***
From: "The Truth About Jesse James" by Rudy Turilli, 1967.
***
ROBERT FORD AND JESSE JAMES WERE FIRST COUSINS
"One of the persons sincerely interested in the welfard of Jesse James, who
assumed the name J. Frank Dalton in his later years, was Mrs. Ola M. Everhard of
Austin, Texas. Mrs. Everhard's great-grandmother was Sarah (Sallie) Dalton
before her marriage to Henry Underwood.
One of the sisters of Sarah Dalton was Zerelda Dalton, who married Robert James
and was the mother of Frank and Jesse W. James, according to the family Bible.
Another of the sisters, the third in line, but whose first name Mrs. Everhard
does not recall now in 1965, married a man named Ford. She was the mother of
Charlie and Robert (Bob) Ford.
Thus, Bob Ford, written for a century as the man who shot Jesse James, was
James' first cousin, as their mother's were sisters.
Jesse and Frank James also were first cousins to 'the Dalton boys' who were
known as Southern sympathizers and desperadoes during the Civil War and until
the James and Dalton gangs broke up.
Zerelda, mother of Frank and Jesse James, is referred to in most annals as
Zerelda E. Cole prior to her marriage to Robert James. The question arises as
to why she was named Cole, when she was born Zerelda E. Dalton -- and Mrs.
Everhard has the answer, from information handed down in the family. The father
of the Dalton girls died when they were very young. They were Roman Catholics
and Mrs. Dalton placed them in a convent. After she married a man named Cole,
the girls returned home and it meant not only a new life for them but a new name
as well. They took the name of their stepfather Cole.
(Mrs. Ola M. Everhard's mother was Bertha Underwood Maddox, daughter of Savannah
and James Underwood, son of Henry and Sarah (Sallie) Dalton Underwood. Mrs.
Henry Underwood -- Sarah, or Sallie Dalton before her marriage, was sister to
Zerelda E. Dalton James who was the mother of Frank and Jesse James; also sister
to the mother of Charlie and Robert Ford.)"
***
~Texas Jay
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