John Beard, the son of John

The parents of John Beard
John was born between 1770 and 1780, most probably in Virginia. He would have grown to young manhood in Eastern Tennessee. Around 1798, he moved with his family to Adair County, Kentucky. He married a bride named Jenny, but we do not have a date of marriage. We think that Jenny may have been a nickname for "Jane". In 1817 in Adair County, Kentucky, John and Jenny Beard bought a hundred acres on the Green River from Bernard Moore. In 1819, John and Jenny Beard sold land to Bernard Moore in Adair County. On the 1820 Adair County, Kentucky census, John Beard was listed with a wife over 45, a male under ten, three males 10-14, and a male 16-26. John himself was checked as age 26-46, but judging from the age of his wife, he was probably close to 45. This census merits study as to the sons of John. Old John, his father, died in Adair County about 1818. Did he leave two sons, Oliver and Sevier, who were then in the household of their older brother John in 1820? Sevier almost has to be the male age 16-26 in John Jr's home as we know he was in Adair County and by process of elimination, this is the only Beard male that would fit Sevier's age and location. Oliver Beard fits one of the three males aged 10-14. We are going to list both Sevier and Oliver Beard as sons of John, Jr. until proven otherwise. The name Sevier would seem to fit with the naming habit of John, Jr and his wife, as last names of patriots became first names of their sons.
We have not found John Beard Jr on the 1830 census in Adair County.
In 1840 in Adair County, John Beard, aged 60-70, is listed alone in his household. He is two homes away from Jefferson Beard's home. There is one other John Beard of the right age in Adair County, but he is surely the father of Charles Beard, as he lived next door to him. That would mean that that particular John  was the son of Old Hugh Beard. Since we find John Beard Jr (the son of John) on no further records, we assume he probably died in Adair County before 1850.
The children of John Beard, Jr, and his wife Jenny/Jane, according to the best research done at this time:
1. Sevier Beard was born in 1802 in Adair County, Kentucky. He married there on 9 March 1825 to Catherine Hill, the daughter of Zadock and Rebecca Harvey Hill. Catherine was born in 1802 in North Carolina. We suspect that the Oliver Beard who married Catherine's sister Bertha Hill in Adair County in 1829 was Sevier's brother. On the 1830 census, Sevier Beard is listed in Adair County, Kentucky with a young family of four children under five. Soon after they moved to Maury County, Tennessee, where other Beards of this family owned property at various times. By census records on his children, Sevier probably moved down to middle Tennessee in the 1833 time period.  In 1838 they are listed on the Maury County School Census in District 25 with five children of school age. Oliver Beard is listed there as well in the same district with two scholars. We continue to search for this family on the 1840 census with no luck so far. They are probably listed in Maury or Henry County, Tennessee.  In 1850, indexed as "Levier Beard", Sevier and family are enumerated in Henry County, Tennessee. They lived next door to W. H. Beard, their married son William Henry. Next came a move into Texas. From a family history written in 1944 by Ray Gaines: "Sevear Beard pioneered from middle Tennessee to Pilot Point in Denton County, Texas with his family. After the war, Sevear traded his farm in Texas for a farm in Arkansas which he had never seen. The moves from Tennessee to Texas and then to Arkansas were made by oxen and wagon. [In Arkansas] his farm was about five miles from Lead Hill, due south. Their house was a two room log house and they carried water from a spring close by. Jasper Casey and Karoline (Sevear's daughter) built a frame house and lived there, taking care of Grandpa and Grandma until their death. Parts of buildings still stand. I remember well when Jasper Casey died. He was a "hard shell" Baptist. They (Sevear and Catherine) had four children." [This is incorrect; they had eight children listed on various censuses with them.] On censuses, the family was listed om Denton County, Texas in 1860 with four daughters still at home. The 1870 is still not found. In 1880, they were in the home of William Jasper Casey and wife Caroline Beard Casey at Sugar Loaf Township, Marion County, Arkansas. We have not yet found burial places of Sevier or Catherine, but family trees available list him dying in 1884 in Arkansas, and Catherine in 1888 in same.
