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From old revolvers to a classic Western show with a history lesson between, the annual Friends of the James Farm reunion Saturday, June 13, attracted a diverse crowd. They learned about Clay County history and celebrated the culture of the late 1800s.

Betty Barr, great-granddaughter of Jesse James, said some of the old timers around these parts would like to forget about the infamous outlaw Jesse James. But she noted he left an important mark on history and the region.

“Jesse put Kearney on the map,” Barr of Overland Park, Kan., said.

After the black powder shoot, which drew about a dozen shooters with Old West revolvers, about two dozen people loaded onto a bus for a historic tour of mostly northeast Clay County and a little bit of southern Clinton County.

“It’s amazing the history we’ve got in six miles,” Phil Young said.

He was among those on the “Jesse James was my Neighbor” bus tour Saturday afternoon.

Young has lived in Liberty the past 50 years but said he saw things he never knew were in Clay County and learned some history he never knew.

Much of the history on the bus tour related to Jesse James in some way. One of the stops on the bus tour was at the Haynesville Cemetery, where the Bigelow brothers were buried. Local history buff Harold Dellinger, who was one of the tour guides, showed the brothers’ graves in the Clinton County cemetery, northeast of Holt. They were killed on the same day in 1864. The story goes that they were possibly among the Union soldiers who terrorized the James family — including Jesse and his stepfather — when trying to find Frank James and his Confederate guerrilla group. Dellinger said the James brothers and members of the guerrilla group killed the Bigelow brothers after the attack on the James Farm.

Tour bus riders also made a stop at the historic New Hope Baptist Church, where Jesse James’ father, the Rev. Robert James, preached for several years. The Rev. Russell Hyatt of Woodland Baptist Church portrayed the Rev. Robert James riding up on a horse to greet visitors.

“This is my great-great-grandfather,” Betty Barr said as she stepped up to stand beside him while he stayed mounted on the horse.

She said it was fun to be part of that, though she stayed dressed in modern clothes while Hyatt donned 1800s-style garb.

“You’ve got to make those things fun,” Barr later said in an interview. “And he got a big bang out of it.”

The bus also passed the site of the old cracker-knack schoolhouse where Jesse and Frank James were believed to have attended school. Though no one knows for sure if they did, tour guides said.

“I thought it was great,” Frank Justus of Smithville said. “I had never been — and I’ve been all over Clay County — to some of the those places.”

While Barr and Justus are members of the Friends of the James Farm group, others like Young heard about the historic tour and events and decided to check it out. Valerie Summer of Liberty was another nonmember of the Friends group that decided it sounded like a fun way to spend her Saturday.

“Part of history makes you who you are now,” Summer said. “It helps you understand how we got here.”

Stephen Licata of Eudora, Kan., attended with Summer. He said history teaches there’s more to Jesse James than robbing banks and killing people.

“When you understand the events of his life, you understand the path he took,” Licata said.

Saturday’s events also included book signings, tours of the James Farm museum and cabin, the Friends of the James Farm annual membership meeting, writers contest and awards ceremony and was capped off with a wild west show. Dave Bears and Gregg Higginbotham re-enacted “The Cole Younger and Frank James Wild West Show and Extravaganza.”

Kearney Editor Kevin M. Smith can be reached at 628-6010 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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