PART 1. SETTING THE STAGE
WHO WAS JESSE GARFIELD JAMES?
In 2015, I was asked if I knew that Somerset’s Jesse James was killed in Somerset. I was told that he was killed on the steps of a Somerset building after having, according to another person, made threats against a Mr. Leonard, President of the Somerset ISD School Board.
It was also reported to me by another fellow, that this Jesse James stopped Mr. Leonard on the Lytle-Somerset Road at gun point and told the man to get out of his vehicle. Jesse G. then proceeded to shoot at Mr. Leonard’s feet telling him to “dance!” Mr. Leonard was said to have reached in his vehicle, grabbed his shotgun, and proceeded to blast Jesse G. into the next world.
I had never heard those stories before and was interested to compare those stories to what my dad, Jesse C. James, had told me back in 1982. One morning after coffee with his mom, Clara McCoy James, I asked Dad to drive to many places that I’d heard about in our “Dad Stories.” Where Grandpa Jesse G. had died was one of them. Dad’s account is what I shared with the business owner that morning in 2015.
I told the proprietor that I was Jesse G’s granddaughter and that my Dad told me Jesse G. was shot at a house at the southeast corner of Briggs Road and Benton City Road. Dad also said Jesse G. had been horseback visiting the neighbor and had made it back to his home (on the south side of Somerset-Lytle Road just east of James Road – now called Kenney Road) where he died at home with some family present. One of the Bexar County Deputy Sheriffs at the James house for the investigation was reported to have said, (I learned in 2015) “Well, I guess things are going to be a lot quieter around here now.”
That was all I ever knew about grandpa, as my dad Jesse Columbus James (named for his grandfather who was a brother to John William James) never talked much about him. Much of what I did learn over the years I learned from Jesse G’s. brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, my McCoy great aunts and uncles.
COURT RECORDS FOR AUTO THEFT
Jesse G’s youngest son, Kenneth James, knew a lady who was a clerk at the Bexar County Courthouse. When visiting me in 1975, she happened to ask if there were any records she could get for me from the Courthouse Records. I drooled, no, I asked politely if she could get copies of grandpa Jesse’s trial records. The next week I had 54 pages of all proceedings in Jesse Garfield James’ 1936 trial for Auto Theft. I set them aside, as I otherwise engaged at the time, not yet “into Genealogy and family history,” and forgot about them until 2019, when I scanned them for …. posterity.
MOM’S CONTRIBUTION
I became really aware for the first time in the 1970s that my dad never really mentioned his dad…about anything. Mom told me more about Jesse G. than dad did. A bit about mom. She was Miss June Pike, from San Antonio and a Somerset Elementary School teacher in 1940-42 and taught next door to Superintendent Leo S. Duke’s wife. And, a side note here: the Superintendent’s good friend was said to have been Somerset School Board President Mr. George Leonard.
Mom shared faculty gossip with me that I hesitate to share for, it was … gossip. And, according to other faculty members, the super’s wife never seemed to acknowledge its existence.
RESEARCHING MY JAMES FAMILY GOT SERIOUS IN 2016
In 2019, I re-discovered those 1936 Bexar County court records. I scanned all 52 pages, photoshopped them to have one copy that was black and white and readable. In those pages I found a guy, my grandpa, a local character who was likely meaner than….well, something nasty, an “oil pumper” in the 1910s Somerset Oil Field, a bit player in the 1920s Prohibition doin’s, looking for extra work, well, money, into the 1930’s Great Depression, then losing all before his son Jesse C. joined the U. S. Navy in World War II.
My research also included old, local newspapers from the 1930s. I discovered newspaper articles describing grandpa Jesse G. becoming a Bexar County Deputy and County Jail Guard (I do have his small, tie tack that is a Bexar County Deputy’s badge replica. I also have his other occupation as “farmer:” his branding iron, and a set of racing plates from his favorite race horse, Coalty.
There were also several stories about his trial in the 1936 local papers, but I did not find anything in the “big city” San Antonio Light or Express-News newspapers about the events of his death. Months later I decided to check another favorite newspaper, La Prensa. Here found what I had been looking for: an interview with the man he’d been visiting and the school board president arrival. Both told their version of what they saw and what happened that September 14, 1942, afternoon.
JAMES FAMILY GENEAOLOGY
I “retired” from teaching high school world history and world cultures in 1974. Dad, Jesse Columbus James and I drove out his mom’s house every Wednesday. Here about 10-11 AM Grandma Clara’s brothers Rob and Lawrence with sister Alice, would stop by for coffee and cinnamon rolls that Thelma James Wilhelm, Dad’s sister, would bring out for the occasion.
One day I asked dad who his dad’s father was. He said he didn’t know. I had a very difficult time reconciling his answer because I knew who my maternal and paternal grandparents were and all but one great grandparent. I asked “the McCoy Aunties” Alice, Jessie, Ruby and Florence this same question. They began providing me with Crawford, Rutledge, James, Kenney/Kinney and McCoy names so fast that I stopped writing and just listened. When I got back home I contacted Southwestern Bell Telephone Company and asked for several Texas area telephone books. Upon receiving them in the mail, I started phoning all the those surnames I could find.
