Former Home of Judge James Madison Lindsay and Marriage Location of Robert and Zerelda James
This geocache will take you near the marriage place of Zerelda and Robert James, the parents of Frank and Jesse James. At the age of 16 Zerelda Cole married Robert Sallee James on December 28, 1841, at this home of her uncle, Judge James Madison Lindsay, located along the present Locust Fork Road in Stamping Ground, Kentucky. Robert married Zerelda one year before he graduated from Georgetown College, where he was a Baptist ministry student. They met at a religious gathering. Her family was from Lexington, Kentucky and she was educated at St. Catherine's Female School, a Catholic convent in Lexington. The Cole family was of Revolutionary stock and her grandfather was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. She was born January 29, 1825 in Woodford County, Kentucky at her grandfather's (Richard Cole Jr.) Black Horse Inn. A college friend of Robert's officiated as the best man and tobacco was given in bond.
The two later 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 (Frank) (1844-1915); Robert James (7/19/1845-8/21/1845); Jesse Woodson James (1847-1882); and Susan L. James (1849-1889). ames was a noted revivalist. He was among the founders of William Jewell College in 1849. In April 1850, James left his family for California to visit his brother Drury Woodson James, who had already relocated to the state.He also planned to prospect for gold and preach to the crowds of goldminers during the California gold rush. Shortly after arriving in California in August 1850, he contracted cholera and died on August 18, 1850, in the Hangtown Gold Camp, later known as Placerville. James's death left his family saddled with debts and many of his possessions, including one of the slaves, were auctioned off to pay them. His widow Zerelda married Benjamin Simms, a wealthy farmer, on September 30, 1852. This, however, did not last and they soon separated. She then married Dr. Reuben Samuels in 1855.
Zerelda James
Dr. Samuels and Zerelda lived in a neighborhood of Northern sympathizers and being strong Southern sympathizers, led to cruelty towards their family. During the American Civil War, militiamen searching for Frank James (who had joined the South) raided the Samuel farm, and briefly (though not fatally) hanged Dr. Samuel, torturing him to reveal the location of the guerrillas. Militia went to the fields and whipped Jesse up and down the rows of corn and then took him to the barn where they were torturing his stepfather. The Militia then went to the house and confronted Mrs. Samuels (Mrs. Robert James) at gun point. They then took her and her daughter to jail at St. Joseph and imprisoned them for 25 days. Jesse James decided after this incident that he would not allow the militia, lawmen, or anyone else to treat him that way again and joined the Quantrill's pro-Confederate guerrillas gang on August 21, 1863.
Brothers Frank and Jesse James
The James brothers were most active as members of their own gang from and continued a life of crime for several years, robbing banks and holding up trains. On April 3, 1882, Jesse James was killed by Robert Ford, a member of his own gang who hoped to collect a reward on James' head. Already a celebrity when he was alive, James became a legendary figure of the Wild West after his death. In the last thirty years of his life, James worked a variety of jobs and returned to the family farm in Missouri. He died there on February 18, 1915.
Jesse James
A fire in 2012 damaged the historic home, which is listed on the Kentucky Historic Registry and on the National Register of Historic Places.
Proceed to ground zero
Now stop to read about some Wild West heroes.
Now that you are on the Historic Buffalo Geotrail
Head North on the trail and stop at the right side of the road stopping at the far end of the first gruard rail.
You will travel .40 miles
Now be prepared for the smiles
This geocache is one of 10 geocaches along the Historic Buffalo Geotrail. Passports are to be given out at the June 4, 2016 Historic Buffalo Geotrail event. Geocachers will visit all 10 geocaches along the trail and stamp the corresponding block on the passport and turn it in for a prize as supplies last. Passports will be available outside at the designated Historic Buffalo Geotrail passport box on the front porch of Stamping Ground City Hall, 3374 Main Street, Stamping Ground, Kentucky. Completed passports can be turned in here as well.
Please remember to leave the designated stamp and ink pad inside of the geocache containers!