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The James family has a number of spinsters and bachelors who have never married.
While researching recently, I came across a newspaper item in the Harrodsburg (Ky.) Herald from 1909. A line of the James family lived in and around Harrodsburg at the time, and some still do today. The paper editorialized that the town’s spinsters and bachelors should marry or be imprisoned. To which came the following reply from a reader in nearby Danville, where James family members also lived:
“After reading your article regarding the new law that old maids over 30 must get married or go to jail, I would like to say that this old maid, in company with another one have been counting up, and we have found 131 over 30 in Danville…It isn’t our fault that we are not married, so for goodness sake don’t suggest such laws that will imprison innocent parties…
“There are plenty of old bachelors who might come to our rescue if they only would but they are too shy to ask the question, or else too stingy to take care of a wife…
“I haven’t been kissed for 13 years, nor my friend for 25. Can’t you please induce somebody to come to the aid of these 131 despairing waiting spinsters? Gray hairs and prison bars don’t go together.”
Our good friend & author William "Bill" Penn in Midway, Ky. has been looking at 14 boxes of historical documents, related to Henry Lewis Martin Sr. 1848-1938. Martin is a 2nd cousin of Frank & Jesse James and certainly was personally known by the boy’s Cole family relatives in Midway and Woodford County, Ky. Martin also fought under John Hunt Morgan.
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When this happens, it’s usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it or it’s been deleted.How interesting! It’s been fun to learn more about this family and I can’t wait to know more. Jesse Martin was my Grandmother Paulina’s brother.
JESSE JAMES COLLECTABLE . . . Is it a pistol? Is it a walking stick? Or, is it something else? Our friend Wendell Osborne visited the famous 127 Yard Sale – The World’s Longest Yard Sale (look it up). For a song, Wendell walked away with this one-of-a-kind Jesse James collectable. At first, the item looks to be a cane with a pistol grip handle. You have to look closely, though, to see if it’s not a pistol with a very long barrel. But the item’s owner will have to show you what it really is. Pull the pistol grip away from the cane shaft, and the item reveals itself for what it is. The weapon is a dirk!
SUDDEN DEATH – DIARY OF A COVID VICTIM . . . Now on Stray Leaves, our family is fortunate to read the social media diary of our relative Judy Rae Davis Gibson. In a swift 18 days, Judy lost her husband to Covid-19. Judy now shares her painful story with us. We can feel and sense the terror and tragedy when this virus suddenly strikes. There can be no more powerful lesson than this diary to act responsibly, as we live and travel through this time of pandemic and death.
ericjames.org/wordpress/2021/09/08/sudden-death-diary-of-a-covid-victim/
Sudden Death – Diary of a Covid Victim
ericjames.org
While posting her daily battle against Covid-19 on Facebook, Judy Rae Davis Gibson of our family gives us an inadvertent first-hand record of the