SOOO, IS JESSE G RELATED TO THE JESSE WOODSON JAMES?
Dad always received crank phone calls that asked to speak to THE Jesse James. I, too was asked if I was related to The Real Jesse James. My response was: yes, “I’m his daughter, granddaughter and great granddaughter.” But Jesse Woodson James? Not so much…no. Not at all. I DID discover that this Somerset James family really is…was, interesting.
The Somerset James family descends from a Robert James (born about 1832 in Tennessee and died in Mississippi about 1873) and wife Nancy (about 1829- about 1870). Robert served from April, 1861 to July, 1865 in the16th Mississippi Infantry in the Civil War.) Robert’s two sons, John William James (born 1856 in Mississippi and died 1896 in Old Somerset, Atascosa County, Texas), and Jesse Columbus James (born 1859 in Mississippi and died in Old Somerset, Atascosa County, Texas in 1919), arrived in the Atascosa County-Bexar County line area in January, 1880.
John William James married Josephine Sellers, a next door neighbor in Jasper County, Mississippi and love of his life. Their living children were Edgar Lamar James, Fred Columbus James, Daniel Arthur James, Luther Martin James, Leonard John James, Frank. S. James.
Children of Luther Martin James include the folk who owned and operated the renowned James Dairy on FM 2790 for decades were the JW “Dobb:” James and wife Mary Louise Schmidt James.
The Somerset Independent School District was honorably served for decades by Luther’s brother Fred James, the school district’s Tax Assessor-Collector and bus driver, while Luther’s son, was Somerset ISD Teacher, Principal, and Superintendent, William M. “Bill” James.
Not to be forgotten, Jesse Columbus James (1859-1919), was himself a member of the Bexar Community Board of Education in the late 1800s to 1919. (This is Jesse G’s dad.)
Sorry to have taken a looong road back, but I want you to understand this James family was/is a very upstanding, church-going, community-driven bunch, and they are all first and second cousins to each other. So back to Jesse G’s story
WHERE WAS JESSE GARFIELD JAMES BORN AND RAISED?
Jesse G.’s parents were Jesse Columbus James (b. 1857 in Jasper County, Mississippi, d. 1919 Old Somerset, Atascosa, Texas) and Amanda Ann Elizabeth Crawford Reynolds James (b.1862 Rossville, Atascosa, Texas, d. 1912 at Old Somerset, Atascosa, Texas). Jesse G’s first home was a modest house built on the side of the hill on the west side of James Road near its end. (Note: The road is now Kinney Road and turns to the left (easterly) at the end of the old James Road. Back then the end of James Road was unfenced, open country as far south as you wanted to go down into the blackjacks
In the 1910 U. S. Census, at age 13, Jesse G. is said to be a “farm laborer.” In the 1920 U. S. Census he is 23 and married to Clara Muriel McCoy. He is now “paid labor in the Oil Industry.” Other records show that Jesse G. was employed by Mr. C. L. Witherspoon, a noted oil producer from the East Texas to the South Texas fields.
The 1930, U. S. Census records that Jesse G. is a farmer with three children: Jesse Columbus (born 1923), Thelma Patricia (born 1925) and John Kenneth (born 1927). In these 1930s Jesse is also working on “Ol’ Man Witherspoon’s Ranch, gets work as a Bexar County Deputy-Jail Guard, and meets some very interesting friends.
JESSE G’s FIRST JOB and CONTINUING WORK
According to his World War I Draft registration Jesse G. worked for “Slimp Oil.” Chester A. Slimp was the owner of Slimp Oil Company which also operated as Pioneer Oil Refining Company (see photo below) and Rainbow Oil and Refining in 1918.
Jesse also worked in the 1920s for Mr. C. L. Witherspoon, who was likely the “Old Man Witherspoon” my dad talked about. “Ol’ Man Witherspoon” was Jesse G’s employer by the mid 1920s off and on until September,1942. Jesse worked at the Witherspoon ranch “on the Nueces River” where he was a hunting guide, “oil driller,” and in Somerset where he could be found doing some kind of work at Mr. Witherspoon’s TexPet (Texas Petroleum) refinery, that was purchased from Chester A. Slimp’s Pioneer Oil Company.
JESSE G’s OTHER OCCUPATIONS
CATTLEMAN
Jesse G. also raised cattle on his own place and also, like many others, turned them loose “down in the blackjacks.” Dad, Jesse C. (born in 1923) as a 7-8 year old was tasked with riding his horse “Dixie” into the blackjack to bring the ol’ brindle bull and cows back to the house once in a while.
JESSE G’s BRAND
HORSEMAN
Jesse G. raised quarter horses, which he sold as polo ponies to the officers at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. Other horses that he raised he raced himself or sold to other race horse owners. One race horse, Coalty, was a local area winner and after being sold was said to have “won races all over Texas.
One of the dependable men who helped care for and train the horses and mules was “Ol’ Man Shoemake.” Others were around to operate equipment that kept a straight line race track. This track was located on the other side of the fence from the James house and barn. The race track was available and useable every day for training and racing. (Note: My dad Jesse C. said he couldn’t imagine his dad usin’ any of the equipment himself to do the actual work in keepin’ that short track in good shape because there were all kinds of men willin’ ta do that kind of work.)
