Jesse and Frank James

The Family History

Table of Contents 

Acknowledgments     7

Introduction     13

Chapter 1 – The James Family     23

Chapter 2 – The Samuel Family     61

Chapter 3 – The Woodson-Poor-Mimms Families     77

Chapter 4 – The Thomason Family     79

Chapter 5 – The West and Howard Families     81

Chapter 6 – The Tennessee James Family     89

Chapter 7 – The Ford Family     95

Family Trees     102

Index     107

Introduction

            Although no proof exists to support the legend, Robin Hood-type tales of Jesse and Frank robbing the rich to give to the poor were invented.  The impoverished Southerners and those throughout the nation who were critical of banks and railroads embraced these legends, and public sentiment made the James brothers’ martyrs to their cause, no doubt contributing to their successful evasion of the law for some seventeen years.  Although rewards were offered totaling as much as $50,000, Jesse and Frank James were never captured.  Jesse’s career ended when he was assassinated by his associate, Bob Ford, in 1882 and Frank’s when he voluntarily surrendered to the Missouri governor, Thomas Crittenden, a few months later.

            Several respected, nonfiction accounts of the Jameses’ history have been published over the years.  Far outnumbering these respected authors, however, numerous pulp writers have chosen to use Jesse and Frank James as central characters in fictional, dime novels.  Such writers of “historical” fantasy found that the use of the James brothers’ name was magic to assure fast sales, and this phenomenon still continues to some extent.  During a 1983 James family reunion Lawrence Barr, Jesse James’s grandson, was asked about the magic of his grandfather’s name in American literature, and he commented, “You can sell anything with Jesse or Frank James’s name on it.  Here in Kearney, Missouri, the best restaurant in town even features a Frank James hamburger.”

Jesse Woodson James

            Jesse, too young to be accepted in the army at the beginning of the Civil War, joined the guerilla forces in mid-1864, and served under “Bloody Bill” Anderson.  At Fifteen years of age, legend says he was accepted only on Frank James’s assurance that he would look after his young brother.  Frank later served under Quantrill and Todd.  As history shows, young Jesse James was soon to prove a leader and fearless soldier in spite of his youth.  Participating in many battles and guerrilla skirmishes throughout the border region of Missouri, Kansas, and Arkansas, Jesse chose to go to Texas with a group of guerrilla associates in 1864 while his brother Frank rode to Kentucky with Quantrill.  At the war’s end, Jesse, along with several of his guerrilla associates, was riding into Missouri to surrender.  As they approached the federal garrison under a white flag, the party was fired upon and Jesse was seriously wounded.  This event, the extreme deprivation directed toward former Confederate guerrillas, and the post-war environment of Missouri no doubt greatly influenced the James brothers and many other Missouri ex-Confederates in becoming outlaws.

            On April 24, 1874, Jesse married his first cousin, Zerelda (Zee) Amanda Mimms, at the home of Zee’s sister, Lucy Mimms Browder, in Kearney, Missouri.  Because Jesse was already a highly sought-after outlaw, the reverend William James, brother of Jesse’s father, tried to discourage the union, but he failed to do so and finally performed the ceremony.  A “wanted man” Jesse took Zee to Nashville, Tennessee around 1875, where he hoped they could live in peace under his alias of John Davis Howard.