: 2. William Henry "Bill" Beard was born on Christmas Day of 1825. On censuses, his birthplace is reported as both Tennessee and Kentucky, but as his family was enumerated on the Adair County, Kentucky census in 1830, we are favoring Kentucky.  He stuck with his family through young manhood, and he married on 14 December 1848 in Henry County, Tennessee to Mary A. Tyson.  She was born on 22 September 1827 in Carroll County, Tennessee to Wright and Nancy Tyson.  Her younger brother James Richard Tyson married William Henry's sister Mary Elizabeth on the same date, so there was no doubt a double wedding that day. In 1850, the young couple lived next to his family in Henry County.  William and Mary joined with Sevier and Catherine in a move to Texas right before the Civil War,  and they were listed on the census in Denton County in 1860 with five children.  They all then moved over into Arkansas, and in 1870 the family is listed at Sugar Loaf in Boone County, Arkansas. Mary Tyson Beard died at Lead Hill in Boone County on 17 February 1872, at age 44.  She is buried at the New Milum Cemetery in Lead Hill.  Bill Beard remarried several years later, on 31 July 1879 in Boone County to Sarah Jernigan.  Sarah was the daughter of James and Hannah Benson Jernigan.  She was born on 10 June 1847 in Indiana.  Sarah was a good mother to the younger children, and she and Bill added two of their own to the family.  In 1880 in Sugar Loaf, Boone County, Arkansas, William and Sarah were living with his son and near other family.  William Henry Beard died on 9 April 1886 in Lead Hill and was buried at the New Milum Cemetery there.  In 1891, Sarah remarried to Jesse Marshall.  She died on 3 April 1922. She is also buried at New Milum Cemetery in Boone County.  The children of William Henry and Sarah Beard were:
::: 3.  Abigail Beard
::: 3.  Martha A. Beard
::: 3.  John Milton Beard
::: 3.  Joel Simpson Beard
::: 3.  Sarah J. M. Beard
::: 3.  Louiza Beard
::: 3.  Alfred Thomas Beard
: 2. Rebecca Jane Beard  was born on 28 December 1826 in Adair County, Kentucky.  She married Nicholas Binns Byars on 26 February 1852 in Henry County, Tennessee.  He was the son of John C. and Emily R. Byars, and he was born in Henry County on 7 September 1831, making him several years younger than Rebecca.  Unfortunately, Nicholas Byars died on 8 April 1860, leaving Rebecca with three young children to raise. In 1860, Rebecca, newly widowed, was listed at her home in Cottage Grove, Henry County, Tennessee with her three daughters, all under six.  Before the next census, Rebecca met and married John Mann.  John was an early pioneer of the Deep Creek area of Wise County, Texas, and they probably met in Texas.  He was considerably older than she, born 19 November 1808 in Roane County, Tennessee to James and Rebecca McMullin Mann.  The marriage to Rebecca was his second; he had been married and fathered thirteen children with Delilah Woody, who had passed away in 1862. In 1870 John and Rebecca Mann were enumerated in Wise County.  His son Andrew Jackson Mann was still at home, and Rebecca's three daughters were listed, as well. John Mann died on 11 May 1873 in Wise County; he was buried at the Deep Creek Cemetery in Wise County.  On the 1880 Wise County census, we find Rebecca Mann listed as a 56 year old widow, living in the home of her daughter and son in law, George W. and Josephine Rowlett.  Her youngest daughter was with her, age twenty.  Rebecca Jane Beard Byars Mann passed away at age 66 on 21 April 1893 in Wise County.  She is buried at the Ball Knob Cemetery there.  Three daughters were born to Rebecca and Nicholas Byars:
::: 3.  Josephine Byars
::: 3.  Angeline Byars
::: 3.  Elvira Byars
: 2. Mary Elizabeth Beard  was born in Adair County, Kentucky on 23 January 1828.  She married in Henry County, Tennessee to James Richard Tyson on 14 December 1848.  James was the son of Wright and Nancy Smith Tyson, and he was born 2 February 1829 in Carroll County, Tennessee.  His elder sister Mary Tyson married Mary Elizabeth Beard's elder brother, William Henry Beard, on the same date.  In 1850, James and Elizabeth and their new baby girl were enumerated in Henry County. They made the trip out to Texas with others of the Beard family, and in 1860 they are listed next door to Mary Elizabeth's parents.  They had five children under ten.  Mary Elizabeth died after this census, which was taken on 25 June 1860.  She is said to be buried at the Tyson Cemetery in Denton County, Texas.  James Richard was left with the children to raise and he married again on 14 June 1863 in Denton County to Elizabeth Susan Loving, who was a widow herself.  They raised his children, her children, and had a big family together, as well.  James Richard Tyson died on 31 December 1899 in Denton County, Texas and was buried at the Tyson Cemetery there.  The five Tyson children were:
::: 3.  Catherine Tyson
::: 3.  William Spencer Tyson
::: 3.  Mary Anne Tyson
::: 3.  Lemuel Cyles Tyson
::: 3.  Angeline Tyson
: 2. Catherine Ellen "Kitty" Beard was born in Adair County, Kentucky in 1832.  We last find her on a census in 1880, when she was enumberated in Marion County, Arkansas with her parents and elder brother.  We have seen reports that she died after 1900 in that county.
