James Family Timeline
Researched and contributed by Rod Fields, Richmond, Mo
December 28, 1841 —Robert James and Zerelda Elizabeth Cole were married in Stamping Ground, Kentucky .
•    Jan. 10, 1843 —Alexander Franklin (Frank) James is born to Rev. Robert Sallee James and Zerelda Cole James at the family farm in Kearney , Missouri .
•    Jan. 15, 1844 —Thomas Coleman (Cole) Younger is born to Henry Washington Younger and Bursheba Fristoe Younger at the family farm in Lee’s Summit , Missouri .
•    1844 (exact date unknown)—Charlie Pitts is born at Commerce, Oklahoma .
•    July 19, 1845 —Robert James Jr. was born on the James family farm. However, the baby died just 33 days later.
•    Sept. 5, 1847 —Jesse Woodson James is born to Rev. Robert Salle James and Zerelda Cole James at the family farm in Kearney , Missouri .
•    Jan. 15, 1848 —James Hardin (Jim) Younger is born to Henry Washington Younger and Bursheba Fristoe Younger at the family farm in Lee’s Summit , Missouri .
•    1848 or 1849 (exact date unknown)—Bill Stiles (later known as Bill Chadwell) is born in Monticello , Minnesota .
•    Nov. 25, 1849 —Susan Lavenia James is born to Zerelda and Robert James.
•    Jan. 9, 1850 —Clelland D. (Clell) Miller is born to Moses Miller and Emaline Miller at the family farm in Clay County, Missouri.
•    Apr. 12, 1850 —Robert James leaves Missouri for California , hoping to strike gold there. He dies soon after arrival there.
•    1851 (exact date unknown)—John Harrison Younger is born to Henry Washington Younger and Bursheba Fristoe Younger at the family farm in Lee’s Summit, Missouri.
•    Sept. 30, 1852 —Zerelda James marries Ben Simms.
•    Oct. 29, 1853 —Robert Ewing (Bob) Younger is born to Henry Washington Younger and Bursheba Fristoe Younger at the family farm in Lee’s Summit , Missouri .
•    Jan. 2, 1854 —Ben Simms dies in a horse accident. He and Zerelda were going to divorce soon anyway.
•    Sept. 12, 1855 —Zerelda married Rueben Samuel. Young Frank, Jesse, and Susan James all like him
•    December 26, 1858 —Sarah (Sallie) Louisa Samuel born to Zerelda and Rueben.
•    Aug. 27, 1860 —Charles ‘Dick’ Younger, oldest of the Younger brothers, dies of appendicitis. Cole is now the oldest brother and feels compelled to replace his dead older brother.
•    May 4, 1861 —Frank James joins the Home Guard unit of Centerville , Missouri .
•    1861 (exact date unknown)—Cole Younger and his brother-in-law, John Jarrette, join William Clarke Quantrill’s Confederate guerrillas.
•    1862—Perry Samuel, the illegitimate son of Dr. Archie Reuban Samuel is born out of wedlock by one of the slaves. The mulatto boy was raised as part of the Samuel family.
•    Feb. 1862 (exact date unknown)—Frank James is captured by Union soldiers and forced to take an oath to not reenlist in the Confederate army.
•    June 20, 1862 —Henry Younger, father of the Younger brothers, is shot several times and killed while riding a buggy from Kansas City to Lee’s Summit . Although he was more of a Union sympathizer than a Confederate, it’s believed that his killers were Union soldiers. No one is ever charged with the murder. Young Charlie Pitts and his employer’s wife, Mrs. Wells, are the ones who find the body. While Mrs. Wells goes to look for help, Charlie guards the body. Afterwards, Henry is buried alongside his late son Charles in an unmarked grave.
•    May 1863 (maybe July, 1862) (exact date unknown)—Frank James joins Quantrill’s guerrillas.
