This photo of Frank James was probably taken shortly after he joined the Confederate Guerrillas led by William C. Quantrill. It was likely taken in the summer of 1863. Dr. Sayle was rumored to have set a broken leg for Frank.
Did the Younger Gang stay in Greenville for a time with relatives following the Civil War? That’s a debate that arose a few days ago on Facebook.
It is known that an ancestor of the late Bob Younger owned the OK Wagon Yard located where Market Square is today. But any connection between the two families is not definite. The piece on Facebook stated that Cole Younger lived on West Lee Street in the latter part of the 19th century. Dr. Robert Sayle developed that part of town, including the large homes where Younger may have visited. However, Cole Younger spent time in a federal prison between the fall of 1876 and 1901 when he was paroled. The Sayle Addition didn’t exist until the 1880s.
But not to discredit the story; the Younger brothers as well as Frank and Jesse James were part of William Quantrill’s Raiders who wintered over in the Sherman-Bonham area during 1864-1865. As raiders, they certainly didn’t stay put in Sherman. Theoretically, they were here to assist Confederates in cleaning out the Thickets of deserters from both the Union and Confederate armies. Much of the Thickets were found between Greenville and Bonham. Quantrill’s Raiders participated in raids and robbery of civilians, also.
Enter into the plot Dr. Robert Sayle. He earned a medical degree from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia in 1856. The story goes that he went home to Louisville, bought a horse and saddle, and headed to Texas. After staying a short time in Lamar County, he came to Hunt County where he purchased one-half section of land east of Commerce. He built a log cabin and set up practice as the only doctor in Hunt County with a medical degree. In 1866 he married Texana Kimbell.
In October 1861 he joined the 9th Texas Cavalry to take part in the fight at Elk Horn Tavern and the Corinth Campaign in northern Mississippi. In the spring of 1862 he contracted a fever and resigned as Assistant Surgeon before returning home to recuperate. Once back in Hunt County the Commissioners Court declared Dr. Sayle was a “physician of good standing and absolutely necessary for wants of the County of Hunt”. That was perfectly acceptable in the Confederate States.
With Quantrill’s men in the area and returning Confederates planning to continue the war on their home front, Dr. Sayle was busy patching up bullet wounds, knife cuts, and every violent act imaginable. It is reported that he treated the likes of the James brothers, Ben Bickerstaff and his followers including the Brumbelow and Keith families of Hunt County. After all, he was a trained physician with a wife and two daughters living in a remote part of the county.
In 1877 Dr. Sayle was elected President of the Hunt County Medical Board and served until 1885. In 1878 he moved to Greenville and bought land on both sides of Lee Street west of the Katy Depot to beyond Burleson College. In fact, he was one of the donors to Burleson. Sayle Addition was one of the first housing developments in Greenville, the other the Moulton Addition along Park Street.
Robert Sayle, like many others in Hunt County, was well respected by their peers. He served on the Board of Directors of the Greenville National Exchange Bank as well as numerous other civic services. Dr. Sayle died in 1914.
Dr Sayle treated Frank James during an attack of appendicitis and Frank layed low for a few weeks at the home of some friends of our family, South of Wolfe City. The bed was passed down from that family to our family. My son sleeps in the very same bed, and is a family heirloom.