ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 

ERIC JAMES co-founded the James Preservation Trust, with the late great grandson of Jesse James, Judge James R. Ross, preserving the James family’s history through authentication, education, and research. Eric also is archivist for The Joan Beamis Research Archive which produced the first history of the Jesse James family - Background of a Bandit - first published by the Kentucky Historical Society in 1970. Most recently, Eric supervised the exhumation of the twin children of Jesse James in Waverly, Tennessee, reuniting them with their parents in Kearney, Missouri per the wishes of Jesse's wife, Zee Mimms.

 

Presently, Eric writes and publishes the official web site for the family of Jesse James. Stray Leaves, a James Family

in America since 1650. The web site includes photos, editorial content, and feature articles about the James family, plus an interactive genealogy database with over 230,000 individuals & 60,000 families. He also is a regular contributor to the James-Younger Gang Journal.

 

Formerly as a writer, Eric’s weekly newspaper column “Remarkable Real Estate” appeared for several years in

California’s Daily “Law” Journal publications. He was a contributing editor and writer for California Real Estate

magazine, published by the California Association of Realtors. His trade articles appeared in Realtor News, Real

Estate Today, and Selling Strategies magazines, even reaching cross-culturally into the Chinese-American press.

 

Eric is retired from two business careers. For over 30 years he managed and operatedinternational real estate brokerage firms. Before that, he was an actor in regional theatre, the Broadway stage, and national television. For nearly a decade, he served his local community as a city commissioner. Additionally, Eric speaks to historical and genealogical societies, museums, libraries, and public service organizations. He particularly enjoys speaking in schools. Recently, Eric gave the Founder’s Day address at Georgetown College, where the father of Frank & Jesse James graduated in 1843. There, Eric addressed the importance of family relationships and social connectivity. Using the Jesse James family as example, Eric advocated the institution of family history study as credited high school and college courses. “Studying family history promotes personal identity, self esteem, and social connectivity,” says Eric. “The study techniques imbue lifetime occupational skills, essential to personal and business success.” Most significantly, Eric says, “Family history study retards the societal ills that arise when people feel isolated and alone. Instead, the family history student finds integration of self with family, community, and social structures. Unlike Jesse James,” says Eric, “you learn how best to direct your own life independently, rather than fall victim to a society that is all too ready and able to direct your life for you.” Eric James resides in Danville, Kentucky near Pulaski county, founded by his 4th great grandfather, John M. James. He has two sons, Christian and Malcolm James who live in California, and two former wives: his first wife Delia Sheen, niece of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen and mother of his children, and his second wife Broadway producer Susan Bagley-Bloom, granddaughter of tobacco scion R. J. Reynolds.