•    May 25, 1863 —Union soldiers rough up Zerelda James Samuel, hang her husband Rueben Samuel (but don’t kill him), and beat up Jesse James for not giving them the location of Quantrill’s guerrillas.
•    Aug. 14, 1863—A three-story building in Kansas City that is holding captive female relatives of several Confederate guerrillas collapses, killing and injuring many of the women. The guerrillas want revenge and decide to strike the town of Lawrence , Kansas .
•    Aug. 21, 1863 —Quantrill’s guerrillas raid Lawrence , Kansas , destroying the town and killing 183 citizens.
•    Oct 18, 1863 —Fannie Quantrill Samuel born to Zerelda and Rueben.
•    Late 1863— A party of Union soldiers invaded the Samuel farm looking for information about the location of Quantrill’s camp. Jesse, who was just fifteen at the time, was questioned, then horse-whipped when he refused to answer the soldiers’ questions. Dr. Samuel, who also denied knowing where the raider’s camp was located, was dragged from his house and was repeatedly hanged from a tree in the yard. Somehow, the doctor managed to survive the interrogation, but his mental state was so affected by the ordeal that he was placed in an asylum in St. Joseph , Missouri where he remained until his death in 1908. (Reuben’s obit says only there 7 years)
•    Winter 1863-64—William (Bloody Bill) Anderson, a Quantrill guerrilla, goes solo with his own bunch of guerrillas. One of his guerrillas is Jesse James.
•    Aug. 1864 (exact date unknown)—Jesse James is shot in his right lung during a battle. He is back with Bloody Bill by September 1864.
•    Sept. 27, 1864 —Bloody Bill Anderson and 250 of his guerrillas raid the town of Centralia , Missouri . A Union train there is halted and 25 Union soldiers on board are killed. Later, the guerrillas leave Centralia . Union Major A. V. E. Johnston arrives with a few hundred Union soldiers at Centralia . They pursue the guerrillas. In the afternoon, the Union soldiers and Bloody Bill’s guerrillas meet up. The guerrillas completely slaughter the Union soldiers. Jesse James kills several men in this battle, including Major Johnston himself.
•    Oct. 1864 (exact date unknown)—Bloody Bill Anderson’s guerrillas are ambushed by Union soldiers under the command of Major S. P. Cox at Independence , Missouri . Several guerrillas are killed. Bloody Bill is killed himself and is decapitated later that day. Jesse James and a few other guerrillas escape. Jesse vows to kill S. P. Cox one day. One of the captured guerrillas is 14 year old Clell Miller, who joined the guerrillas three days before.
•    Late Oct. 1864—Jesse James joins a group of guerrillas lead by Arch (Little Arch) Clements.
•    May 7, 1865 —Arch Clements’s guerrillas ravage the town of Holden , Missouri .
•    May 9 (approximately), 1865—Arch Clements’s guerrillas ravage the town of Kingsville , Missouri .
•    May 10, 1865 —Quantrill and his guerrillas are ambushed by Union Captain Edwin Terrell and Union soldiers. Many guerrillas are killed, many more are captured. Quantrill is shot twice, one of which is mortal. One of the captured guerrillas is Jim Younger, who recently joined the guerrillas.
•    June 6, 1865 —Quantrill dies of his wounds.
•    May 1865 (exact date unknown)—Jesse James attempts to surrender at Lexington , Missouri . He is shot in the right lung by Union soldiers while riding to town holding a white flag. He survives the wound and crawls to safety. He will never heal 100 percent. He will be near death for several months.
•    Early Feb. 1866—Jesse and Frank James meet with Cole Younger to plan the first ever bank robbery.
•    Feb 13, 1866 —Between ten and fourteen men rob the bank at Liberty , Missouri of Yankee money. A citizen, George Wymore, is killed during the robbery. The identity of most of the robbers are unknown, but Frank James, Cole Younger, John Jarrette, George and Oliver Sheppard, and Little Arch Clements are confirmed as being present. Jesse James was still not fit enough from his chest wound to participate, although he helped plan the robbery.
