My Genealogy Hound

David C. Bear, another prosperous farmer of Miller County, and one of the enterprising citizens of the same, was born in Hocking County, Ohio, November 10, 1853, and is the son of George and Elizabeth (Vogt) Bear, the father a native of Kentucky and the mother of Ohio. The Bear family were originally from Switzerland, several generations back, as were also the ancestors of the Vogt family. Christian Bear, the paternal grandfather, was born in Gettysburg, Penn., but went to Virginia when he was quite small. He afterward moved to Ohio, where he died. George Bear, father of our subject, was reared partially in Virginia and partly in Kentucky. He went to Ohio when a young man and there married Miss Vogt, after which he located in Hocking County. In 1857 he immigrated with his family to Missouri, going in wagons to Cincinnati, and thence by boat to St. Louis. He came out to Miller County and purchased the farm where David C. Bear now lives. There were few improvements on the place, and Mr. Bear set to work and soon had a good farm well improved. He died in 1876. The mother died in November, 1877. They were the parents of thirteen children, eleven of whom grew to maturity and eight now living: John, Henry, Catherine, Andrew, Absalom, Simeon, George and David C., who is the youngest child. He was four years of age when he came to Missouri. He attained his growth on the farm where he now resides, receiving but a limited education, owing to the fact that school facilities were poor, and that at about this time the war broke out. He stuck to the farm, however, and now owns 180 acres of land, with seventy-five acres under cultivation. He deals quite extensively in stock, and his farm is well adapted to this purpose, having a good range and plenty of fine water. Mr. Bear was married, in 1881, to Miss Samantha Winfrey, by whom he has three children: Christina E., Arthur and Lucy. Mr. Bear has in his possession one of the first editions of the old German Bible, which his Grandfather Bear purchased at a sale.