What was the birth name of the frontier outlaw Jesse James?

Jesse James was born Alexander Franklin James in Missouri in 1847.

James became one of the most recognizable outlaws of the American West after the Civil War. He and his brother Frank led or joined several gangs that robbed banks, trains, and stagecoaches across the central United States.

His background was shaped by the Missouri border conflict and the Civil War. As a young man, James fought with Confederate guerrillas, and his later crimes were sometimes presented by sympathetic newspapers as acts of political revenge rather than ordinary robbery.

That image helped create the legend of Jesse James, but historians distinguish the romanticized public story from the gang's violence and criminal activity. Robert Ford, a member of James's gang, shot him in 1882 in St. Joseph, Missouri. James was 34 years old.