Pilgrims and Pioneers: April 2012

Welcome To Pilgrims and Pioneers!

After many years of researching my family geneaology I have been lucky enough to discover actual information about my relatives that lived in the Pilgrim Era and the Pioneer Era- while many people also have realtives from those eras- many do not know their names or where they lived- actually seeing the proof in print makes you much more aware of who they really were.
After discovering these relatives it of course made me curious to learn more about the eras that they lived in and what their lives were like as, the history I learned in grade school had long since been forgotten.
I decided to start this blog for others who are also interested in these eras.
Some of the information here will be actual facts about my realtives and some will be information about the eras in general that I have found on the web.
I hope you will enjoy traveling back in time with me!

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Related to Frank and Jesse James??

I found this on the internet- am I related to the James brothers- maybe- maybe not . In any case it is an interesting story.
Robert Woodson, 5th Great Grandfather of Jesse & Frank James

Robert Woodson b. 1634 m. Elizabeth Ferris, d. ca. 1707. Last known to be living in 1707, Henrico Co., VA. when he made a deed to his grandson, William and Joseph Lewis Woodson.

He married Elizabeth Ferris, daughter of Richard Ferris, of Henrico, with whom, among others, received a patent, 21, October 1687, for 1785 acres at White Oak Swamp in Varina Parish, in that county.

This man was the direct ancestor of Jesse Woodson James, and his brother, Alexander Franklin "Frank" James, the famous James Boys.

Robert² Woodson married Elizabeth Ferris:

son Benjamin³ Woodson, married Sarah Porter;

their son Robert⁴ Woodson (d. 1748/50) married Rebecca Pryor.

Their daughter Elizabeth married Shadrach Mims (1734-1777) and became the mother of

Elizabeth Mims (b. 1769) who married Robert Poor (1763-1801), a cornet in the American Revolutionary War. Their daughter in turn,

Mary Poor, (died 1825) married John James (1775-1827), son of William and Mary (Hinds) James of Goochland County, Virginia.

Their son Robert Sallee James, who died in the Gold Rush area of California, married Zerelda Cole and they had sons Frank James and Jesse James.

(See: Background of a Bandit, by Joan M. Beamis and William E. Pullen (1971).

Jesse Woodson James, the bandit, married his cousin Zerelda "Zee" Amanda Mims.

She was also a descendant of Elizabeth Woodson Mims, who married Robert Poor.