Estimated reading time: 13 minutes

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Unwelcome Caboodle: Guess who mortgaged the farm?

Now at the end of summer comes this news from Clay County, Missouri. Finances of Clay County are so bad that the County has been forced to mortgage its properties. The Jesse James Farm & Museum in Kearney is owned by Clay County since it was formerly donated to Clay County by the Jesse James family. The County’s new blanket mortgage covering all property owned by the County apparently will include the property of James Farm.

Every mortgage hangs a veritable sword of Damocles over the property being mortgaged. The threat and cloud of foreclosure will remain above James Farm until Clay County can pay its debt.

Here is something to ponder. Would it be a good thing or a bad thing if James Farm fell into foreclosure? Some say it would be a good thing.

Under foreclosure, James Farm & Museum could be rescued from the clutches of judgmental politicians who presently administer it. Most of them would rather be rid of the obligation anyway. Under fresh, new, and invigorated administrators, James Farm could restore itself to its original purpose – to be a primary research facility for the history of Frank & Jesse James, the James family, and the history of the Civil War era. What are your thoughts?

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Coming Together: Choctaw in the James Family

Carrie Gardner-Tyler is the 5th great-granddaughter of our James family immigrant John James. From that early era, Carrie’s inheritance is an Anglo-European ancestry. Carrie also is a member of the Choctaw Nation, born of Native-American ancestry.

Carrie’s grandfather Noel Gardner attended Choctaw Academy in Georgetown, Kentucky adjacent to Georgetown College where Frank & Jesse James’ father Rev. Robert Sallee James was schooled.

Carrie’s great-grandfather Thomas LeFlore was a Chief of the Choctaw Nation and a grandson of Jean Baptiste LeFleur, of Versailles, France who immigrated to Spanish Territory, Florida.

Here’s Carrie’s pedigree in the James family:

. John James, Immigrant

. . Thomas James & Sarah Mason

. . . Capt. John James & Dinah Allen

. . . . Benjamin James Sr. Esq./Indian Trader & Unknown Choctaw

. . . . . Benjamin James Jr “of the Choctaw Nation” & Mary Ann Unknown – of the Trail of Tears

. . . . . . William Abraham “Ab” James & Phoebe Unknown

. . . . . . . Jerry L. Gardner & Jennie “Jincy” James

. . . . . . . . Carrie Gardner

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Cache of Accolades: James Convocations in Tennessee

Jean Anne Carter Wilson was sworn in as a chapter officer of Gen. William Lee Davidson Daughters of the American Revolution. Jean’s membership in the Tennessee DAR comes from being a descendant of Robert Poor, the Cornet & Elizabeth Mimms, the same as Joan Beamis whose pursuit of DAR membership lead to the discovery of the first Jesse James family tree Background of a Bandit. You may remember Jean from her appearance on the Genealogy Roadshow program when Roadshow genealogists confirmed Jean’s kinship to Jesse James. Jean also is a Davidson descendant.

Sarah Elizabeth Head graduated from Vanderbilt University at the beginning of summer with a Masters in marketing. Sarah is a 7th great-granddaughter of Thomas James Sr. & Mary Bruce. Stray Leaves will be featuring profiles of her James ancestral line soon. Among them are Sarah’s 5th great-grandfather Dr. John Robinson James, her 4th great uncle Jefferson Gilbert James, and her 1st cousin 5 times removed Maude Strother James. Sarah also is the 6th great-granddaughter of Gov. John “Nolichucky Jack” Sevier, the first governor of Tennessee.

A second cousin of Frank & Jesse James called at age 99

Mildred Martin Buster passed away peacefully at her Midway, Kentucky home at Audubon Farm on June 4, 2019.  Mildred was born a 3rd great-granddaughter of Richard James Cole and Sally Yates who operated the Black Horse Inn outside Midway where Frank and Jesse’s mother Zerelda Elizabeth Cole was born. Her grandfather Henry Lewis Martin rode with John Hunt Morgan, together with the brothers David Hunt James and Richard Skinner James, also of Woodford County. Her great-grandaunt is Martha Elizabeth “Mattie” Martin, the wife of Redmond David “Red” Munkers of the James gang, who was killed by Federals. Her great-grandfather Thomas Lewis Martin, husband of Elizabeth Cole, who died at the home of his son Jesse Martin, is a probable namesake for Frank and Jesse’s uncle Thomas Martin James, the millionaire merchant of Kansas City. Mildred’s husband Gen. William Robards Buster, born in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, commanded the 2nd Artillery Division at the Battle of Normandy in World War II. OBITUARY

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Auction lot for Frank James’ farm in Fletcher, Oklahoma