Jesse James Research Paper

Jesse James was considered a legend of the old west of the mid 1800’s. He made himself a legend from robbing banks, trains, stagecoaches, and more. He supposedly did all of this trying to seek vengeance for the treatment southerners received from Union Soldiers. [History Net] Jesse James was born on September 5, 1847 in Kearney, Missouri. He died on April 3, 1882 at age 34 when one of his gang members, Robert Ford, shot him in the back, hoping to collect the reward money.[History.com] At the age of sixteen, he and his brother, Frank James, joined the Confederate Army as guerilla soldiers. He worked with William Quantrill, and “Bloody Bill” Anderson.[History.com] After the army, Jesse and his brother Frank started the James-Younger Gang. They robbed banks, trains, and stagecoaches owned by Northern Industries.

James, who was a preacher, and moved to California two years after Jesse was born to minister those mining for gold. His mom, Zerelda James was a six foot tall slave owner.[History Net] Once Robert James died in California a year later, Zerelda remarried to Benjamin Simms in 1852, and again remarried in 1855 to Dr. Reuben Samuel. Who she had four kids with. He had four brothers. Frank and Robert James, and Archie and John Samuel. He had three sisters. Susan Lavenia James, Fanny Quantrill Samuel, and Sarah Ellen McKinley.[History Net] On April 24, 1874 he married Zerelda Mimms, who he would stay with until he passed. He had two kids, Jesse E. James (son), and Mary James Barr (daughter). Growing up, Jesse James lived on a 100 acre farm in Kearney, Missouri. They used slaves to help raise sheep and grow hemp. [Historic Missourians] Growing up, he was popular in the community, and very religious. A lot of people thought that he would follow in his father's footsteps and become a minister. Then the civil war started, and that career pathway was quickly ended. [Historic