52 Ancestors 2020: Week 1: Fresh Start

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week One (January 1st - January 7th 2020)

Prompt: Fresh Start

Topic of Conversation: Outlaw, John Marion Jarrett, my 4th great-Uncle. 

The term ‘fresh start’ immediately makes me think of something like a divorce, a move across the country… in general, leaving your old life behind and starting anew. I could mention my 3x Grandmother and how after the death of her first husband, she moved from Sullivan Co, TN, to the Portland, OR area. I could talk about my 6x Grandfather and how he moved his family from Caswell Co, NC to Henderson Co, KY… but then I remembered the half-brother of my 3x Grandmother. 

John Jarrett was quite a character from everything I’ve been able to find out about him. He’s not the easiest person to research, actually. The man even let historians believe he and his family had died in a house fire in 1869… that was wrong. History wasn’t re-written until family historians like myself started researching him. I would have never researched him, honestly, if I hadn’t discovered he was the half-brother of my 3x Grandmother, Susan Rebecca (Jarrett) Sandefur. 

John Marion Jarrett was born on January 8th, 1833, to Joshua Jarrett and his first wife, Mary Elizabeth Dawson. According to documents, Joshua and Mary married on August 11th, 1828, in Nelson Co, KY. Mary Dawson was the daughter of Thomas Dawson and Nancy Sanders. After Mary died in 1838; it is reported that young John and his brother (who I haven’t been able to find) went to live with Mary’s parents. Joshua, however, re-married a woman named Martha Ann Washburn on March 29th, 1840, in Jefferson Co, KY.

They had at least one daughter — Susan Rebecca Jarrett. Martha died within a year or two later — around 1843. Joshua, at this point, moved to the Henderson Co, KY, area and married for his final time to widow Julia Harvey (Cheaney) Brooks. This marriage yielded no children. Joshua died sometime in 1849, in Henderson Co, KY, and in the 1850 census — you can see Susan is living with her step-mother, Julia.

Back in Nelson Co, KY, in the 1850 census, you can find John living with his grandparents, the Dawson’s. There isn’t another Jarrett living there. Sometime in about 1859, John Jarrett went to Jackson Co, MO for a visit. He came across the Younger family and ended up marrying Mary Josephine Younger — the sister of boys of the James-Younger gang. Within a year of the marriage to Josie, the Civil War broke out. John, supposedly along with an Uncle and some cousins, joined the Confederate Missouri State Guard. I haven’t found exactly which uncle and cousins this was… unsure if it was Jarrett side or Dawson. I haven’t found a Dawson or Jarrett in the Cass Co, MO area that fits the profile. 

When his enlistment term was over in December '61, John joined his brother-in-law, Cole Younger, who was riding with William C. Quantrill. During the spring and summer of '62 and '63, John was the Capt. of a group of bushwhackers riding under Quantrill and he participated in the battles of Prairie Grove, Arkansas; Lexington, Missouri; and Hartville, Missouri. Around late '64, John was one of a group, including Cole Younger, who were sent on a secret mission to the Pacific Coast to purchase two vessels for the Confederacy. The four year conflict ended before their purchase was complete.

John Jarrett and Cole Younger took their time returning to Missouri; it's unknown if either of them participated in the Liberty, Missouri, bank robbery in February '66; although, they most likely knew of the plans for it. John's first peacetime robbery may have been Lexington, Missouri; after which he began the formation of what would become the James-Younger gang. John's experience leading men during the war, which included Cole Younger and Frank James, would have made him the most likely candidate for Capt. of the gang until his departure from them in 1875. 

In my research, John was definitely with the group when they robbed the bank in Russellville, Kentucky, in 1868. It’s interesting that they came so close to Henderson, KY, where John’s half-sister, Susan, was living with her now husband, Philo Hilyer Sandefur — he also fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War and was taken as a prisoner of war at one point.

I believe it was sometime after this that the James-Younger gang came to the Henderson area. There's supposedly carvings in a cave in the Robards, KY, area that have Frank and Jesse James' names carved in it. It's very possible that they came to Henderson to rest and "hide out" after the Russellville robbery and was probably treated like family by Susan & Philo Sandefur. 

