Zerelda Elizabeth Cole James Samuel was the mother of the outlaw Jesse James. She was born on January 29, 1825, in Woodford County, Kentucky, to James and Sarah Cole. Her father was killed in a horse accident when she was two. In 1839 fourteen-year-old Zerelda entered a Catholic school for girls. She met Robert James, a college student, and they were married on December 20, 1841.

In 1842, Zerelda and Robert moved to Clay County, Missouri, to live with her mother and stepfather. After the birth of her first child, Zerelda moved to the farm where she would live the rest of her life. Zerelda bore four children with Robert James: Alexander Franklin “Frank” James, Robert James Jr., who died shortly after birth, Jesse Woodson James, and Susan Lavenia James.

After suffering the death of her husband, Robert, Zerelda married Benjamin Simms briefly, then a doctor named Reuben Samuel in 1855. She had several children with Dr. Samuel.

Zerelda James Samuel was a Confederate sympathizer who fiercely defended her son Jesse’s guerrilla activities. In 1875 she was maimed when Pinkerton agents threw a firebomb into her farmhouse in the hope of catching Jesse. After Jesse’s death, Zerelda had him buried on her property. She lived the rest of her life in the shadow of her son’s controversial legacy.

Unless otherwise noted, text and images © 2007, State Historical Society of Missouri