: 2. Tabitha Caroline Beard was born in March 1833 in Maury County, Tennessee.  She married William Jasper Casey on 9 September 1869 in Boone County, Arkansas.  He was the son of Elijah Simmons and Nancy Wilkins Casey, born on 27 August 1849 in Newton County, Arkansas.  In 1880, William and Caroline Casey had a nine year old daughter, Caroline, lived in Boone County, Arkansas, and Tabitha Caroline's parents and sister lived in the home as well.  In 1900, Tabitha and William Casey stated that they had one child and it was not living, so their daughter had died.  Their two granddaughters, Tabitha and Mary Owens, lived in the home.Tabitha Caroline Beard Casey died before 18 September 1904, when her husband remarried to Rachel Lancaster in Boone County.  No burial place has been found for her.  William Casey died on 29 March 1932 in Pyatt, Marion County, Arkansas and was buried at Stanley Cemetery in Marion County.  Tabitha had one daughter with William Casey:
::: 3.  Catherine Casey
: 2. Wright Mason Beard was born in Tennessee about 1839.  On the 1850 census in Henry County, Tennessee, he was eleven.  He apparently died before 1860, as he was not listed on any other census.  No place of death or burial is found.
: 2. Letitha Beard was born about 1843 in Tennessee.  She was listed as seven in 1850 and seventeen in 1860, but she must have married or died before 1880, the next found census.  It would help if we could find the family on the 1870 census, but so far we are having no luck.
: 2. Serena E. "Rena" Beard was born in Henry County, Tennessee in 1847.  She married about 1868 in Tennessee to John David Actkison/Atkinson.  This surname was spelled many different ways on censuses.  He was the son of Henry and Ellen Actkison, born in April 1836 in Tennessee.  He is said to have served in the Civil War in co E, 29th Texas Cavalry.  His family were listed in Denton County, Texas in 1860.  In 1870, J. D. and Serena were living at Sugar Loaf, Boone County, Arkansas with a baby girl, Sarah.  In 1880 they were at Harrison, Boone County.  John David served as a Justice of the Peace in Marion County, Arkansas in 1890. 1892, and 1894. Serena Beard Actkison died in 1898, probably in Marion County, Arkansas, but we do not find a record.  In 1900 her husband was listed in Kesee, Marion County, Arkansas with his two grown children. He died in 1902 in Lead Hill, Boone County.  He was buried at the Lead Hill Cemetery in Boone County, but the graves were moved later to make way for a project.  They were reinterred at the Milum Cemetery.  Serena may also have been buried at Lead Hill, but her name does not appear in a list of those moved.  As there are many "unknowns" on the list, it is certainly possible that she is at Milum Cemetery. We have listed seven children of this couple:
::: 3.  Sarah Ellen Actkison
::: 3.  James Henry "Jim" Actkison
::: 3.  Paralee Katherine Actkison
::: 3.  William Carl/Carroll Actkison
::: 3.  Jessie Lee Actkison
::: 3.  Ruth Actkison
::: 3.  David Elonzo "Lonnie" Actkison
1. Oliver Beard was born in Adair County, Kentucky about 1803. He married on 11 April 1829 in same to Bertha Hill, the younger sister of Catherine, who married Sevier Beard. In 1830, with one young daughter, Oliver and wife were listed in Hardin County, Kentucky. By 1838, they had joined Sevier and Catherine Hill Beard in Maury County, Tennessee and were listed in the same district on the school census there with two school children. Right after, Oliver and Bertha moved west, to Des Moines, Iowa Territory. They were listed there in 1840 with three children. Bertha Hill Beard died in Cedar County, Iowa in April 1850. Soon afterward, widower Oliver Beard was enumerated on the 1850 census as a miller. With him were his daughter and his married son and family. Some reports say that Oliver died about 1851 in Springfield, Cedar County, Iowa, but that would not seem to be the case as we have found a Jackson County, Iowa marriage record for Oliver Beard, groom, to Isabella Johnson, bride, on 10 April 1853. We have not been able to find Oliver or his wife after this marriage.  We do not know a burial place for either Oliver or Bertha Beard or Isabella Beard.
