By 1970, Jesse Hill Ford had become a well-known personage in his adopted hometown of Humboldt, Tennessee. Locals had come to accept him as one of their own as he and his family became part of the community.

Ford’s wife, Sally, had grown up there. Her father was a medical doctor so everyone in town knew her. Her husband was an outsider but Jesse had made lots of friends in town and often went hunting with some of them.

Jesse and Sally also belonged to the country club. They eventually had four children who attended the local public schools. The two oldest, Jesse III (known as “Jay”) and Charle...