My Genealogy Hound

Benjamin W. Earnest, a progressive farmer of Camden County, Mo., was born in Morgan County, of the same State, in 1854, and is a son of Amos and Mary (Wilson) Earnest, who were born in Tennessee in 1812 and 1818, and died in Morgan County, Mo., whither they had moved in 1839, in 1870 and 1869, respectively. The father was a farmer and blacksmith, and after leaving his native State resided for a time in Indiana. Their children are as follows: Addie (Cooper), Isaac, Jerusha J. (Allender), B. W. and John M. Benjamin W. Earnest resided in Morgan County until seventeen years of age, then engaging in farming for himself. He has been a resident of Camden County since 1882, and owns a tract of land consisting of 450 acres, with about eighty acres under cultivation. He is a Republican in politics, and cast his first presidential vote for Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876. He and family attend the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. His wife, whose maiden name was Mollie Roe, and whom he married in 1881, was born in Cooper County, Mo., in 1862, and is the mother of two children: Maggie and Henry. Her parents, Samuel and Zerilda (Lee) Roe, were born in Maryland and Missouri, respectively. The father was taken to Cooper County, Mo., when about five years of age (1821), and there he was engaged in farming and blacksmithing. He was justice of the peace of the county for fifteen years, and has been postmaster of Proctor, Mo., for the past six years. The following are their children: Lizzie (Greene); Samuel, Kelly, William, Mollie (Earnest) and James.