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Kearney, Missouri, Home of Jesse and Frank James, historic photo

Kearney, Missouri, Home of Jesse and Frank James, historic photo

A historic photo view of the childhood home of the outlaws, Jesse and Frank James. Both Frank and Jesse James were born in this house: Frank on January 10, 1843; Jesse on September 5, 1847. This photo was taken in 1877, five years before Jesse James was assassinated on April 3, 1882 at St. Joseph, Missouri. It was this house that was the target of a fire bomb on January 25, 1875, by Allan Pinkerton, head of the Pinkerton Detective Agency. This resulted in the death of Archie Samuel, a half-brother of Jesse and Frank James. Zerelda Samuel, the mother of Frank and Jesse James, also lost an arm in the blast.

After the death of Jesse James in 1882, his body was brought to this house and buried in the yard. His body was later removed in 1902 to the Mount Olivet Cemetery in Kearney, Missouri to be buried next to his wife, Zerelda Mimms James who had died in 1900. In 1995, his body of Jesse James was exhumed for DNA testing which proved with a high degree of certainty that this was in fact the remains of Jesse James and not of an imposter as some had claimed.

Kearney is in Clay County, Missouri.

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