Mary Jane “Grandma Barlow” Lee – The Dalton Gang and the Sunbonnet
Mary Jane “Mollie” Lee Barlow may have witnessed a Dalton Gang robbery in Kansas in 1892. This family story explores the space between historical record, memory, and the stories we carry forward.
A Story That Found Me
Sometimes when I gather in my grandmother Mary, I feel she is the one gathering in me.
This is one of those stories.
I came across a newspaper clipping describing an incident in Kansas in 1892 — a bank robbery by the Dalton Gang.
According to the article, my grandmother Mary Jane Lee Barlow was there.
Or at least… a version of her was.
The Dalton Gang Story — Kansas, 1892
A Newspaper Clipping from Portland, Oregon
“She has always known what to put on her head — Mary Jane Barlow formerly of Kansas and Oklahoma.
When the slender, aristocratic little lady stepped off the train in Portland to be met by her daughter, Mrs. Fern Craghead, 1944 NW Johnson street, with whom she will make her home, a black hat with a curling scarlet feather topped the soft waves of her white hair. Nevertheless, a more famous bonnet belongs to Mrs. Barlow, one which became notorious on a crisp day in October, 1892, at the then tiny border town of Canney, Kansas.
Irish Mrs. Barlow, a dark-haired colleen who’s husband was mayor of the town, was out hanging clothes up on the line. She heard shots and the wild clatter of hoofs coming from the direction of the Caney Valley Bank only a block away. Before she could turn around, however, a bullet clipped through the top of her peaked sunbonnet.
It wasn’t till later that she learned from frenzied townsfolk that the bank had been robbed by the Dalton gang and that it was one of their bullets which had missed her head by inches. Two of the lawless Dalton’s, Grant and Bob later were shot down at Coffeyville, fifteen miles away, when they attempted robbing two banks at once. Emmett Dalton, imprisoned and later pardoned, would too suffer from his wounds for a lifetime.
Hardier survivors than they are Mrs. Barlow and her bonnet; the first an alert and vigorous 87 and a great-great grandmother; the second still reposing in a trunk at home.”
What We Know — And What We Don’t
I don’t yet have a proper citation for this article.
I don’t know:
- If the story is fully accurate
- If it was embellished
- Or if it was shaped over time
More research is surely needed.
Mary as Storyteller
But even if the facts are uncertain, something else feels true.
I can hear Mary’s voice in it.
Mary was a teller of tales.
She didn’t just wear a sunbonnet.
She wore a peaked sunbonnet.
It’s the kind of detail a storyteller keeps — the kind that survives.
Tracing Mary’s Roots
Mary’s people, on her mother’s side, came from Ireland in the early 1800s.
From Ireland to the American Midwest
They likely arrived in Philadelphia, then moved west:
- Pittsburgh
- The Ohio River
- Fleming County, Kentucky
The Lee family — the people she came from and carried forward.
They were part of that long movement across the country — step by step, generation by generation.
Mary’s Legacy
My mother, Sandi Taylor, remembered her grandmother Barlow as having the bluest eyes she had ever seen.
I remember my mother’s blue eyes.
When I look out into a bright winter sky, I see that same blue.
And I wonder what Mary actually saw that day in Kansas.
What Remains
Was there really a bullet?
Did it pass through her bonnet?
Or is this the kind of story that grows — shaped by memory, retelling, and time?
Either way, something remains.
The image.
The voice.
The hat.
And blue eyes.
Explore the Family Tree of Mary Jane Lee Barlow
View Mary’s family tree (full record)
View on Ancestry (login required)
What follows is the documented outline of her life — the part we can verify.
Research and Records
The following timeline is drawn from compiled records on Ancestry and reflects the documented life events of Mary Jane “Mollie” Lee Barlow. Dates and locations are based on available sources and may be refined with further research.
Early Life in Indiana (1858–1880)
- 1858 — Born September 26 in Greensboro, Henry County, Indiana
- 1860 — Residence in Tipton County, Indiana
- 1870 — Residence in Rush County, Indiana
- 1875 — Death of sister Amanda E. Lee
During these early years, Mary grew up in a large family, with multiple siblings born across Indiana as the family established roots.
Marriage and Move West to Kansas (1880–1895)
- 1880 — Living in Wilson County, Kansas
- 1881 — Married John Wesley Barlow in Kansas
- 1882–1895 — Birth of children:
- Worthy Claud Barlow (1882)
- Lula Barlow (1885)
- Grover Talmage Barlow (1888)
- Burel Lee Barlow (1891)
- Elizabeth Mary Barlow (1893)
- Viola Fern Barlow (1895, born in Caney, Kansas)
This period places Mary in southeastern Kansas, including Caney, where the Dalton Gang story is said to have occurred in 1892.
Family Life and Loss (1895–1918)
- 1897–1900 — Birth of additional children:
- Pauline Hazel Barlow (1897)
- Nellie M. Barlow (1900)
- 1898 — Death of her mother, Eliza Jane Summerville
- 1900 — Residence in Caney City, Kansas
- 1910 — Residence in Pawhuska, Oklahoma
- 1910 — Death of daughter Lula
- 1915 — Recorded injury in Pawhuska, Oklahoma
- 1918 — Death of husband John Wesley Barlow
Later Years in Oklahoma and Kansas (1918–1951)
- 1920–1940 — Residence primarily in Pawhuska, Oklahoma
- 1926 — Death of daughter Nellie
- 1930 — Residence in Chanute, Kansas
- 1935–1939 — Deaths of multiple siblings
- 1950 — Residence in San Angelo, Texas
- 1951 — Death on February 26 in Tulsa, Oklahoma (age 92)
Burial
Mary Jane “Mollie” Lee Barlow is buried in Sunnyside Cemetery, Caney, Kansas—returning, in the end, to the place where one of her most enduring stories began.
Notes on Sources
- Timeline compiled from Ancestry records (census, vital records, and family trees)
- Newspaper article referenced in this post currently lacks full citation and remains under review
- Dates and relationships should be considered well-supported but open to refinement as additional documentation is located
