ANNIE RALSTON About Annie Ralston A few years ago, some distant relatives indicated to me that there were family stories that Annie Ralston, wife of the outlaw Frank James (brother of Jesse James) , was a first cousin of my great grandfather Robert Ralston. It was indicated that her father, Samuel, and Robert's father, Anderville, were brothers. I never saw any hard proof of the relationship and pursued this story for some time with little result. In July of 2003, a transcript of Samuel's obituary was contained in a message posted to a genealogy forum. I subsequently obtained a copy of the obituary with thanks to the poster. Basically the history contained there does not seem to square with the history I know of my family. Although I am still not 100% sure I am no longer pursuing this with much energy. If you read this and have any further information, however, I would be glad to hear it. I should mention in pursuing this that I discovered that there are varying views on aspects of the life and merits of the James Brothers and disagreements on many genealogical "facts", some seemingly rather vehement. I have tried to steer clear of any "taking of sides" and tried to glean the facts as best I could. Here are some references. I cannot vouch for the accuracy of any of it! A scanned copy of the obituary The obituary (text format) posted to the RootsWeb Message Board The obituary (text format) posted to the James Family Genealogy Forum Pictures of the graves of Annie and Frank from "Find A Grave" A query I made in 1999 on the James Family Forum with followups One of the most interesting and lengthy bios I have found of Annie.