Now… John Jarrett, his wife, and children were supposedly killed in a house-fire in Missouri in 1868/1869. In fact, John Jarrett let most historians believe this. But considering there wasn’t any newspaper news of it happening… it seems even now to be a stretch to believe such a lie. The two big pieces of evidence that proves they didn’t die — first, the 1870 census. 

In the 1870 census, John Jarrett, wife Josie, and two children — Mollie and Jeptha, are living in Carroll Co, Louisiana. His occupation is listed as a farmer. Previously, John had been a skilled carpenter. A comment made by George Sheperd confirms that Jarrett was living in Louisiana in 1872. It was after this that John and his family migrated north to the Henderson, KY area. Then comes the second biggest piece of proof that he didn’t die in 1868/1869. The marriage certificate of his daughter, Edwards Rosella “Edna” Jarrett. She states she was born on February 6th, 1875, in Henderson County, KY. She states on the marriage certificate that her parents were “John M. Jarrette” and “Josephine Younger.”

Before the move to Henderson -- the James-Younger gang was a part of a robbery in Bienville Parrish, Louisiana in 1874. I'm unsure if John Jarrett took part in that, or not... but it seems too big of a coincidence that the gang ended up down in Louisiana, probably looking for John after his "death" in the house-fire in '68/'69. This would give credence to Jim Cummins having said that he saw John living in Louisiana in 1872.

It appears that John was with the James-Younger gang for a bank robbery in Huntington, West Virginia, on September 6th, 1875. That was, supposedly, his last robbery. It was after that, that he moved his wife Josie and his children out west to California. It’s reported that a few years after arriving, his wife and son Jeptha passed away. That left him with daughters Marion “Mollie” and Edwards “Edna.” A researcher can find John Marion Jarrette listed in the voting census for San Mateo, California, in 1876. 

I have never found an 1880 census for the family. I would think that they’re still in the San Mateo area in 1880. It’s very possible that John used a false name for the census or perhaps they were over looked completely. According to Jim Cummins of the James-Younger gang — John Jarrett died in the Frisco Mountains of California in 1891. Again, I believe John Jarrett wanted people to believe he died.

John’s daughter, Mollie, re-appears in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada marrying Hugh Forbes Keefer on December 20th, 1890. In the 1891 census for Canada — his daughter Edna is living with her older sister, Mollie, and Mollie’s new husband, Hugh. On May 8th, 1893, Edna marries Robert H. “Bob” Leatherdale. It is said that neither daughter ever had anything else to do with their father again. 

Jim Cummins also said that Jarrett had been arrested for a robbery in California and that one of his daughters testified against him. Cummins isn’t a very reliable source for information, but perhaps there was a piece of truth to that. That could have been the reason he headed for Canada with his daughters. Or that could have been what drove his daughters away from him…and then he followed them. 

It’s reported that John spent the rest of his life in the railroad or mining businesses. For the last fifteen years of his life, he lived in the Greenwood, British Columbia area, where he died on April 20th, 1906. It’s hard for me to believe that he moved to British Columbia, probably with his daughters, and then never spoke with them again. I’m unsure when Mollie passed away — but there’s record of a Marion Keefer dying in San Mateo, California in the 1930’s. That might be her. I’m unsure. 

His daughter, Edna, passed away on November 13th, 1959, in Vancouver, BC. Her obituary doesn’t state that she was the daughter of the infamous James-Younger gang member, John Jarrett. I’ve never found any children of Hugh Keefer and Marion “Mollie” Jarrett — but I know Bob Leatherdale and Edna Jarrett had a number of children. In fact, one of their daughters — Mae Edna Leatherdale — died tragically at 16 years old. She and three of her friends parked beside of a frozen lake and decided to go skating…all four ended up falling into the lake and drowning. 

Edna Jarrett married a second time, to Robert Pell, and had at least one son. It makes me curious if Edna’s children or grandchildren ever knew that they were descended from John Jarrett. I ponder if it was something she ever talked about. I ponder if they have any family heirlooms from him. A man like that… I imagine he had a gun or two. Maybe a piece of money from a robbery? 

We could probably sit here until the cows came home talking about theories on John Jarrett. But the truth of the man was this: he was an outlaw. He was a son, a brother, a husband, a father. He was a human being. No matter what he did during his life… over a hundred years later… his life makes one hell of a story.