: 2. Mary Beard was born about 1830 in Adair or Hardin County, Kentucky.  She was in her widowed father's home in the 1850 census, age twenty, and she married or died before 1860 but we have not found her yet.
: 2.  A son Beard was listed on the 1840 census but not present  on the 1850.  He was apparently the same age as Mary, so they might have been twins.  Nothing further is known.
: 2. John Beard was born in Kentucky in 1833, probably in Adair or Hardin County.  He married on 8 March 1849 in Jackson County, Iowa to Elizabeth "Betsey" Haskins.  She was born about 1834 in Ohio and she gave information on censuses that her father was born in New York.  In 1850 in Cedar County, Iowa, the same county as the Beard family, an Asa Haskins and wife Rebecca had a home; Asa was born in New York.   In 1850, John and Elizabeth had a son and the three of them were listed in the home of his widowed father Oliver on the census that year.  Some families report there was then a divorce, and that would seem to be the case, for Elizabeth Beard married a second time on 11 May 1856 to Zachariah Said in Jackson County, Iowa.  Meanwhile, John was counted in the 1856 Iowa State census in Jackson County. The son of John and Elizabeth, James Oliver Beard, was born in May 1850, but he does not appear on the 1860 census or any other and it appears that he must have died young.  John signed up for service in the Civil War as a private in Co F, 31st Iowa Infantry.  He died in 1862, possibly in service,  and was buried at Cottonwood Cemetery in Jackson County, Iowa.  Elizabeth had children with Mr. Said, and died on 4 September 1916 in Jackson County.  She is buried at the East Iron Cemetery there.  The only son of this couple was:
::: 3.  James Oliver Beard
1. Jefferson Beard was born in Adair County, Kentucky about 1805. He married before 1839 to Talitha, last name unknown. She was born about 1810-1815 in Kentucky or Virginia. [Kentucky was listed as place of birth on all censuses until 1880, when Virginia was.] In 1840, they were in Adair County with two children under five. In 1850 they were still in Adair County and had seven children at the table. In 1860 they lived in the town of Columbia, Adair County, with a still full house of seven children. 1870 finds them at White Oak, Adair County, with four daughters at home. Jefferson Beard died after this census; in 1880 his widow was in Adair County with a grown son and daughter still at home. She passed away after this, but we do not have any dates or burial places for this couple.
