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 1875 - 1951 (75 years)
Generation: 1
| 1. |  Jesse Edwards James was born on 31 Aug 1875 in Nashville, TN; died on 26 Mar 1951 in Glendale, CA; was buried after 26 Mar 1951 in Forest Lawn Cemetery, Glendale, CA. Notes:
BIOGRAPHY: [Broderbund WFT Vol. 15, Ed. 1, Tree #1589
Jesse Jr. supported his mother, sister and himself since the age of eleven. With little money Zerelda auctioned many of her household items. Jesse bought a modest home for his mother and sister and put his sister through school. When Jesse Jr. was small and his father was still living, he used the name Tim Howard. while Jesse Jr. was working, he also played baseball for the Armour Packing Co. with Johnny Kling and Joe Tinker, later to become baseball greats. Jesse Jr. had a cigar and tobacco store. One of his customers was another up and coming youngster, Harry Truman. As his business flourished he could afford to hire a helper freeing him to pursue his ambition: study law. Jesse Jr. proposed to Stella and told her to get used to the name James. Jesse graduated from Law school in 1907. He sold his business and embarked upon a career as an attorney in Kansas City, Mo. In later years he opened a law office in Los Angeles, Calif. Jesse was falsely arrested in 1898 for train robbery, which distressed him, but in 1920 he was asked to make several films about the James Gang. After much deliberation he decided to do it. The adventure was a bust and he and friends had invested. He felt bad for the friends that invested and repaid them. He wound up selling his home. He had 4 daughters and one was ready to enter into college and wouldn't be long for the others. He did not return to his law practice for a year and when he did he had a nervous collapse. Jesse's family eventually moved back to Independence, Mo. The girls finished high school and left college to work. Jesse resumed his law practice for two years even though he was a sick man. He died on 26 March 1951. Jesse Jr. is buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. Jesse and his wife were married for more than fifty years. There was a movie made in 1958 on "Playhouse 90" about the life of Jesse James, Jr. His wife, daughters and two grandchildren watched in disbelief as they saw all the lies on screen. Stella left to visit her husbands grave and left the details to her grandson, James Ross, a practicing attorney in Los Angeles, who eventually became Superior Court Judge of California in 1989. While watching the film, Stella reminisced in time and remembered how Jesse Jr. had spent his boyhood in Kansas City, Mo. near his grandmother's farm and going fishing and hunting in the quiet countryside. How, during their early years of marriage, Jesse would sit over his law books till the early hours and with few hours of rest would go and open his cigar store. How young Jesse would sit under the big coffee bean tree at his grandmother's home just visiting with the family. How, later he enjoyed visiting with Frank and his wife, Anna, when they lived near the same farm. How both his grandmother and uncle Frank had been so proud of Jesse graduating from law college with the highest honors and passed his bar exam with the highest grade.
As all this passed before my (Stella) eyes I couldn't understand why all these obvious distortions of the facts could not even think of it as an insult to my husbands memory, for there seemed no possible connection between this caricature and the wonderful man who had been such a fine citizen, devoted husband and father.
Jesse married Stella Frances McGowen on 24 Jan 1900 in Stella's Parents' Home, Kansas City, Mo. Stella was born on 27 Feb 1882 in Oak Grove, MO; died on 1 Apr 1971 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, CA; was buried after 1 Apr 1971 in Forest Lawn Cemetery, Glendale, CA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]
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Generation: 2
Generation: 3
Generation: 4
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