but they never came to trial. He was never extradited to Minnesota for his connection with the Northfield Raid.

His New York Times obituary summarized his arrest and acquittal:

In 1882 ... Frank James surrendered in Jefferson City, Missouri. After his surrender James was taken to Independence, Missouri, where he was held in jail three weeks, and later to Gallatin, where he remained in jail a year awaiting trial. Finally James was acquitted and went to Oklahoma to live with his mother. He never was in the penitentiary and never was convicted of any of the charges against him.

In the last thirty years of his life, James worked a variety of jobs, including as a shoe salesman and then as a burlesque theater ticket taker in St. Louis. One of the theater's spins to attract patrons was their use of the phrase "Come get your ticket punched by the legendary Frank James." He also served as an AT&T telegraph operator in St. Joseph, Missouri. James took up the lecture circuit, while residing in Sherman, Texas. In 1902, former Missourian Sam Hildreth, a leading thoroughbred horse trainer and owner, hired James as the betting commissioner at the Fair Grounds Race Track, in New Orleans. He returned to the North Texas area where he was a shoe salesman at Sanger Brothers in Dallas. The Tacoma Times reported in July, 1914, that he was picking berries at a local ranch in Washington state, and planned to buy a farm nearby. He was also part of a Chicago investment group which purchased the Fletcher Terrell's Buckskin Bill's Wild West Show, third in size after the Buffalo Bill and Pawnee Bill shows.

In his final years, James returned to the James Farm, giving tours for the sum of 25 cents. He died there at age 72 on February 18, 1915. He left behind his wife Annie Ralston James and one son. He is interred in Hill Park Cemetery, in the western portion of Independence, Missouri.

Family/Spouse: Laura JAMES. Laura was born about 1852 in Missouri; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Alexander married Annie RALSTON on 6 Jun 1874 in Omaha, Douglas County, Nebraska. Annie (daughter of Samuel RALSTON and Mary Catherine HILL) was born on 25 Jan 1853 in Independence, Jackson County, Missouri; died on 6 Jul 1944 in James Farm, Excelsior Springs, Clay, Missouri; was buried in Jul 1944 in Hill Park Cemetery, Independence, Jackson, Missouri. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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Notes:

Dr. Samuels (step father) and his mother Zerelda lived in a neighborhood of Northern sympathizers, of course Dr. Samuels and Zerelda were Southern sympathizers, which lead to cruelty towards their family. Dr. Samuels was hung up three times because he did not know the whereabout of Quantrell's band. Jesse was in the fields working at this time. The Militia went to the fields and whipped Jesse up and down the rows of corn and then took him to the barn where they were torturing his step-father. The Militia then went to the house and confronted Mrs. Samuels (Mrs. Robert James) at gun point. They then took Mrs. Samuels and her daughter to jail at St. Joseph and imprisoned them for 25 days. Jesse James decided after this incident that he would not allow the militia, lawmen, or anyone else to treat him that way again. It is no wonder that Jesse joined the Quantrell's gang after his family was beaten, imprisoned, tortured, persecuted at every turn and driven from home.

Jesse Woodson James (September 5, 1847 ? April 3, 1882) was an American outlaw, bank and train robber, guerrilla, and leader of the James? Younger Gang. Raised in the "Little Dixie" area of western Missouri, James and his family maintained strong Southern sympathies. He and his brother Frank James joined pro-Confederate guerrillas known as "bushwhackers" operating in Missouri and Kansas during the American Civil War. As followers of William Quantrill and "Bloody Bill" Anderson, they were accused of committing atrocities against Union soldiers and civilian abolitionists, including the Centralia Massacre in 1864.

After the war, as members of various gangs of outlaws, Jesse and Frank robbed banks, stagecoaches, and trains across the Midwest, gaining national fame and often popular sympathy despite the brutality of their crimes. The James brothers were most active as members of their own gang from about 1866 until 1876, when as a result of their attempted robbery of a bank in Northfield, Minnesota, several members of the gang were captured or killed. They continued in crime for several years afterward, recruiting new members, but came under increasing pressure from law enforcement seeking to bring them to justice. On April 3, 1882, Jesse James was shot and killed by Robert Ford, a new recruit to the gang who hoped to collect a reward on James's head and a promised amnesty for his previous crimes. Already a celebrity in life, James became a legendary figure of the Wild West after his death.