: 2. Prudence J. Beard was born about 1839 in Adair County, Kentucky.  She married on 2 September 1860 in Russell County, Kentucky. The groom was Hardin Pierce "Hard" Rexroat, son of Moses and Lucinda Rexroat.  He was born 18 August 1840 in Russell County, Kentucky.  According to family accounts, the ceremony took place at the home of John C. Bolin and was performed by William Green, Justice of the Peace. Hardin quickly entered the Civil War and served with Company D, Third Kentucky Infantry.  He returned to Prudence and by 1870 they had three children and lived in Russell County.  Prudence Beard Rexroat died in June of 1871 in probably Russell County.  We do not know where she is buried.  Hardin remarried on 5 March 1872 in Adair County, Kentucky, to Melissa M. Beard, who was the cousin of Prudence Beard.  Melissa was born about 1842 in Adair County and was the daughter of Washington and Elizabeth Myra "Betsey" James.  Washington Beard was the brother of Jefferson Beard, father of Prudence.  In 1880, Hardin and Malissa were living in Cane Valley in Adair County.  With them were Hardin's two sons with Prudence (their daughter had married this year) and the four young children of their own.  They would add two more children to the brood of Rexroats before Malissa Beard Rexroat passed away about 1889.  We have no burial record for her.  On 14 January 1890, Hardin Rexroat married a third time, to Tilitha Ellen Robertson.  In 1900, Hardin and Tilitha were living in Russell County, Kentucky with their five children and with his youngest son by Malissa Beard.  Hardin Pierce Rexroat died at age seventy on 6 November 1910 in Russell County, Kentucky.  He was laid to rest at the Webb-Humble Cemetery in Russell Springs, Russell County, Kentucky.  The three children of Hardin and Prudence were:
::: 3.  Kentucky Belle Rexroat
::: 3.  Moses Jefferson Rexroat
::: 3.  Arthur M. Rexroat
: 2. Henry J. Beard was born about 1842 in Adair County, Kentucky.  He last appeared on the 1880 census there, living with his widowed mother and his sister Ann.  We do not have a record of marriage or of death or burial.
: 2. Susan H. Beard (on one census, Susan R. Beard) was born about 1844 in Adair County, Kentucky.  She is last found on the 1860 census with her family; she either married or died before 1870, and we can find no record of either.
: 2. Mary Catherine Beard was born about 1846 in Adair County, Kentucky.  She was listed with her parents in Adair County in 1870 at age 24.  We can find no further record.
: 2. Ann Elizabeth Beard was born about 1848 in Adair County, Kentucky.  Ann was 29 and single on the 1880 Adair County census, living in the home of her widowed mother.  Nothing further has been found.
: 2. Dicey Arabella Beard was born about 1848 in Adair County, Kentucky.  She died in July 1878 in Adair County of consumption/tuberculosis.  
: 2. Leticia E. Beard was born about 1850 in Adair County, Kentucky.  She is last found on the 1870 Adair County census, living at home with her parents.
1. Washington Beard was born between 1800 and 1810 in Adair County, Kentucky. He did not live until the 1850 census so we do not know his exact age. He married Elizabeth Myra "Betsey" James before 1836, no doubt in Adair County. She was born in 1810 in North Carolina, the daughter of Thomas James, spouse name unknown. Copy of an old letter from Thomas James of White County, Tennessee to Washington Beard, Adair County, Columbia Post Office, is held by the Filson Society records. In the letter, Mr. James informs his son in law Washington and daughter "Betsey" of the death of his wife, not named in the letter. He asked them to consider moving to White County to make their home there. The date of the wife's death or date of the letter [not made clear] os 14 November 1831. It appears that Mr. James had several children born in Adair County, so possibly he had lived there and then moved to Tennessee. As stated. Washington Beard passed away between 1844 and 1850, and in 1850 on the Adair County census, Elizabeth Beard had five children and was a widow. She lived on the same page as Edward and Louisa Caskey Goode family, relatives. We lose track of her in 1860, but in 1870 she is in Russell County, Kentucky in the home of her married daughter Mary E. Richards, wife of Amos Richards. On the same page is Prudence Beard Rexroat, the wife of Hardin Rexroat, and Prudence is the daughter of Jefferson Beard. Amos and Mary Richards went to Clay County, Kansas by 1880. It appears that Elizabeth James Beard traveled with them, but she died there on 4 May 1880. It is reported that she had tuberculosis contracted back in Kentucky. She is buried at the Greenwood Cemetery in Clay County, Kansas. Five known children of this couple were:
