J. E. Garman was born in Ohio, and is the son of Philip Garman, a native of Germany, who came to America when a young man, settling in Wayne County, Ohio, and there passed his last days. J. E. Garman remained at home and assisted his father on the farm until eighteen years of age, when he came to Cole County, Mo. Up to the time of leaving his father's farm the son had all the advantages of a good common-school education. After his arrival in Cole County he engaged to work on a farm, and afterward bought the place, of 200 acres, where he still resides. His first wife was Miss Mary J. Douglass, who died without children. Mr. Garman took for his second wife Miss Eliza Plummer, daughter of William Plummer, one of the pioneers of Cole County. She died leaving one daughter, Miss Minnie, who now lives with her father and stepmother, who is also her aunt, as her father, after the death of her mother, married Miss Rachel Plummer, sister of his second wife. To this third union has been born one child, a son, William Martin. Mr. Garman is a Democrat in politics, and has been prominently mentioned in that party as judge of the county court. Mr. Garman is the owner of some fine breeding-stock, notably a fine Morgan horse, "Douglas," also a fine jack, of the Walker and Knight breed. Mr. Garman and family are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

Transcribed from:
History of Cole, Moniteau, Morgan, Benton, Miller, Maries, and Osage Counties, Missouri, Goodspeed Publishing Company (1889).