5. John ORear, the Common Man?
The reader will note the popularity of the given name John in our
family. John is, of course, a great popular hero from the New Testament. The first of the
name in America may have been John ORear, certainly his son was named John, and he
had only two sons, John and Daniel. Of these two each had, among others, a son John and so
it goes down through all of the early generations.
Many years ago in my travels I visited Celsus Orear (Grandson of Robert
ORear, founder of Orearville) in St. Louis, Missouri, who was kind enough to furnish
me with some information about the ORears of Orearville, where he was raised. When I
introduced myself he asked who my father was. Being in my youth I proudly said that he was
John ORear, thinking that everyone must know of my father. Celsus laughed and said
that there were a hundred John ORears. Having collected information about the family
for some time since then, I believe that Celsus was wrong. There must be nearer two
hundred John ORears.
This, of course, increases the difficulty of the task of the
genealogist in tracing down the connecting lines. The ORears were at one time
numerous in Jasper, Alabama and Sam ORear of Moreauville La. who was raised in
Jasper, told me the following story of how they kept the John ORears there
separated: "We had to give them nicknames and we had Big John, Little John, Lazy
John, Rich John, Poor John, Honest John, Lying John, Flying John and Printer John."
Sam had interesting stories about how they had earned these nicknames.
In any event, its bearers have made the name John ORear a most
honorable one.
Last Revised: 08/01/2002 13:12:00
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