Tag Archives: American Revolution

Contemporary of John M. James, Photographed

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

Conrad Heyer

This image came to my attention while preparing the final manuscript for Volume II of Jesse James Soul Liberty, This Bloody Ground for publication. Conrad Heyer was a contemporary of John M. James. Heyer was 102 years old when this image of him was recorded in 1852.

Heyer was a veteran of the American Revolution. He served in all the same locales as did John M. James, Jesse and Frank James’ grandfather, who is my principal subject for Volume II. Together with Joshua Logan Younger, a great-grandfather of the Younger Gang, all three were at Valley Forge with Gen. George Washington. All had been in the Continental Army, serving at the same time. While Younger and James were Southern men, Heyer was from Waldoboro, Maine, where it is said, Heyer was the first white child to be born in that community of German immigrants.

The geographic origins of the trio made it unlikely Heyer would have known John M. James or Joshua Logan Younger personally. But his surviving photographic image gives pause to wonder what James and Younger may have looked like, had each lived another generation longer to be photographed.

Photo courtesy of the Maine Historical Society.

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Stray Leaves Daily

Stray Leaves Daily

Daily updates from the family of Frank & Jesse James with stories, photos, & two searchable genealog

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4 months ago
Stray Leaves Daily

VIDEO of the Clay County Board of Commissioners bestowing honor upon our James colleague & friend Charlies Broomfield. Recognition begins at 2:00 min. mark.

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Congratulations Charlie!!

4 months ago
Stray Leaves Daily

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. See MoreSee Less

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.Image attachment

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Cant say that I understand the significance of this.

Do you have the address of Jesse & Frank James Cabin in Paseo Robles, California?

6 months ago
Stray Leaves Daily

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.
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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.
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