Who was Jesse James?

Jesse James and his brother Frank were notorous outlaws during the heyday of the American West.

1. Jesse Gregory James is an American entrepreneur, automotive mechanic, and television personality. He is the founder of West Coast Choppers and current CEO of Austin Speed and Jesse James Firearms Unlimited, both based in Austin, Texas. He was the focus of a show chronicling some of the custom motorcycle builds in his TV series Jesse James: Outlaw Garage, which ran a shortened single season.
2. Jesse James was an outlaw, bank and train robber, Confederate guerrilla during the Civil War, and leader of the James–Younger Gang. When Jesse James was still alive, America already loved him, for, in him, there was adventure in an otherwise dull, slowly-turning-scientific age.

The most famous thing that ever happened in Garretson, South Dakota, was a meeting of the outlaw Jesse James and a ravine named Devil's Gulch. According to Garretson lore, Jesse evaded capture just outside of town by spurring his horse to leap the ravine - a feat that everyone agrees is nearly impossible. Reared on a Missouri farm, Jesse and Frank shared their family’s sympathy with the Southern cause when the American Civil War broke out in 1861. Frank joined William C. Quantrill ’s Confederate guerrillas, becoming friends with Cole Younger, a fellow member. Jesse followed suit by joining “Bloody” Bill Anderson’s guerrilla band. Jesse James continues to rise from folklore dust to be the subject of Hollywood movies. Central West Virginia stories abound about over-night stays and backwoods encounters with outlaw James and his brother Frank. One such account is linked to Clay County.

The James brothers were both born in Missouri, the sons of Robert and Zerelda (Cole) James. James was born on September 5, 1847 and his brother Alexander Franklin 'Frank' James was born January 10, 1843. There father died while the boys were young and their mother was married a couple of more times after his death.

Quantrill's Raiders and Bloody Bill Anderson

During the Civil War the James brothers were Confederate guerrillas in Missouri. Frank joined Quantrill's Raiders and eventually followed Quantrill to Texas. When Frank returned to Missouri with a group of the raiders, Jesse joined the group.

After the leader of their group was severely wounded, the brothers joined up with Bloody Bill Anderson's group. The brothers were accused of committing atrocities against Union troops when they reportedly participated in the Centralia Massacre where Anderson's bushwackers killed or wounded 22 unarmed Union soldiers.

The James-Younger Gang

After the Civil War, the James brothers took up crime as the more famous members of the James-Younger gang. The gang committed train robberies, bank robberies, and murder from 1866 until 1876 when an attempted robbery of the Northfield, Minnesota bank resulted in the deaths and capture of some of the gang. While Frank retired from crime after that attempt, Jesse returned to crime by forming a new gang in 1879.

The end came for Jesse James on April 3, 1882 when a member of the gang, Robert Ford, shot Jesse in the back of the head in an attempt to collect a $10,000 reward. Jesse had by then become America's most wanted criminal.

The Royal Ancestry of Jesse James

Susanna Norwood is the 6th great-grandmother of the outlaw Jesse James. She is also the key to his royal ancestry through her father Capt. John Norwood who came to Virginia from England about 1650.

Harry Newman in his 'To Maryland from Overseas' states the following about Capt. John Norwood:

This reference to “professional' research is what links Capt. John Norwood of Virginia to Tyringham Norwood of England. Harry Newman died shortly after publishing this account and the details regarding this 1961 research apparently has not been published. So without further research, any royal cousins or famous kin through Capt. John Norwood should be prefixed with the adjective ”probable.'

View Famous Kin of Jesse James

Introduction

Jesse James was a daring outlaw from Missouri. He became a legend in his own lifetime by committing crimes supposedly out of revenge for the poor treatment he, his family, and other Southern sympathizers received from Union soldiers during the Civil War. James sought personal recognition and publicity by writing letters to the press. His crimes terrorized innocent civilians and stifled economic growth in Missouri in the years following the Civil War.

Early Years

Clay County, Missouri Jesse Woodson James was born in Clay County, Missouri, on September 5, 1847. He was the third of four children born to Robert and Zerelda Cole James, both Kentucky natives. Jesse James had an older brother Frank, a brother, Robert, who died in infancy, and a younger sister, Susan. His father was a slave-owning farmer and popular Baptist minister in Clay County. Intending to preach to the gold miners, lured by the prospect of gold, or simply restless, Robert James left his familyA census record listing the James family living in Clay County in 1850.
[1850 U.S. Census, Clay County, Missouri] and traveled to California when Jesse was three years old. He never returned to Missouri, dying—probably of cholera

How Did Jesse James Get Famous

—in a gold mining camp

How Did Jesse James Get Famous People

in 1850. The Jameses owned a hundred-acre farm

Jesse James History

where they used slave labor to grow hemp and raise sheep. When Zerelda became a widow, she was responsible for her three children as well as five enslaved children and one adult. She remarried, first to Benjamin Simms, then in 1855 to a doctor named Reuben Samuel. Known as a strongwilled, opinionated woman, Zerelda was the head of the household for years to come.

Jesse James grew up on the farm. He was both popular in the community and outwardly religious. Some townspeople believed he might become a minister like his father. The Civil War, however, derailed this possible career path.