The full title of this book is The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, and the book does indeed discuss both men. It has also been made into a movie, which I have not seen (I almost always prefer the book!). Jesse James looms large in popular culture, even to this day, but I have to admit, I did not remember the name of the man who killed him. I also have to admit, I do not understand why some people of that time (post-Civil War through the early 1880’S) thought Jesse James was some kind of Robin Hood. And the man who killed him, even though there was a bounty and the authorities were desperate to be rid of him, was maligned for it.
This book depicts with much detail the daily lives of the two men in the title, along with their families and confederates. I enjoyed the descriptions of some of their clothing, and some of the things they ate. However, this detail extends to the casual violence which permeated their lives, not just when they were robbing people. While in many ways these individuals were living in the margins of society, there were probably any number of people at the same general standard of living. Of course, most people just waited for the harvest to come in, instead of robbing a train or knocking over a bank!
I think one of the things that surprised me the most was how much of Jesse’s family got caught up in his life of crime. His brother Frank, of course; but one step-brother is killed and his mother is maimed in an attempt to catch the brothers at her house. And that’s just one example. Jesse moves around a lot, mostly staying in Missouri, but they still have a connection to some cousins back in Kentucky, and go to visit them occasionally, especially when things get hot. Even Bob Ford’s family is involved, since his brother Charley is in the gang first, and Bob uses that connection to get himself in with the James Brothers.
If this was your family, how would you research them? Most of us don’t have outlaws in our family tree, but oh! What documentation if we did! However, many families who had a business would bring siblings, cousins, or in-laws in to work for them. That would hold true for some farms, as well. Checking the census and city directories can tell you where your ancestor worked, or at least what field he was in. You might have to do some research on their FAN chart (Friends, Associates, Neighbors) to see if they worked for, or hired, any relatives. I don’t know if it would be possible to learn if an ancestor was impacted by any of the James or Younger gang’s robberies. But if they lived in one of the towns whose bank was robbed in that time frame, it’s certainly a possibility.