First Marriage
At the age of 16 Zerelda Cole married Robert Sallee James on December 28, 1841, at the home of her uncle, James Madison Lindsay, in Stamping Ground, Kentucky. A college friend of Robert's officiated as the best man and tobacco was given in bond. The two moved to the vicinity of Centerville (later Kearney, 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 (b. January 10, 1843 - d. February 18, 1915)
- Robert R. James (b. July 19, 1845 – d. August 21, 1845)
- Jesse Woodson James (b. September 5, 1847 - d. April 3, 1882)
- Susan Lavenia James (b. November 25, 1849 - d. March 3, 1889)
Shortly after the birth of his daughter, Susan, Robert James moved to California to preach to the gold miners, where he contracted either pneumonia, cholera or typhoid, and died on (according to tradition) August 18, 1850. His grave has never been officially identified and no marker exists for him today. There is a much disputed story that in later years Jesse went looking for the grave of his father.
Read more about this topic: Zerelda James
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