1842-1920
From Confederate Calvary to Circuit Riding Preacher
| Jim Carden, my great grandfather, apparently spent most of his adult life on horseback. From 1860 to 1865, he served with the Confederate Calvary in North Carolina, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. |  |
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From 1871 to 1889, he was a circuit riding Methodist preacher serving in North Carolina, West Virginia, Maryland, Missouri, and Colorado. | 
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| When Jim was stationed in Missouri, the Jesse James gang
was operating within 30 miles of his home church.
There was a Carden vs. Carden case in the Supreme Court of North Carolina, November 17, 1890. The litigants were Jim Carden and his youngest brother Gaston Carden. Apparently, it was over the deed to the family farm. My great grandfather lost the case. When Jim Carden died in February, 1920, my grandfather, Jim's son, refused Gaston admittance to the funeral services. For all of the above facts concerning Jim Carden, there is convincing documentation. |
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My father told the story that Jim was robbed by Jesse
James of money and a pocket watch, but the outlaw later returned the watch,
because there was an inscription in it from Jim's mother.
Jesse James is known to have been soft about things like that. At least one cousin tells a different story about Jim Carden and Jesse James. |
| I was talking to a Carden cousin, a descendant of Gaston,
not too long ago. According to his variation, Jim Carden rode with the
James gang. I can't help but believe that this less than flattering account
had its birth in the 1890 lawsuit or perhaps in the snub thirty years later.
On the other hand, maybe both stories are true. I have never found a Carden
on a list of James gang members but none of the lists ever claim to be
complete.
By Thor Carden |