Robert Sallee James

It seems a bit strange that two of the baddest guys of the Old West were preacher’s kids.

Jesse James’ father was a well-known Baptist minister in Missouri.  Robert Sallee James (see image) was a college grad, a founder of William Jewell College, and a farmer.

John Wesley Hardin’s dad James was a Methodist circuit rider in north and east Texas as well as a lawyer and farmer.

Both fathers died relatively young.  And apparently they didn’t get their boys to accept the concept of “turning the other cheek” or “loving thy neighbor.”