: 2. Minerva S. Beard  was born about 1836 in Adair County, Kentucky. On 31 July 1854, she married Waitsville T. Grider in Russell County, Kentucky.  He was the son of Alfred and Elizabeth Grider, born 31 July 1835, so the wedding day was also his birthday.  In 1860, listed on the Anderson County, Kentucky census, the young couple had two children.  Over in Russell County, Kentucky this census year, it is interesting that Minerva's sister Malissa M. Beard, age eighteen, was living with the family of James Grider, who was cousin to this Waitsville.  James also had a brother named Waitsville.  During the Civil War, Waitsville served in Union forces.  In 1870, he was a sawyer, according the the census in Adair County, Kentucky.  He and Minerva had six children at that time.  By 1880, they had moved west and lived in Watson, Atchison County, Missouri.  In 1884, Waitsville filed for his military pension in the state of Kansas, and in 1885 they were on the Kansas State Census in Union, Clay County, Kansas with five children at home.  We are still searching for them on the 1900 census.  In 1910, Waitsville and Minerva were enumerated in LaGrance, Union County, Oregon.  They stated they had been married 56 years and had seven of twelve children still living.  They lived two homes away from their son William and family and their son Clarence and his family. Waitsville T. Grider died on 17 December 1912 in Union County, Oregon, far from his native Kentucky.  Minerva died at age 81 on 30 November 1917 in same.  They are both at rest at the Grandview Cemetery in LaGrande, Union County, Oregon. The nine Grider children:
:: 3.  James Allen Grider
:: 3.  Synthia Fannie Grider
:: 3.  William Thomas Grider
:: 3.  Mary Vicy "Mollie" Grider
:: 3.  Robert Bascom Grider
:: 3.  Sarah Elizabeth Grider
:: 3.  Otho Esco Grider
:: 3.  Clarence Lafayette Grider
:: 3.  Georgia Anna Grider
: 2. George A. Beard was born on 13 January 1838 in Adair County, Kentucky.  He married Elizabeth Jane Rouse on 11 July 1857 in Adair County.  Notes to the minister stating age were given from Elizabeth Beard, mother of George, and from Soloman Rouse, father of Elizabeth.  We have searched for them on the 1860 census to no avail, but we know they were in Kentucky from birth places of children.  In 1870, they lived in Bradfordsville, Marion County, Kentucky, with four children.  In 1880, back in Adair County, Elizabeth Beard was listed as a married head of household, with three children at home.  We do not know where George was at this time, but in 1900 the family lived at Clinton, Henry County, Missouri.  They had three of five children still living, one daughter still at home.  Elizabeth died in Henry County, Missouri on 18 January 1910 and she is buried at the Englewood Cemetery in Clinton in that county. That year on the census, George was listed as a widower in the home of his married daughter and son in law, Nancy E. and Ed Calhoun, in Morgan, Ellis County, Oklahoma.  He passed away on 12 August 1914 in Ellis County, but we find no burial record as yet. The five children of George and Elizabeth Beard were:
::: 3.  William H. Beard
::: 3.  Nancy Elizabeth Beard
::: 3.  John Francis Beard
::: 3.  George T. Beard
::: 3.  Ida May Beard
: 2. John M. Beard was born about 1840 in Kentucky.  We last find him on the 1850 census in his mother's home at age ten.
: 2. Melissa M. Beard was born about 1842 in Adair County, Kentucky.  At age eighteen in 1860, she lived in the home of the James and Elizabeth Grider family in Russell County, Kentucky.  Her sister Minerva had married a cousin of James Grider in 1854.  In 1870 she may be the "Malicy Beard" of the right age living in the home of the Sydney Dunbar family in Columbia, Adair County.  Melissa's  cousin, Prudence Beard Rexroat,  died in 1871 and left a husband and children, and Melissa married the widower, Hardin Rexroat, on 5 March 1872 in Adair County.  They produced children of their own, and in 1880 lived in Cane Valley, Adair County, with six children in the house.  Melissa died about 1889, probably in Adair County, and we do not know a burial place.  She had six children with Hardin Rexroat:
::: 3.  Franz Siegel Rexroat
::: 3.  Mary Catherine Rexroat
::: 3.  Vertie Rexroat
