Categories: Jesse James

• Jesse Edward Smith Recalls Jesse James, His Namesake & Cousin

  My mother (ed. Susan Prudence James-Smith) and her brother, R. W. James (ed. Robert Woodson James 1838-1922), were first cousins to the James Brothers. The Jesse in my name was taken from Jesse James. He paid some special attention to me when I was a small boy and made occasional visits to our house until the law was in such hot pursuit they hardly dared to visit among their kin. On one visit to Salt Springs Jesse gave me a [...]

• Stalkers of Famous & Infamous Families

  Yesterday, on the True West magazine web site where I also blog, there was a shootout. Not with bullets, but with words. The perpetrator was a known stalker of mine, who came gunning for me. The stalker made his violence palpable. The topic of the blog was titled, “Related to a Historical Person?”. I don’t think Walker, the poster of the blog, had any idea what was in store. I humorously chimed in about being a cousin to Sam Walton, [...]

• Fake Photo Reveals New Jesse James History

  Anyone who knows the history of the West probably instantly recognizes this image. When Jesse James abandoned his children and his wife and his family, he freebooted himself west to Las Vegas. Jesse had in mind to re-establish his faded and flawed career as the high wire attraction his Civil War life on the partisan trapeze had prepared him to be. Jesse fancied himself as the focus of attention by adoring vacationers who would come from all those places where [...]

• Visiting the Second Great Grandparents of Frank & Jesse James in Cole Cemetery

    In 1754 at the age of 24, John Cole signed a lease with Hancock Lee for 150 acres of land on the north side of Horsepen Run, adjoining the plantation of John Herndon in King George County, Virginia. In 1775 and 1776, Lee’s son Willis Lee entered Virginia’s District of Kentucky and encamped at the spring named Lee’s Big Spring, midway between today’s Frankfort and Lexington. Willis Lee, his cousin Hancock Taylor, Isaac Hite, James Douglas, and John Floyd [...]

• Book Royalties of Jesse James Author Donated to James Farm & Museum

    Book royalties from Frank & Jesse James, The Story Behind the Legend by Ted Yeatman are being donated to James Farm & Museum. The author died November 1, 2009 in Maryland after a lengthy illness. His family has approved the donation. James Farm & Museum is owned by the County of Clay in Missouri, and is operated by its Parks & Recreation Department. The first royalty check of over $1,200 has been received, representing funds due to Yeatman from [...]

• SPIKE TV strikes out with Deadliest Warriors Al Capone and Jesse James

  Representing the family of Frank & Jesse James, The James Preservation Trust was contacted about participating in a segment of Deadliest Warriors, produced by Spike TV. The program pits Al Capone against Jesse James. The interview with Eric James, president of the Trust, identified several hurdles that prevented the James family from participating in the show. Strike one for Spike TV. Spike previously shot itself in the foot with the James family. Formerly in another program, Spike TV advertised that [...]

• When a Younger Rode to Defeat Arizona-style Nativism

  Born in Liberty, Missouri, Charles Bruce Younger Sr. was only twenty-three when he took a stab at killing the political campaign of his older cousin, Fontaine Talbott Fox. Their cousins in the future Younger Gang were yet in their teens. Fox was a politically savvy old codger. Already in his fifties, he had been a lawyer, judge, and attorney general for Kentucky. He had weathered two successful elections to the state legislature. Fox had muscle and political pull. His father [...]

• Eric James says “No, Thanks” to Jesse James publisher, North Star Press

  If you thought you knew Jesse James, wait until you meet his family. So says Eric James, author of the new, long awaited, four volume history of the family of Frank and Jesse James. According to historian Nancy Samuelson who has previewed portions of the upcoming book, the author of The History of the Dalton Gang says James’ book is likely to send historians back to find what history they missed. “I was honored that North Star Press of Minnesota [...]

• James-Younger Gang Journal Pans Jesse James’ Hidden Treasure

  The following review of TV’s Jesse James’ Hidden Treasure appeared in the Winter, 2009-2010 edition of The James-Younger Gang Journal, posted here with permission of the reviewer Nancy Samuelson & the Journal. Samuelson is an author, historian, lecturer, and book reviewer for the Wild West History Association. ****************** Jesse James’ Hidden Treasure This program aired on the History Channel three times during early November, 2009. With this program the History Channel has stooped to a new low. The program featured, [...]

• Techniques of Jesse James Con Artists

  If Jesse James didn’t die, neither did Michael Jackson . Here’s some techniques used by faux historians and con artists to deny the existence of factual history. The techniques are as good today as they were back then. linkscolor = “993300″; highlightscolor = “339900″; backgroundcolor = “FFFFFF”; channel = “none”; window.fbAsyncInit = function() { FB.init({appId: “118322884853544″, status: true, cookie: true, xfbml: true}); }; (function() { var e = document.createElement(“script”); e.async = true; e.src = document.location.protocol + “//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js”; document.getElementById(“fb-root”).appendChild(e); }()); Share

• Newman University Promotes Bogus Jesse James Historian Ron Pastore

  Ron Pastore is a con man who attended Newman University in Wichita, Kansas. Now, Newman University wants Ron Pastore to teach the bogus history he connives about Jesse James to Newman University students. Responding to a public announcement that appeared on Newman University’s web site, The James Preservation Trust, representing the historical interests of the Jesse James family, filed an objection with Newman president Noreen M. Carrocci over Newman’s announced lecture by Pastore. The Trust challenged Pastore’s credentials as a [...]

• After Bogus Jesse James History, TV’s HISTORY program to air bogus JFK history

  With its developing record of concocting bogus Jesse James history for the sake of TV ratings, the television distributor formerly known as The History Channel now attacks the history of the President John F. Kennedy and the Kennedy family. TV’s History program formerly fabricated fake Jesse James history in an effort to improve ratings and to attract the young male demographic, at the expense of losing the middle age and senior demographic the channel was founded upon. The program also [...]

• Death of Jesse James on History channel

        I was watching the “History Channel”  story about the death of Jesse James while having Thanksgiving dinner with a physician friend (he had taped it).  We really weren’t paying much attention until the segment about the autopsy came to the screen.  Our response together was that if the autopsy report is accurate and the photograph is accurate it would be very difficult to sustain that bullet path if Mr. James had been more just a few inches above the shooter.  [...]