Zerelda James
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Zerelda James Samuel (previously Zerelda Cole James and Zerelda Simms) (January 29, 1825 – February 10, 1911) was the mother of outlaws Frank James and Jesse James.
Born Zerelda Elizabeth Cole in Woodford County, Kentucky her parents were James Cole and Sarah "Sallie" Cole (nee Lindsay) she had one younger brother, Jesse Richard Cole, he was a year younger than her and committed suicide in 1895.
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[edit] First marriage
She married Robert Sallee James on December 28, 1841, at the home of her uncle James Madison Lindsay in Stamping Ground, Kentucky. The two moved to the vicinity of Centerville (later Kearney) in Clay County, Missouri. Robert James was a commercial hemp farmer, a slave owner, and a popular evangelical minister in the Baptist Church. Zerelda bore him four children.
- Alexander Franklin James (born January 10, 1843)
- Robert B. James (July 19 – August 21, 1845)
- Jesse Woodson James (born September 5, 1847)
- Susan Lavenia James (born November 25, 1849)
Shortly after the birth of his daughter Robert moved to California to preach to the gold miners, where he caught a disease and died on (according to tradition) August 18, 1850.
[edit] Second marriage
Not long afterwards Zerelda married a wealthy farmer named Benjamin Simms (c.1830–1854) on September 30, 1852. Reportedly Simms was cruel to her boys, leading to a separation. Before divorce proceedings could begin, Benjamin Simms died in an accident on January 2, 1854.
[edit] Third marriage
Zerelda married a third time, to Dr. Reuben Samuel (January 1829 – March 1, 1908), on September 25, 1855. Samuel, has been described as "a quiet, passive man, was widely described as standing in the shadow of his outspoken, forceful wife". Zerelda and Reuben had four children.
- Sarah Louisa Samuel (born December 26, 1858)
- John Thomas Samuel (born December 25, 1861)
- Fanny Quantrell [sic] Samuel (born October 18, 1863)
- Archie Peyton Samuel (born July 26, 1866)
Reuben may have also fathered Perry Samuel (c. 1866-1936) who Zerelda considered family.
[edit] Personality
Those who knew Zerelda Samuel, as she was now known, frequently commented on the force of her personality. Artist and state official George Caleb Bingham wrote in 1875, "She has had the advantages of an early education, and seems to be endowed with a vigorous intellect and masculine will." Stella James, Zerelda's grandson's wife, later declared, "Zerelda had always given orders, but she had never taken any.... The mother of Frank and Jesse James was strong-willed and had plenty of determination." E.M. Samuel, a merchant from nearby Liberty, Missouri, thought her marriage to Reuben Samuel was an unequal one, though he wrote during the Civil War, when he was on the opposite side of the conflict from Zerelda: "He is an easy, good natured, good for nothing fellow," he said of Reuben, "who is completely under the control of his wife."
E.M. Samuel was a prominent Unionist, whereas Zerelda was an outspoken Confederate. Both of her sons fought as Confederate bushwhackers, leading to severe retaliation from the Union authorities. The farm was often raided by Union militiamen; Reuben Samuel was tortured for information; and the family was banished from Missouri in January 1865, though they returned to the farm before the end of that year. The Union provost marshal who recommended the banishment singled Zerelda out as a Confederate supporter, declaring her "one of the worst women in this state."
During the years when Frank and Jesse James gained fame as outlaws, she often gave interviews to the press, uttering veiled threats to witnesses against her boys, and insisting on Frank and Jesse's innocence. Around midnight on the night of January 25, 1875, Agents of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency raided the Samuel farm. An incendiary device was thrown through the window; Reuben rolled it into the fireplace, where it superheated and exploded. A fragment struck Archie Samuel, killing him, and another piece tore through Zerelda's arm, forcing amputation the next day.
[edit] Death
She died in 1911 on a train traveling to San Francisco, California, when 20 miles outside of Oklahoma City. She was 86 years old.
[edit] Timeline
- 1825 Birth on January 29
- 1850 Death of Robert Sallee James, her first husband
- 1854 Death of Benjamin Simms, her second husband
- 1900 US Census in Washington, Missouri
- 1908 Death of Reuben Samuel, her third husband
- 1911 Death in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on February 10th
[edit] References
- Settle, William A., Jr.: Jesse James Was His Name, or, Fact and Fiction Concerning the Careers of the Notorious James Brothers of Missouri, University of Nebraska Press, 1977
- Yeatman, Ted P.: Frank and Jesse James: The Story Behind the Legend, Cumberland House, 2001
- Stiles, T.J.: Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War, Alfred A. Knopf, 2002
- Obituary from the Washington Post; February 11, 1911