::: 3.  Jenny H. Rexroat
::: 3.  John Ezra Rexroat
::: 3.  Thomas Franklin "Tom" Rexroat
: 2. Mary Elizabeth Beard was born in Adair County, Kentucky in December, 1843.  She married Amos Richards on 1 May 1866 in Russell County, Kentucky at the home of Waitsville Grider and Minerva Beard Grider, who was Mary Elizabeth's elder sister.  Amos was the son of Aaron and Sarah "Sally" Grider Richards, and he was born 16 March 1845 in Adair County,  Kentucky. In 1870 the family was at home in Russell County, Kentucky with two toddlers and Elizabeth beard, Mary Elizabeth's widowed mother, in the house.  They were not far away from Prudence Beard Rexroat and her husband Hardin.  By 1880, the Richards family had gone west to Clay County, Kansas, where they farmed and had four children.  They were listed on the 1885 Kansas State census in same, with six children. Amos died on 6 June 1899 in Rose Hill, Logan County, Oklahoma.  "The Mulhall Enterprise, Friday, July 7, 1899:  Resolutions of sympathy and respect.  Whereas death has visited our community and membership and claimed our beloved brother Amos Richards as one of its victims and he is no more with us, but has gone to join the assembly of the saints above, be it resolved that we extend our sympathy to sister Richards and her children in their great bereavement.  Further, that we are ready to assist them in any way we can.  Be it further resolved that this church has lost one of its best members, our Sunday school a good and worthy superintendent, the community a good citizen, his wife a kind, affectionate husband, and his children a loving father...Done by order of the Enterprise Baptist church at their regular meeting June 24th, 1899.  J. L. Caldwell."  We have not found a burial record for Amos, but it would seem that he would be buried at the Enterprise Church cemetery, if one existed.   In 1900, a new widow, Mary Richards was listed with her son Lorin as the head of household, and her youngest child Minerva at home.  In 1910, we find Mary in Gainesville, Cooke County, Texas in the home of her son George Richards and family.  Mary Beard Richards is reported to have died after 1910 in Bell County, Texas.  We have no official record, nor a place of burial.  The eight children of this couple were:
::: 3.  Prudence E. "Prudie" Richards
::: 3.  James G. Richards
::: 3.  George Milton Richards
::: 3.  Loran Volney Richards
::: 3.  William L. Richards
::: 3.  Sarah Elizabeth Richards
::: 3.  Elmer Esco Richards
::: 3.  Minerva W. "Minnie" Richards
1. Elizabeth "Betsey" Beard was born about 1813 in Adair County, Kentucky. She married on 7 April 1830 in same to George W. Breeding, the son of James and Margaret Simpson Breeding. Betsey Beard died about 1831 as a young bride. George had a son named Joseph A. Breeding, born 27 July 1831 in Adair County---did Betsey die in or right after childbirth? There is also a record of a George W. Breeding marriage to Lavina Blair in Adair County. The date is transcribed as 15 May 1831, but this date will not "work" because of Joseph Breeding's birth date. In 1850 in Adair County, Kentucky, George and Lavina Breeding are listed with a son Joseph A., age 19. A sister is thirteen. Was Joseph the child of Betsey Beard or of Lavina Blair?
: 2. Joseph A. Breeding was born 27 July 1831 in Adair County, Kentucky.  If Betsey Beard Breeding was his mother as we think, then she died before Joseph was a year old.  His father seems to have married Lavinia Blair soon and she would have raised Joseph.  In 1850, Joseph was nineteen and still in the home of his father in Adair County.  He married on 15 September 1851 in Adair County to Elizabeth Ann Turk, the daughter of Thomas Johnson and Parthena L. Turk.  She was born 30 August 1834 in Adair County.  In 1860, Joseph and Eliza had three young children and lived in Adair County.  Joseph lived in Iowa when he enlisted on 8 September 1862 in Company A, 39th Iowa Infantry as a private.  He was mustered out on 24 August 1863.  In 1870, Joseph and Eliza had six children and lived in Winterset, Scott, Madison County, Iowa.  At same i 1880, three children were still home, and in 1885 they were listed on the Scott County, Iowa State Census.  Joseph died on 19 August 1889 in Madison County and he is buried t the Blair Chapel Cemetery in same.  Elizabeth Ann Turk Breeding lived to be 88 years old and died on 4 December 1922 in Madison County, Iowa.  She is buried with Joseph at Blair Chapel Cemetery.  Their one son was:
::: 3.  Joseph A. Breeding