jesse james

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.

"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 old Paso Robles Inn. 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."

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