07/25/2026
LIVES OF CASS COUNTIANS
"The Holloway families have lived in Cass County since Halloween, 1838 when Barnes (1781-1847) moved his family from Tennessee to Cass (known then as VanBuren County), where they homesteaded in the Lone Tree community.
Myron G. Holloway (1887-1959) was the fourth generation from Rev. Billy Holloway, a Baptist preacher of English descent, who served in the American Revolution from Valentine's Day 1776 until 15 Feb. 1778. Parents of Myron were Gilbert (1855-1902) and Matilda (Jeter) Holloway; his grandparents were Lawson and Mahala (Jackson) Holloway and great grandparents were Barnes and Ruth (Wallace) Holloway.
Myron's parents had a daughter, Myra (1882-1884), prior to Myron's birth in 1887. Two years later, as son (unnamed) was born and died 1 Oct. 1889. Myron received his education in Elm Branch country school and was a member of the Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church, where he met his future wife, Pearl Magdalene Moore (1888-1918), daughter of Columbus Houston and Rosa (Kiercher) Moore. Myron's father died when he (the son) was fifteen years old so he helped his mother with the farm.
After his marriage to Pearl, they made their home on the farm, where their first two dauthers were born: Helen Irene (1906) and Mildred Ottila (1908-1975). For a short time, the family lived in Liberty, MO, while Myron attended William Jewell College but they soon moved to Marion, IA, where they lived on a farm about five years. While there, a son, Gilbert Houston, joined his older sisters in 1910 and they were joined by Vlema Pearl in 1912 and Margaret Ilma in 1914. Shortly after Margaret's arrival, the family returned to the farm home near Lone Tree. Soon after their return, World War I caused hard times, especially for farmers. During the winter of 1918, a smallpox epidemic spread over the country and the young mother of five was a victim. Pearl died 3 Mar. 1918 and was buried in Pleasant Ridge Cemetery. Myron's mother, Matilda Holloway, left her home in Harrisonville to help care for the motherless family.
Mary Taylor, daughter of Ben and Maggie Taylor, became stepmother to the five children when she married Myron on 16 Dec. 1918. During the next year, the family moved to the county seat, Harrisonville, where Myron became an auto mechanic. He worked for a time at the VanRiper Garage and also drove a bus from Harrisonville to Pleasant Hill. (The garage building later became the city hall.) He was a head mechanic many years for Davis Brothers Garage while he was learning electronics at the same time. Later, he became a city employee when city hall was located at 302 S. Independence. Five sons and three daughters were born to Mary and Myron. One son and one daughter died in infancy. Lester Merle (1920-1978), married Dorothy Smith; Edith Hazel (1921-1976), married Bob Drake and Wm. Deavers; Myron G., Jr. (1923) married (1) Zana Cates (divorced), married (2) Virginia (?); Karl Raymond (1929-1968), married Anna Marie Pfeiffer (Germany); Archie Dean (1931-1982), married Lena May; Nellie Elaine (1933), married John J. Elliott. In 1936, Mary did not survive an operation and she was buried in Pleasant Ridge Cemetery near the grave of Pearl Holloway.
Clara (Greer) Robinson Seymour, daughter of Moses Mackee and Missouri Ann Greer, married Myron 27 Feb. 1937 and spent nineteen years in Harrisonville before Myron retired as City Superintendent of Electric Department. In 1956, Myron and Clara bought a home in Adrian where they spent three years of happy retirement before Myron died in his sleep in 1959. He is buried in Crescent Hill Cemetery. Eleven years later Clara was laid beside him, when she died 21 Oct. 1970.
Of Myron's thirteen offspring (seven daughters and six sons) only two sons and three daughters survive at the time of this writing. Of Pearl's family, two daughters are living: Irene (married Bethel Thomas and divorced in 1932); married Oren S. Webster (1893-1980), Hrsv.; and Vlema 'Jackie' (married Chas. P. Cook and divorced) now living in La Selva, CA. One son, Gilbert (married Rebecca Knowlton) is living in Neosho near their daughter Dorothy Irene Doennig and granddaughter, Becky. Mary's family has one son M.G., Jr., San Jose, CA, and one daughter, Nellie Elliott, living in Grandview, MO.
Myron's second and fourth daughters were: Mildred (1908-1975) married Nelson Hedrick (1900-1929) in 1925; and have two sons Robert Nelson (1927) and Wm. Richard (1928); married Trucil T. Hammontree who survives her; Margaret (1914-1932) married Chas. Williams.
Myron Holloway is remembered by his friends and associates as a man of quiet disposition, kind, warm-hearted, dependable and loyal. He was devoted to his family and in all his work displayed efficency and dependability."
History of Harrisonville pg 59-60
