Jesse E. James


Jesse Edwards "Tim" James was the only surviving son of American outlaw Jesse Woodson James. He was born in Nashville, Tennessee during the height of Jesse James' career as an outlaw. His mother was Zerelda, Jesse James' wife and first cousin.

Personal life

James was named after his father and American Outlaw Jesse James. He went by the name of Tim Edwards in his youth to conceal his relationship to his father. After his father's death, James and his family lived in Kansas City and were taken under the wing of Thomas T. Crittenden Jr., the son of Governor Thomas Theodore Crittenden, who had signed what would become the death warrant of the outlaw Jesse James. In 1898 James was arrested, and stood trial in 1899, for the robbery of a Missouri Pacific train, but was acquitted.
James married Stella Frances McGowan on January 2, 1900 in the parlor of his mother's home, though she was too sick to attend the wedding.
The couple had four daughters:
The Jameses moved to Los Angeles, California, in the 1920s, where for a time they ran a restaurant called "The Jesse James Inn", and remained in California until his death in 1951.

Career

Following his acquittal for train robbery, James wrote a book, Jesse James, My Father, which was published in 1899.
He owned a pawn shop in Kansas City while studying law. In 1906 James passed the Bar exam in Missouri, and opened a law practice in Kansas City.
He appeared in the 1921 film Jesse James Under the Black Flag with his sister Mary James Barr and in Jesse James as the Outlaw.
He served as technical adviser on Paramount's 1927 biopic of his father titled Jesse James. This film starred cowboy hero Fred Thomson, who usually was a good guy to film audiences. Here Thomson plays Jesse James in a lighthearted way which many old timers who remembered Jesse James's murdering and robbing found inaccurate. The film proved to be unpopular.