Jesse James

ADTR

So, I was just reading about Jesse James on wikipedia tonight and was surprised to discover this snippet:

The Jesse James Tavern is in his father's birthplace in Asdee, County Kerry, Ireland, from where his father immigrated to the US in the 1840s as a young man.[65] The parish priest, Canon William Ferris, says a solemn requiem mass for Jesse James every year on April 3.

But when I clicked on his father's name, Robert S. James, in the same wikipedia article it says he was born in Kentucky:

Robert Sallee James (17 July 1818 – 18 August 1850) was a pastor and father of four children including the James outlaws. Born in Logan County, Kentucky, he met Zeralda Cole they married on 28 December 1841. He was the son of John M. James and Mary G. Poor James. His ancestor John James came to America from Pembrokeshire, Wales in the mid 1600s.

There's no mention of Kerry. Yet there is a pub in Asdee called The Jesse James Tavern.

Anyone have any information on this?

ejmaztec

I see that there was a James family in Asdee (or Astee as it also seems to have been called), as mentioned in Griffith's Valuation (after Jesse James' father allegedly left the area). It looks like John James, whoever he was, farmed 102 acres.

http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml?action=doNameSearch&familyname=james&firstname=First+Name&baronyname=IRAGHTICONNOR&countyname=KERRY&unionname=&parishname=&Submit.x=46&Submit.y=17

Somebody must be wrong, the question is who?

I'm about ten miles away from that place, and have never gone into the details, after assuming that the locals weren't telling a pack of lies.

ADTR

Somebody must be wrong indeed. The wikipedia article mentions that John James came from Wales! I searched around online last night and still couldn't find an answer!

ejmaztec

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search/results.jsp?surname=james&firstname=&county=Kerry&townland=&ded=&age=&sex=&submit=Search&sort=&pageSize=100

There were 40 "James" in the 1911 census, and the ones on this link under "Kerryhead" would have been close enough to Asdee to be part of the same bunch.

I'll probably be beaten to death if I went over there asking for proof of the Jesse James connection.:eek:

The last claim to fame that Asdee had was a bleeding/moving? statue of Mary, twenty or thirty years ago.

ADTR

I hear ya! :pac:

Thanks for the help. There has to be some link there!

ejmaztec

http://www.genealogy.com/famousfolks/James/

No mention of Kerry on this site either.:pac:

I think I'll have to go on an exploratory mission to Asdee in my Kevlar vest.:eek: