Howard? Think not, of course you have, his real name was Jesse Woodson James. Howard so he could settle down with his wife, Zee, and children, Jesse Edwards and Mary, in Nashville, Tennessee.
During his stay in and around Nashville, Tennessee, as Mr. Howard, the people liked him. He was said to be an out going, personable, and sociable family man. Who liked a good horse race, poker game or even a good joke. Can you believe he attended a Methodist church regularly? He voted in local elections and seemed to be a law-abiding citizen. He grew restless and, in1879, ventured west to explore ranching.
You may think of Jesse James as a cold-blooded killer, this is only a myth. Like Jesse and Frank hid in every cave in the mid-west. Do you know the real reason he turned to crime? He was beat with in an ounce of his life by Unionist troops, because his family owned slaves. The Unionist also hung his stepfather three times, but he survived and had to live with a speech impairment. Jesse saw his father hanging from the tree, when he saw this he told his mother he was going to get revenge.
When he and his brother, Frank, were robbing trains and banks, people said that Frank was dangerous, and Jesse only killed some one if he had a reason. He then said he regretted killing those people at that time.
Jesse was born to the parents of Robert and Zerelda James. His father was a Baptist Minister. The family did own slaves when they moved from Kentucky to Clay County, Missouri. He had a tightly knit, religious family. Jesse mother met her husband while attending a Catholic convent school in Lexington, Kentucky, while his father was studying at a near by seminary. He and his mother had a very close bond with each other, and after 1850 when Frank went to become a gold miner on the west coast, the bond intensified.
Jesse couldn't really have been as bad as people try to make him out to be. His parents were strict on him and he was raised well, but seeing what happened to his father would make any one do the things he did.