Despite popular portrayals of James as an embodiment of Robin Hood, robbing from the rich and giving to the poor, this is a case of romantic revisionism since there is absolutely no evidence that he or his gang shared any loot from their robberies with anyone outside their network. Scholars and historians have characterized James as one of many criminals inspired by the regional insurgencies of ex-Confederates following the Civil War, rather than as a manifestation of alleged economic justice or of frontier lawlessness. James continues to be one of the most famous figures from the era, and his life has been dramatized and memorialized numerous times.

American Civil War (WIKI)
James as a young man

After a series of campaigns and battles between conventional armies in 1861, guerrilla warfare gripped Missouri, waged between secessionist "bushwhackers" and Union forces which largely consisted of local militias known as "jayhawkers". A bitter conflict ensued, resulting in an escalating cycle of atrocities committed by both sides. Confederate guerrillas murdered civilian Unionists, executed prisoners, and scalped the dead. The Union presence enforced martial law with raids on homes, arrests of civilians, summary executions, and banishment of Confederate sympathizers from the state.

The James? Samuel family sided with the Confederates at the outbreak of war. Frank James joined a local company recruited for the secessionist Drew Lobbs Army, and fought at the Battle of Wilson's Creek in August 1861. He fell ill and returned home soon afterward. In 1863, he was identified as a member of a guerrilla squad that operated in Clay County. In May of that year, a Union militia company raided the James? Samuel farm looking for Frank's group. They tortured Reuben Samuel by briefly hanging him from a tree. According to legend, they lashed young Jesse.
Quantrill's Raiders

Frank James eluded capture and was believed to have joined the guerrilla organization led by William C. Quantrill known as Quantrill's Raiders. It is thought that he took part in the notorious massacre of some two hundred men and boys in Lawrence, Kansas, a center of abolitionists. Frank followed Quantrill to Sherman, Texas, over the winter of 1863? 1864. In the spring he returned in a squad commanded by Fletch Taylor. After they arrived in Clay County, 16-year-old Jesse James joined his brother in Taylor's group.

Taylor was severely wounded in the summer of 1864, losing his right arm to a shotgun blast. The James brothers then joined the bushwhacker group led by William "Bloody Bill" Anderson. Jesse suffered a serious wound to the chest that summer. The Clay County provost marshal reported that both Frank and Jesse James took part in the Centralia Massacre in September, in which guerrillas stopped a train carrying unarmed Union soldiers returning home from duty and killed or wounded some 22 of them; the guerrillas scalped and dismembered some of the dead. The guerrillas also ambushed and defeated a pursuing regiment of Major A. V. E. Johnson's Union troops, killing all who tried to surrender, who numbered more than 100. Frank later identified Jesse as a member of the band who had fatally shot Major Johnson.

As a result of the James brothers' activities, Union military authorities forced their family to leave Clay County. Though ordered to move South beyond Union lines, they moved north across the nearby state border into Nebraska Territory.

After "Bloody Bill" Anderson was killed in an ambush in October, the James brothers separated. Frank followed Quantrill into Kentucky, while Jesse went to Texas under the command of Archie Clement, one of Anderson's lieutenants. He is known to have returned to Missouri in the spring. At the age of 17, Jesse suffered the second of two life-threatening chest wounds when he was shot while trying to surrender after they ran into a Union cavalry patrol near Lexington, Missouri.
Author - James H Carney III related to Jesse 3rd cousin, 4 times removed.

Jesse married Zerelda Amanda "Zee" MIMMS on 24 Apr 1874 in Kearney, Clay County, Missouri. Zerelda (daughter of Rev. John Wilson MIMMS and Mary JAMES) was born on 21 Jul 1845 in Missouri; died on 2 Mar 1914 in Catlettsburg, Boyd, Kentucky. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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