Actually, DtG, I'm from about 60 miles south of Nauvoo and I've been there many times (no, I'm not LDS). My sister was the head of the public library in Carthage, back years ago, and I've visited several of the James sites.

I don't remember ANY credible evidence that Jesse James ever visited Illinois (although it could very well have happened). He did live in Kentucky for a while, and I think that he robbed a train or something in Iowa. After the Northfield raid it's thought that he and Frank holed up in Nebraska for a while, but if someone from Montana wants to sell you something ol' Jess' left with at their great-granddaddy's ranch I'd take a long, hard look at it.

(Remember too that Bat Masterson, after he became a sports writer in New York City, would buy beat-up revolvers at a pawnshop, cut a few notches in the handle, and give them to his fans as the "real" guns he used in the Old West.)