At a reunion of the
Jesse James family in 2002 in Paso Robles, California, the start
up of the
James Family DNA
Project was announced. It was hosted by a great grandson of Jesse
James, James R.
Ross, a retired Superior Court judge. Two
other great grandsons of the
outlaw and other family lines also attended
from all over the country. In 1995 Judge Ross
employed DNA technology in
the exhumation of Jesse James' body. DNA then proved the
body to be that of
Jesse James, and disproved claims of a family relationship by
others.
At the same time the
James family was able to find the true members. Over
history and the
years the James
family had become disconnected. The times including
westward migration, the
Civil War, and many
in the James family after his death not wanting to be known as
kin to the
outlaw, found the
family being lost.
Joan Beamis, a James
family member, put together the first genealogy, disseminated to
other
James family, and In
1970 she published "Background of a Bandit" with William E.
Pullen.
"They were dangerous men and killers, but, they
were always kind to the poor people and often helped them. One story
I like was when they stopped at a farm and asked for supper to be
made. In those days that was common and the meals were paid for. The
woman said she didn’t have much in the house to cook as she was just
a poor widow who was about to lose her farm to the local banker. She
cooked what she could find and the boys asked more about her plight.
She said she owed the banker $800.00 she didn’t have and he was
coming at 4:00p.m. that afternoon to get it. Jesse asked her what
this man looked like and how he would be traveling to get to the
farm. She told him and after the meal Jesse gave her $800.00 he said
was a loan. Frank made out a receipt she was to copy in her own
handwriting and told her to be sure to get the skinflint’s signature
on that paper before handing over the money as that was the right
way to do business of that sort.
You can see the rest coming! After the skinflint
left the farm with his money the gang waylayed him and took back
their $800.00. The woman had her farm and another banker had been
hoodwinked."
quote taken from: www.genealogy4all.org/JJames.html
"Paso Robles is sometimes referred to as the wild west of the
California wine industry, but ironically Paso Robles does have a
connection to the wild west that most people don't know about. The
famous outlaw Jessie James had more than one relative who lived and
owned property in the area. Dury James, Jesse's uncle lived on a ranch
in the Adelaida District from 1868 to 1909. Another relative, Dr.
Woodson James, operated a hotel at the Sulfur Hot Springs in town.
History has it that Jessie and his brother Frank were frequent visitors
at the Dury Ranch, which was known as La Ponza Ranch. One such visit had
Jessie laid up at the Sulfur Hot Springs , recovering from a gunshot
wound he sustained during a train heist. The old timers in town remembered him as drinker and gambler
that was rumored to hang out at the Saloons in Paso Robles. Jessie felt
safe knowing that the maze of tunnels under the old inn allowed him
ample escape routes if the need ever arose. In spite of the nationwide
manhunt to capture Jessie, he managed to allude the best of them, and
escape back to Missouri with a new identity, only to be shot in the back
by one of his friends."
Quoted from: www.maloyoneill.com/explore.html
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Brad Pitt plays the
outlaw Jesse James in "The Assassination of Jesse
James by the
Coward Robert Ford," he will join a formidable fraternity
of celebrities who
have stepped into the shoes of the legendary outlaw,
Jesse James.
Leading the list of Hollywood infamy are Robert
Duvall, Macdonald
Carey, Rob Lowe, Colin Farrell. James Coburn,
Wendell Corey, James
Keach, Kris Kristofferson, Hugh Beaumont and
James Drury.
The two most
provocative names among the James impersonators, however,
are namesakes James
Dean and Jesse James, Jr. Dean, whose brief acting
career and premature
death earned him a celebrity arguably on a par with
that of the Missouri
outlaw, played James in a 1953 segment of the "You Are There" TV
series entitled "The Capture of Jesse James."
Jesse James and James Dean connect to Paso Robles... stay
tuned |
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James Jr., a son of Jesse
James who grew up to be a Los Angeles attorney,
played his father in two 1921
silent films, "Jesse James as the Outlaw" and "Jesse James Under the
Black Flag."
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward
Robert Ford'' apart from two dozen or so other films about
the legendary outlaw. The lingering close-ups, absence of big
shootouts and emphasis on psychology over action will probably
disappoint viewers expecting a traditional Western, but the cerebral
style is also what makes it a distinctive American classic.
The film is based on a novel by Ron Hansen about the final year of
James's life and his relationship with Robert Ford, a young man who
idolized James, joined his gang and ended up shooting his hero in the
back of the head. It's a complex tale, told by screenwriter/director
Andrew Dominik with originality, striking cinematography and sterling
performances by Brad Pitt as James and Casey Affleck as Ford.
James was smart, cunning, moody and ruthless. Toward the end, he also
was extremely paranoid. Pitt manages to convey all those aspects of
James's personality without caricature or cliche and with minimum
dialogue. In this movie, what's going on inside James's head is more
significant than what he's doing with his fists or his pistol.
FROM MOIVE PROMOTIONS
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