Hi Louie,

Jack Bishop was the younger brother of my Gr.gr.gr. Grandfather, Tennessee Carter Bishop. Jackson Carriger "Jack" Bishop was born on Apr 13, 1839, in Carter Co., TN. He died in Grants Pass, OR, on Apr 12, 1914. He was the seventh child of John David "David" Bishop I and Margaret Rebecca Carriger. His family left Carter Co., TN, and moved to Jackson Co., MO, between 1853 and 1860. When the Civil War began, he fought with Quantrill's Raiders. Union forces near Westport captured him in February 1863. He was spared execution after taking a loyalty oath and joining Co. B, 6th KS Cav Regt., USA, on Feb 10, 1863. He deserted at Westport on June 25, 1863, and rejoined Quantrill's men. He supposedly took part in the raid on Lawrence, KS, in August 1863. After the war ended, he initially vowed to go and fight in Mexico rather than surrender. Instead, he returned to Carter Co., TN, where he married a distant cousin, Martha A. "Mattie" Hull, in 1866. There daughter Hattie was born in TN (probably Carter County) in 1867. They went on to have five more children, a daughter , Alice, born in CO in 1872, a son Frank who died in CO in 1874, a son George born in OR in 1877 or 1878 (died in 1903), a daughter Lilley born in OR in 1878 (died young), and another child name unknown, who died young. Sometime, between 1867 and 1871, he rode with Jesse James and his gang, before joining his brother Sam Bishop in Colorado. By 1871, Jack was in Georgetown, CO. On March 26, 1871, a local paper mentioned that Jack was nominated by the Democratic Party to run for the office of Georgetown City Marshall. He engaged in mining with Sam Bishop. They worked as miners, prospectors, and according to some sources, mine-jumpers. On May 21, 1875, in Georgetown, CO, Jack murdered mine owner Jacob Snider after a mining dispute. Where he spent the next two years is hard to say. We know that at one point he was living at his brother T.C. Bishop’s ranch in Sonoma. We also know that Jesse James wrote him a letter on January 23, 1877, and that this letter was sent to the Rest Ranch in TX, where Jack was staying. Again, how long he was there, I don’t know. By 1880 he was living in Josephine Co., OR. Ironically, Jackson, whose past was so violent, went on to become a well-respected pioneer citizen of Grants Pass, OR. After his death, his wife Mattie went to live in Seattle, WA, with her daughter Hattie, dying there in 1923. His only descendants that I know of are the great-grandchildren of his daughter Alice. Hattie may have living descendants, though.

Dawn