Committee on Deceased Ministers Report

Rev. Jas. L. Wear, New Lebanon Presbytery, Cooper county, Mo., June 2, 1868.
[Source: Minutes of the General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 1869, page 37]

James L. Wear died June 2, 1868 at the age of 85 and lies buried in the New Lebanon cemetery. On July 12, 1802 in Blount Co. Tenn. he married Sarah (Patsy) Rankin. Their eight children were (not in order of birth): (1) Hester Ann Wear (m Benjamin C. Lampton, see DVKM); (2) George W. (Long George) Wear b 1813 Ky., (taught the first school in Otterville Township, Cooper Co. Mo.) d before his father did (he had children, living in Clay Co. Mo. in 1868); (3) Malinda Wear b 1815 (m Feb. 16, 1841 Wilson C. Foster); (4) Cynthia L. Wear (m Feb. 14, 1833 Cooper Co. Mo. James M. Allcorn, Jr. and had at least two children: Robert L. Allcorn; and Sarah E, Allcorn, who married Mr. Donovan; these children were living in Clay Co. Mo. in 1868); (5) Alexander S. Wear b Apr. 16, 1810 (m Rachel T. Steele); (6) Eliza Wear (m Frank Asbury); (7) Mary Catherine Wear (m Nov. 16, 1841 Andrew A. Foster); and (8) Robert S. Wear (m Miss Thompson and had children who were living in Texas in 1868), It is possible that James L. Wear had another daughter named Ellen Wear.

James L. Wear became a candidate for the ministry on Sept. 12, 1821; was licensed to preach on Sept. 12, 1822; and was ordained Apr. 3, 1830. Judge Ewing remembers James L. Wear thusly; "[One] feature of Church services in those early days has long since disappeared. The services at any one given church were not very frequent. The supply of ministers did not afford preaching oftener than once in two or three weeks to the same congregation. Coming to church, then, once in two or four weeks, the people thought it no hardship to listen to a sermon one or two hours long, and to an exhortation immediately afterward.

"The exhorter at Lebanon was old uncle Jimmy Wear. He lived in the near neighborhood, and generally was without a special charge of his own. He was not learned or great in any special terms, but was humble and pious in the best sense of those terms. He usually sat in the pulpit with the pastor, and, after the sermon, closed the meeting with a zealous and fervent exhortation. Frequently he would use the expression that "he had been refreshed" during the sermon which had preceded, but it was always an unsettled question among the "boys," who were present, whether he had been refreshed by the long, sound nap he had taken; or by the truths of the sermon which had been delivered, for it was one of his weaknesses to sleep well during the service. No one who knew him, however, but entertained him the highest respect on account of' his honest piety and unpretending walk in life. Peace to his ashes!"
[Source: Johnson, W. F. History of Cooper County Missouri. Historical Publishing Co., Topeka and Cleveland, 1919, page 48]