•    Late Feb. 1866—Most of the robbers from Liberty quit the gang. Only Jesse and Frank James, Cole Younger, John Jarrette, George and Oliver Shepard, and Little Arch Clements remain members.
•    1866 (exact date unknown)—Bursheba Younger and her two youngest sons, John and Bob, go to the town of Independence , Missouri to buy supplies. At town, a formed Union soldier named Gillcrease verbally assaults the Youngers. John tells him to shut up, so Gillcrease hits John in the face with a dead fish. John goes to his wagon and grabs his older brother Cole’s pistol, which John picked up for Cole and the local gunstore only minutes before. When Gillcrease grabs a slingshot and takes aim at John, John shoots Gillcrease between the eyes with the pistol. John is arrested for murder, but is acquitted the next day on the grounds of self-defense.
•    June 1866 (exact date unknown)—Frank James travels to Kentucky to visit family there. On his way, he gets into a gunfight with four Union soldiers. In the gunfight, Frank killed two of the soldiers and wounded a third. The fourth escaped, but managed to shoot Frank in the left hip before he fled. Frank makes it to his relatives’ home in Kentucky and heals up there.
•    July 26, 1866— Archie Peyton Samuel born to Zerelda and Rueben.
•    Oct. 30, 1866 —The Alexander Mitchell and Company bank in Lexington , Missouri is robbed by the James-Younger Gang. This is Jesse James’s first robbery. The robbers were Jesse and Frank James, Cole Younger, John Jarrette, and possibily George and Oliver Shepard, John and Dave Poole, Jesse Hamlett, Little Arch Clements, and Hedge Reynolds.
•    Dec. 13, 1866 —Little Arch Clements is lynched for crimes committed during the Civil War.
•    1866-1867— John Newman Edward contributes to the fame of Jesse James and his gang by writing glorifying articles and “dime novels.”
•    Feb. 18, 1867 —Five men dressed in Union army uniforms arrive at the James farm at Kearney , Missouri . The men are looking for Jesse and Frank James. The brothers’ step-father, Rueben, says they aren’t there. Frank really isn’t there, but Jesse is. Jesse walks to the door the five men are at. He is carrying two loaded pistols. Rueben slams the door in the mens’ faces. Jesse then fires a few shots through the door. One bullet wounds one of the five men. Jesse then flings open the door and begins firing into the group of men. Two men are seriously wounded by bullets. Another man was killed. The unwounded man and the one that was wounded first get on their horses and flee. Jesse also flees, knowing more men would come to the house looking for him.
•    1867—Jesse and Frank James gravitate through Kentucky and California . Cole Younger rambles around Louisiana and Texas .
•    March 2, 1867— The James Gang robbed the Judge John McClain Banking House of Savannah, Missouri.
•    May 22, 1867— With 12 members, the James Gang made off with $4,000 from the Hughes and Wasson Bank of Richmond , Missouri . Three men were shot and killed
•    Mar. 20, 1868 —Seven or eight members of the James-Younger Gang rob the Nimrod Long Banking Company at Russellville , Kentucky . Nimrod Long is slightly wounded in the process as well as citizen O. C. Owens. Jesse and Frank James, Cole Younger, John Jarrette, George and Oliver Shepard, Arthur McCoy, and possibly Jim White were the robbers.
•    1868, post Russellville robbery—Detectives D. T. (Yankee) Bligh and John Gallagher are hired to capture the members of the James-Younger Gang. Bligh and Gallagher arrested George Shepard a few days after the Russellville robbery. George was sent to prison for three years. A few days later, Oliver Shepard was shot a dozen times and killed by Bligh and Gallagher when he resisted arrest. John Jarrette was burned to death in a house fire along with his wife by unknown men a short time later.
•    Late 1868—Jesse and Frank James and Cole Younger visit California . Arthur McCoy takes a leave of absence from the gang.

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