My Genealogy Hound

James M. Bozarth, farmer and stock raiser, was born on the old Hooper farm, December 14, 1831, the first white child born in what is now Adair County. He is one of seven children of Hiram and Margaret (Cleeton) Bozarth, natives of Kentucky, and born in 1802 and 1801, respectively. From childhood they lived in Howard County, and were married there about 1819. They came to what is now Pettis Township, about 1831, and eight years later came to Liberty Township as the first settlers on Hog Creek. The log house he built is still standing, and it was there that he died in August, 1846, as one of the earliest pioneers of this county. The grandfather’s name was Jonathan Bozarth, and he died in Howard County. The mother died in June, 1862. Both parents were members of the Christian Church. Our subject was reared by his mother after the father’s death, and had the meager advantages of a widow’s child, in a new country. In 1853 he married Rachel, a daughter of William McPhetridge, formerly of Tennessee, where she was born in October, 1834. Their children are Jonathan (deceased), William O., Lucinda (wife of John Jones), Sarah, Charles D., Elizabeth, Janie, Lina and George. Mr. Bozarth left the home farm in 1856, and since then has been on his present estate. It embraces 320 acres. He also owns eighty acres of timber elsewhere. In August, 1864, he enlisted in Company B, Thirty-ninth Missouri Infantry, and served about eleven months. He first voted for Pierce, and still holds to the principles of that party. His wife is a member of the old Regular Baptist Church.