Jesse G. held horse races on Saturdays at this property followed by a baseball game that lasted until dark. This was opened to anyone who wanted to participate or share in the events. I do understand that alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages were available as was a variety of foods to the many who came to participate or enjoy the outing. (Note: My Dad -Jesse Columbus James – showed me where this took place years ago. This horse race/baseball /picnic area was in the area behind the James barn then up to the big trees. This picnic-racetrack end zone area was behind and south of the old tractor-agricultural demonstration area on Kinney Road that grandmother Clara McCoy James Adams sold to them back in the 1960s.
Jesse G. also purchased wild horses from Montana, which had some draft horse blood in them. Mr. Gurinsky at the San Antonio Stock Yards was the area’s horse and mule marketplace. Gurinsky’s place also sold Jesse G. mules that needed breaking and training. The hands around his place in the 1920s-30s also broke them for plowing, pulling, or riding. One or two of the horses were “unbreakable” and were sent back to Mr. Gurinsky. Lot’s of horses and mules were trained to work around the James place before selling to area farmers who needed a good wagon or plow puller. Below is a photo of two of those teams.
These work/draft animals (L to R) were work horse Mike, mule Pat, horse Joe, and mule Alec. The two mules were a team and the two horses were a team.
Dad said the mules were 16 hands and liked to bite and cow kick. The “Montana horses” (Mike and Pat) look to be about the same size. Yes, Dad, Jesse C., said he would rather be in school than following his ornery mules behind the plow. Yes, Jesse C. had to care for and work HIS mules plowing many neighbors’ fields as well as their own.
(photo taken about 1935)
CHICKEN FIGHTER
With his horseracing operation a regular occurrence, it should come as no surprise that Jesse G. had dealin’s with fighting fowl, too. One of the area’s “interesting characters” known to visit Jesse’s place regularly was “Skeeter” Klaus, a well-known character, chicken fighter, gambler, and who-knows-what else. He was also a friend of and business associate of V. E. “Red” Berry. “Red” and “Skeeter” had divided up the area’s nefarious businesses with “Red” taking the East side of San Antonio/Bexar County and “Skeeter” taking the South-Southwest action.
This is likely why dad (Jesse C.) tells a story of “Skeeter” and Jesse G. working with Jess’s fighting chickens with some degree of regularity before they took their fowl to places as far as Oklahoma to pit their birds. Much of this “fowl” work was at the James place, at the south east area of Somerset-Lytle Road and James (Kinney/Kenney) Road.
SKEETER KLAUS AND THE FIGHTIN’ DUCKS
by Jesse Columbus James, age 9-10
In the early ‘30s Dad (Jesse G.) got into cock fightin’ with Skeeter in the late 1920s. Dad was out there in the chicken pen with Skeeter. The two were practicing with their chickens by holdin’ them and pitting them, making them peck at each other to see if they were any good.
Each had chickens in their hands when Dad got the idea to make the chickens peck at my (Jesse C.’s) duck. They’d hold my duck and let the chickens peck at him. His head was getting’ mighty red and sore.
Skeeter told dad to put them both down and to bet on ‘em. Dad said he’d bet on his best fightin’ rooster to put that duck away. Skeeter bet on the duck.
When the two birds got on the ground, the rooster charged, but the duck slapped at him with his wing, knockin’ that rooster to the ground.
Skeeter started laughin’. The duck kep’ poundin’ that rooster into the ground and daddy soon had enough and grabbed up his best rooster before my duck killed ‘im.
Skeeter started tellin’ dad about a cock fight he was at in Oklahoma City 2-3 years earlier. This guy had a big black and white Muscovy duck in the back of his truck.
Another ol’ boy had bet $4000 or $5000 on his own rooster sayin’ is could wup any bird there. Another other guy brought out his Muscovy duck. The guy with the rooster said, no problem, nothin’ could best his rooster, especially no duck.
Skeeter said that duck used it’s wings to beat the rooster and then his bill to peck that rooster. No sir, said Skeeter, “Don’t EVER fight one of them ducks with your rooster. You’ll lose. And, NEVER bet against a duck.
A FINAL NOTE ON JESSE G’s FRIENDS
Peggy’s Note: Otto “Skeeter” Klaus, considered a bootlegger and murderer, was shot and killed with a sawed-off shotgun blast, from, his friend Virgil E. “Red” Berry on July 23, 1942. Skeeter is buried in San Jose Burial Park.
“Red” went on to “shotgun” three others, was never indicted, then ran for Texas House of Representatives in the 1950s to “legalize horse racing” and pari-mutual betting/gambling. He was elected 3 times to the Texas House then ran for the Texas Senate where was elected twice.
His “Red Berry Mansion” was won gambling in the early 1950s is now the Berry Estate by the Lake on Gembler Road. Red married Lydia Josephine Galloway, had one son, and died of cancer in 1969.
NEXT is PART 2: The County Court House, Walker Unit, and Home
