Mawmaw's Boy
August 2024
Mawmaw raised some ornery children. Hellraisers. But she knew it wasn’t their fault. Other folks made ‘em mean. Other folks caused young Jesse to take up swearing. Some folks even think he invented the term “Dingus,” a nickname brother Frank started calling him. Nobody else did, to his face anyway.
Mawmaw was a nickname, too, of course, and by that name or any other name, Zerelda James was the family’s matriarch. To the children she was Mawmaw. To adults she was a force to be reckoned with. She must’ve been a role model of toughness for the boys. She must’ve earned some respect from the girls, too, or at least their parents, because Zerelda’s son Jesse married his first cousin Zerelda, who was named for his mother. When the feds swept through and put a noose around Mawmaw’s husband’s neck and strung him up, she cut him down, saved his life. The Union later threw her in prison, accusing her of being a spy. And years after that, because of transgressions committed by two of her grown boys, the Pinkertons firebombed her house, blowing off her hand and killing her youngest son.
The little house where Dingus died sits in downtown St. Joseph. The house used to be on the edge of town, but promoters moved it next to the Patee House museum.
Jesse’s bed still sits in his bedroom, along with other personal items. The walls are covered with family photos. But among all that history, one tiny square of the living room’s original wallpaper with a bullet hole courtesy of assassin Bob Ford may be the single most scary background since “The Pit and the Pendulum.”
Some folks think Jesse’s body was stolen by grave robbers. Others believe that Jesse faked his death. All this modern brouhaha about the whereabouts of Jesse James’ body is silly, if you know anything about Mawmaw. For the 30 years she lived after Jesse died, Zee James made sure that nobody stole Missouri’s most infamous dead body. That’s because she had him interred next to her rural Kearney house so she could chase off any body snatchers.
When Zee died, Jesse’s body was moved to Mount Olivet Cemetery in Kearney, where he rests next to his wife, Zee James the younger. The original tombstone on Jesse’s first grave has been chipped away by grave stone robbers, sometimes also called tourists.
So far, nobody has succeeded in stealing Jesse’s body from its new resting place. A few years ago some scientists dug Jesse up, just to lay the rumors to rest. Turns out they are his bones, all right. Within minutes, people started chipping pieces off his new headstone. No wonder Frank James requested cremation for his own body. He didn’t want to end up in a circus sideshow. In an ironic twist, the ashes of Frank the bank robber hid in a bank vault until his wife died in 1944. Now both lie in the Hill Park Cemetery in Independence.
If you believe all the stories about his whereabouts, Jesse is the only person who has been to more places in Missouri than I have. I’m okay with that.
The Story of Being Human
February 2024
These are just a few of the dozens of presentations ready and willing to visit your town, your group, organization or local library. In fact, the Missouri Humanities Council may already have an event scheduled near you.
The council provides a list of 52 topics available through the Missouri Speakers Bureau. The bureau offers a list of highly qualified public speakers on a wide variety of topics about Missouri people, culture, history and geography. If you have ever been responsible for scheduling a speaker to spice up your upcoming meeting, you know the difficulty of coming up with unique presentations. As you search for that perfect presentation, check out the lineup from the Missouri Speakers Bureau.
With a tip of the cowboy hat to the real Rawhide, saddle up vicariously with the vaqueros, the first Hispanic cowboys who made the cattle drives to Sedalia and Kansas City successful.
Hear the dramatic story about the largest drainage project in the world. Within two decades, Bootheel swampland was converted into one of the richest agricultural regions in the nation.
Learn the stories of great African American women in Missouri, like Annie Malone and Harriet Scott.
Topics are as varied as Missouri’s vast and diverse history and culture, from the founding of Lincoln University, to a different perspective on the tragic Trail of Tears or the establishment of Missouri’s 19th-century utopian communities.
Listen to an oral historian recount stories from the Ozarks. Or find out why prairies matter, and learn the benefits of native plants, including pollinator habitats. Get insights to the Civil War through glimpses of 400 letters written between a husband and wife during the conflict, or follow the exploits of William Quantrill, “father of post-Civil War Missouri banditry.”
You can see a roster of the available presenters and presentations at MoHumanities.org/schedule-a-speaker/. The website offers details about how to contact and arrange speaker presentations.
I have been on both sides of the situation: looking for just the right speaker for a group, and now, as a member of the Speakers Bureau. My subject is titled “A Road Trip into America’s Hidden Heart.” I tailor my presentation to the location and the group. On March 23, I’ll join the Ozark Natural & Cultural Resource Center in Salem for the opening of a Smithsonian traveling exhibit named “Crossroads: Change in Rural America.” And on May 14, I’ll speak at the History on Elm lecture series at the State Historical Society of Missouri in Columbia.
Remember what Harry Truman said: “The only thing new in the world is the history you don’t know.”
If you have a Missouri story to tell, contact the Missouri Speakers Bureau. Presenters are selected through an application process.