The James family has a number of spinsters and bachelors who have never married.
While researching recently, I came across a newspaper item in the Harrodsburg (Ky.) Herald from 1909. A line of the James family lived in and around Harrodsburg at the time, and some still do today. The paper editorialized that the town’s spinsters and bachelors should marry or be imprisoned. To which came the following reply from a reader in nearby Danville, where James family members also lived:
“After reading your article regarding the new law that old maids over 30 must get married or go to jail, I would like to say that this old maid, in company with another one have been counting up, and we have found 131 over 30 in Danville…It isn’t our fault that we are not married, so for goodness sake don’t suggest such laws that will imprison innocent parties…
“There are plenty of old bachelors who might come to our rescue if they only would but they are too shy to ask the question, or else too stingy to take care of a wife…
“I haven’t been kissed for 13 years, nor my friend for 25. Can’t you please induce somebody to come to the aid of these 131 despairing waiting spinsters? Gray hairs and prison bars don’t go together.”
As a 6-year-old boy, Jesse Edwards James Jr. was a witness to the murder of his father, Jesse James. The event impinged on his life forever after. His unruly childhood was brought to heel by both family and community, which included the Crittenden family of Gov. Thomas T Crittenden. It was the family friend Gov. Crittenden who put the bounty on Jesse James that resulted in his killing. Law school and a job in the Crittenden law office directed Jesse Jr. into his future as a lawyer. He did alright until he was solicited into producing a movie about his father. After collecting production money from family, friends, and business associates, the movie flopped. Jesse Jr. assumed responsibility, but he never could never repay the money lost. Severe depression overcame Jesse Jr. He required hospitalization, and then institutionalization. Equilibrium escaped him every living day. He died at age 50 in the care of his loving wife Stella and his four daughters. His grandson Jim Ross, whom he raised with his daughters, became a lawyer and judge.
That was cool but creepy at the same time. Last photo looked like there was no one home. You can see the change in his eyes.
He has his mother's nose.
HAPPY 30TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY to the 2nd great-grandson of Jesse James, David James Ross, and his wife Jessica Lemoine Esq. David & Jessica appear here at their 20th anniversary in Jamaica, and more recently in 2018 supporting their adopted family, the Los Angeles Kings ice hockey team.
FROM SYRIA, ANOTHER BIG SUCCESS FOR STRAY LEAVES!
Todays’ email reads,
“Dear Eric, You will remember that you wrote about my looking for Wanda Mimms, born 1939, daughter of Wyatt Leon Mimms, my step-Uncle. I found her. Her granddaughter saw online what you had written in Stray Leaves. She contacted me and I was able to confirm it was her. Wanda had been adopted but knew her birth name. In the meantime, she died, but I am in contact with 2 of her granddaughters. You have helped me to solve this mystery. Thank you so very much. Lilly Martin”
Lilly Martin Sahiounie is a relation of the Mimms family. She lives in Syria from where she began her search for Virginia Hill Mimms the missing mother of Wanda Mimms.
Below is Lilly’s story from Stray Leaves “ HELP! VIRGINIA HILL MIMMS ESCAPED!” that led to this remarkable discovery.
ericjames.org/wordpress/2019/04/17/virginia-hill-mimms-escaped/
HELP! Virginia Hill Mimms Escaped! – S t r a y L e a v e s
ericjames.org
After leading a burglary ring of children, Virginia Hill Mimms escaped. A distant cousin in Syria pursues Virginia to learn what happened.
ZEE MIMMS JAMES AUTHENTIC PHOTOS ANIMATED . . . Zee was named after Jesse’s mother, Zerelda Cole. Zee and Jesse were first cousins. John M. James was grandfather to them both. Despite the strong family tie, most of the family disapproved of their marriage. Their uncle, Rev. William James a Methodist minister and himself a black sheep among the James, married Zee and Jesse. Zee bore Jesse five children. Two lived to adulthood. A set of twins died soon after birth. A fifth child was miscarried. Zee died at age 55 of neurasthenia, a condition characterized by lassitude, fatigue, headache, and irritability, associated chiefly with emotional disturbance.
youtu.be/C0IaHZtis1o
Impressive
Eerily Amazing 😳 Thank You
BOB FORD AUTHENTIC PHOTOS ANIMATED . . . Yesterday, June 8, 2021, was the 129th anniversary of the murder of Robert Newton Ford by Ed O’Kelley in Creede, Colorado. The murder was the retribution of Bob Ford’s assassination of Jesse James on April 3, 1882. History recalls Ford as "that dirty little coward."
