Dear Beej: Is it possible that you are referring to Jesse James, rather than Billy the Kid? Billy was buried, at least his Grave Marker says, in New Mexico. Jessie was supposedly buried in Missouri in 1882. His corpse, or a corpse, was exhumed in, I believe, 1996 and DNA tests were performed and the results compared to someone who was supposed to be Jesse's greatgrand daughter. However there are a group of James descendants who say Robert Biglow was killed instead of Jesse, since Biglow had assumed Jesses identity in 1877. Further that Mrs. Robert Biglow continue to use the assumed identity, as the widow of Jesse, and that her children lived the rest of their lives as members of the James family. The group of James researchers headed by Bud Hardcastle of Purcell, Ok. say they have proof that Jesse lived from 1882 as J. Frank Dalton, until he died at the age of 104, where he was buried as Jesse Woodson James in Granbury, Texas. Statements were made upon release of the DNA tests in 1996, as you stated, that a Female descendant had to be found for DNA comparisons. I'm not sure that the Jesse controversy will ever be resolved, because when the County Judge approved a Court Order, in 2000, to exhume the Jesse James buried in Grandbury,Tx. a one armed corpse by the name of Holland, buried in 1929, was dug up in error. Now the currect Judge will not issue another Court Order, because of the bad publicity brought to the town and county. I said all the above to say this: DNA tests now being pursued by a Sir Named Group could be valueless, as Carolyn says, if we depend only on Sir Names without proven genealogy. Cousin Tom

Dear Tom and Cousins, My goodness, what esoteric knowledge comes out of this list. How interesting about Jesse James. And what interesting applications of DNA. If it was Jesse not Billy the Kid, I should add that the McDaniel who rode with the James Boys was not one of my ancestors. As far as I know without DNA testing! The James family lived near my Watts family in Missouri, and I seem to remember finding one of them on the census as I was looking it over. It's fun and funny to find the famous and infamous alongside our ancestors. Love, Your Cousin, Carolyn