News
- June 19, 2007
- Added Uncle Earl!
Welcome!
This site is being organized by myself, Jeff Beard, as an online resource for our family history. I'm of course being assisted, most graciously, by members of the family and other dedicated researchers.
If you're part of my family, feel free to contact me to say 'Hey', and share what you know. My email address is jeff at beardfamily dot org.
The Beards
Based on my small amount of research, it's obvious that the Beard family as a whole is extremely large. People named Beard emigrated to the United States from all over Europe and the U.K.: Scotland, Ireland, England, Germany, France. I've also come across mention of Beards of Flemish origin. One fellow did bit of research that follows his lineage back to some French Huguenots that settled in England before emigrating to Canada.
Still others that had settled in Pennsylvania and Virginia in the 17th and 18th centuries continued the migration South and West settling in what is now West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and of course North Carolina.
There are Beards everywhere in the U.S. and they've been here since the very beginning of country.
The Beards of Bladen and Cumberland Counties are of unknown origin though a large portion of all early settlers of Bladen and Cumberland counties were from Scotland. And though there are documents that claim that this branch of the Beard family came to Cumberland County from Scotland around 1780, I've seen no evidence proving it thus far.
The progenitor of my branch of the Beard family is Neill Beard and his wife Catherine who settled in Bladen County, North Carolina, probably around 1746.
Click here for what I've discovered so far about this family.
My Lineage
I can trace my line back to the original Beard settler, Neill Beard who died in February of 1772. Neill and his wife Catherine had 5 or 6 children one of which, John Sr., started the branch of the family that resulted in me.John's son, John Jr., had a son James S. who settled in what is now Beard, North Carolina. James S. had William Ayers, Sr., who is my great-great-grandfather. William A. Sr. had about 12 children including Gilliam Vance Beard.
Gilliam in turn fathered LaVerne, who had Robert Earl, my father.
Got it? ;)
A brief outline of my lineage and close family can be seen here.
The Project
Since I'm just starting this project, if you are a Beard whose origins are in Cumberland County N.C, drop me a line and say 'Hey'. I'd like to know who you are and what you've been up to.
As I gather information I'll be posting it here. The site will be under heavy development for a while as I'm just getting all the basic data gathered. Once I have that, I'll work on a nicer design and add some useful features like a searchable database of family members and a site search.
If you'd like to be made aware of when I make updates, send me an email and I'll include you on announcements of updates.
My Gratitude
There are some folks that have done a great deal of research on this family already and I'm grateful for what they are willing to share. So far these folks are (in no particular order):
- Dee Thompson (you rock, Dee!)
- Bonnie Haynes Chandler (Hollingsworth researcher)
- Daniel Beard
- James Thrower
- Donnie Beard
- Leah Beard (Contact: leahnpacefl _at_ gmail _dot_ com)
- Patricia Earp
- The Good FolksTM that maintain and share information on the Cumberland and Bladen County NCGenweb sites.