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Serious Distant Kin Outlaws

I was doing research for a family history newsletter I send out to my kin on Mom's side of our family when I discovered we have some rough characters on our kin list.

I was checking the Blanton line back and remember Martha Shepherd marrying one of my Blanton g-grandfathers (George)back in the late 1700's or early 1800. It seems Martha had a brother, James Pendleton Shepherd or Shepard as it was sometimes spelled, who moved to Kansas and he had two or three grandsons who grew up to ride with Quantrill's Rangers or Raiders during the Civil War. The Shepards were from Lee County, Va.

Somewhere in the 1820's this family moved via wagon train along with about five or six other families to Lee's Summitt, Missouri.

James Pendleton Shepard and wife Rachel had several children, two being James P. Jr. and John Pendleton Shepard. Both had same middle names. James Jr. had a son named George Washington Shepard or Shepherd. Born 1842 and died 1917. He fought with the Confederacy for a short while and then joined the infamous guerillas led by William Quantrill and known as Quantrill's Raiders. Others in this band of guerrillas who plundered and split their takings were Frank and Jesse James and their cousins Cole and Jim Younger. (Some records say the Youngers and James boys were not cousins)

Later some of these guerillas were led by Archie Clement who was about 5ft. tall and 150 lbs but one of the meanest men in the state. One member was George Washington Shepard's first cousin, Oliver or "Oll" Boggs Shepherd. He was the son of John Pendleton Shepard.

After the Civil War, both cousins joined up with the infamous James/ Younger Gang that robbed so many banks they became legendary. At exactly what point each joined the James Gang is not known. The James gang was actually led by Archie Clement for a year or so. However it is known that Oliver was a member of the gang when they committed the first daylight bank robbery in the nation's history in peacetime at Liberty, Missouri on Feb. 13, 1866. Their take was $57,000. Oliver and George W. were both present when the gang robbed the Southern Bank of Kentucky (at Russellville) on March 21, 1868. This time the take was $14,000. Since there was two years between these two robberies it is believed there were more they were involved in. This robbery did not go so smoothly, especially for our cousins.

The gang got away on the Russellville robbery but the posse was hot after them and caught George W. Shepard. He was sent to prison for three years. He had married Martha Sanders in 1861 and during his incarceration she remarried, without first divorcing George W.

Also the posse eventually tracked down Oliver "Oll" in Missouri he resisted arrest he was involved in a shootout and was killed with twenty bullet holes found in him.

There is a picture on the internet with George and one of his cousins "Oll" on either side of Quantrill. See below

Serious Distant Kin Outlaws

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