Reuben Samuel (January 12, 1828 – March 1, 1908) was the stepfather of the American

outlaw An outlaw, in its original and legal meaning, is a person declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, all legal protection was withdrawn from the criminal, so anyone was legally empowered to persecute or kill them. ...

s Frank and

Jesse James Jesse Woodson James (September 5, 1847April 3, 1882) was an American outlaw, Bank robbery, bank and Train robbery, train robber, guerrilla and leader of the James–Younger Gang. Raised in the "Little Dixie (Missouri), Little Dixie" area of M ...

. He was married to the pair's mother, Zerelda James, from 1855 until his death in 1908.

Early life

Reuben was the son of Fielding and Louisa Samuel, and was born and raised in Kentucky in 1828. He traveled to

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

to attend medical school. The third husband of Frank and Jesse James' mother, Zerelda, Samuel was 27 years old when he married the 30-year-old Zerelda on September 25, 1855. He left behind the medical profession upon marrying Zerelda and moved onto a farm, raised tobacco, and acquired a total of seven slaves by 1860. He took on Zerelda's three living children, Frank, Jesse, and Susan, as well as having four more with Zerelda: * Sarah Louisa Samuel (April 7, 1858 – July 14, 1921) * John Thomas Samuel (December 25, 1861 – March 15, 1934) * Fanny Quantrill Samuel (October 18, 1863 – May 3, 1922) * Archie Peyton Samuel (July 26, 1866 – January 26, 1875)

Civil War

During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, militiamen searching for

Frank James Alexander Franklin James (January 10, 1843 – February 18, 1915) was a Confederate States Army, Confederate American Civil War, soldier and Guerrilla warfare in the American Civil War, guerrilla; in the Reconstruction era, post-Civil War p ...

(who had joined the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

) raided the Samuel farm, and briefly (though not fatally) hanged Dr. Samuel, torturing him to reveal the location of the guerrillas. Some researchers believe that Frank joined

William Quantrill William Clarke Quantrill (July 31, 1837 – June 6, 1865) was a Confederate States of America, Confederate guerrilla leader during the American Civil War. Quantrill experienced a turbulent childhood, became a schoolteacher, and joined a group ...

's pro-Confederate guerrillas in the August 21, 1863,

Lawrence Massacre The Lawrence Massacre (also known as Quantrill's Raid) was an attack during the American Civil War (186165) by Quantrill's Raiders, a Confederate guerrilla group led by William Quantrill, on the Unionist town of Lawrence, Kansas, killing ar ...

, but it has never been proven.

Pinkerton Raid

On January 25, 1875,

Allan Pinkerton Allan Pinkerton (August 21, 1819Mackay (1997), p. 20; August 25 was the date of his baptism, which many sources incorrectly give as his birth date. – July 1, 1884) was a Scottish-American detective, spy, abolitionist, and cooper best known f ...

, the

Pinkerton Agency Pinkerton is an American private investigation and security company established around 1850 in the United States by Scottish-born American cooper Allan Pinkerton and Chicago attorney Edward Rucker as the North-Western Police Agency, which lat ...

's founder and leader, attempted to capture the outlaw James brothers. He staged a raid on Samuel's homestead, throwing an incendiary device into the house; it exploded, killing James's young half-brother Archie (named for

Archie Clement Archie Clement (January 1, 1846 – December 13, 1866), also known as "Little Arch" or "Little Archie", was an American pro- Confederate guerrilla leader during the American Civil War, known for his brutality towards Union soldiers and pro-Uni ...

) and blowing off the right arm of Zerelda. Samuel himself almost died and suffered brain damage from the explosion. Though Pinkerton denied that the raid's intent was

arson Arson is the act of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, watercr ...

, a letter written by Pinkerton was discovered in the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

in which he declared his intention to "burn the house down."

Death

Samuel died in 1908 after spending seven years at the St. Joseph State Hospital for the Insane, in St. Joseph, Missouri. He was 80 years old. Some of Reuben Samuel's family still live in the

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

area.

References

External links

* Official website for the Family of Frank & Jesse James: Stray Leaves, A James Family in America Since 1650: http://www.ericjames.org * * 1828 births 1908 deaths James–Younger Gang {{US-crime-bio-stub American torture victims