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How can you tell a genetic relative of Jesse James?
The answer is simple. Just look at the ears.
Every few weeks I receive photographic images that are claimed to be of Jesse James, or Frank James, or of the two together. More often, they are pictures of some who claim to be a relative of the James. It’s easy to dismiss almost every image promptly. But sometimes, when the physical resemblance appears close, the first thing I look at are the ears.
This image of Jesse James’ wife Zee is one of my most favorite James family pictures because it shows very clearly the physical ear definition that commonly appears among many in the Jesse James family.
Zee Mimms-James is not only Jesse’s wife, but she also is his first cousin. They both share the same grandparents, those being John M. James & Mary “Polly” Poor.
The giveaway in the ear formation of the James is the flattened part of the ear’s perimeter, and the deep peninsula canal located inside the ear at the bottom.
Evident in this image of a young Zee Mimms is the same ear formation, which will last a lifetime. This architecture rarely appears in both ears, but only in one.
This singular ear pattern would have been familiar to Jesse James. While no image of Jesse shows he possessed the same ear form, it is easy from viewing photographic images of his children that he possessed the formation, too. His children Jesse Edwards James Jr. and Mary Susan James definitely did.
Among the Jesse James family, this ear formation appears to be genetic. Generations of the James display the same ear structure through time to present day.
Frank James, son, Robert Franklin James had one. So did Jesse’s cousin Susan Prudence James-Smith.
Living members of the Jesse James family display the same ear formation today, even among family who do not descend from Jesse James.
Finally, this is J. Mark Beamis. Mark is the son of Joan Malley-Beamis, author of Background of a Bandit, the first genealogy assembled by a James family member. Furthermore, Mark is a second great-grandson of Drury Woodson James, Frank and Jesse’s uncle; and he is a third great-grandson of John M. James and Mary “Polly” Poor.
Recently, when these images were presented to living descendants among the James family, some dashed to a mirror to check their ears. What they saw in the mirror was their James family genetic heritage, fully and irrefutably displayed.
To other James family members, only now becoming aware of this genetic characteristic, I’ll ask you to SEND ME YOUR EARS.
Spot More Ears in Our Video Albums
Stray Leaves Daily
Daily updates from the family of Frank & Jesse James with stories, photos, & two searchable genealog
VIDEO of the Clay County Board of Commissioners bestowing honor upon our James colleague & friend Charlies Broomfield. Recognition begins at 2:00 min. mark.
Congratulations Charlie!!
We have hints from the Clay County Archives in charge of James Farm in Kearney, Missouri, that a road leading to the farm will be renamed Charles Broomfield Rd. Charlie was a Clay County Commissioner who took an active role in arranging the sale and transfer of James Farm from the James family to Clay County.
Cant say that I understand the significance of this.
Do you have the address of Jesse & Frank James Cabin in Paseo Robles, California?
SLAVE TRADERS AMONG OUR JAMES FAMILY . . . For a decade Stray Leaves has been researching this most distressing discovery. Finally, it’s time to bring this story to light. There’s much to report. The entire story will take time to tell. As we begin, we are also compelled to reconcile what this history means for us. More specifically for those who are now known to descend from these slave traders, whom it can be assumed never knew of this element of their ancestry, but also for the James family as a whole. The resolution will not come easy.
Forks of the Road Slave Market – Violence In Silence
ericjames.org
“Just at the Forks, where the Washington and Kingston, or Palatine roads converge, stood a low squatty frame building used during the winter monthsI ran a DNA test on all the James names I could find in these stories and didn't get 1 DNA match. My DNA is closer to Jesse than that James line is. I am looking into it being through Robert Thomason (step grandfather of Jesse Woodson James) and Julia Ann Singleton (Aunt to Jesse Woodson James).
I am a descendant of Betty G Woodson.
Waterproof, La in Tensas Parish to be more exact.
Tensas Parish. J. G. James and M. Kerrigan.
The King family. Descendants of Viking slayers. archive.org/stream/Kingswood/Kingswood%20reduced_djvu.txt
"In the middle of 1864, Captain Jason W. James was on scouting duty in the southern part of Madison Parish. About eight o'clock one morning he and his company arrived at the Plantation home of Hr. Joshua James on Roundaway Bayou, who also owned the Ione Plantation in Tensas Parish." You will have to read the rest. I am not posting it here. 😲 😲 😲 sites.rootsweb.com/~lamadiso/articles/ward/chap05.htm
And I do believe this James line is connected to Lucille Ball.
And speaking of slave traders. Nicholas Trammell is mixed in with the Carrigans somehow. www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/trammell-nicholas
And I am a descendant of Elizabeth Woodson Thomas. Wife of Captain Edmund King.
I am also showing DNA matches to the James grandparents of Jesse Woodson James and all 8 of his great grandparents. This is what I need help figuring out. All of my James DNA matches will be in the replies to this comment. In this screenshot they are all the white ones
The sons of Colonial Edmund King.
I am a descendant of Mary Joicy who was widow Woodson, mother of Elizabeth Woodson Thomas.
By the way I am not a Kerrigan by DNA. I am a Carrigan. Civil War name change. Descendant of William Michael Carrigan and Nancy Holt. Nancy Holt was the daughter of Michael Holt III and Rachel Rainey. youtu.be/IsK2eSTVW8A
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When this happens, it’s usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it or it’s been deleted.Where does Lucille Ball fit?
FIND-A-GRAVE BLUNDERS LEAVE JAMES FAMILY HOWLING . . . Can you spot the errata in this Find a Grave post for the grandfather of Frank & Jesse James? The most glaring deception is the photograph!
History tells us the photograph was invented about the time John M. James was dying. Neither history, nor the administrator of this posting, Charlotte Raley McConaha, can tell us is how photographic technology made its way from France to the distant American frontier to take a photo of John M. James, months before his demise.
Another imprecise miscalculation in this post is the attribution of the middle name “Martin” to John M. James. The name never has been proved by evidence. To guess the name is unreliable and wrong.