William C. Beard

The parents of William C. Beard
First, let us talk of spelling. I am the great great granddaughter of William C. Beard. Our family line spells the last name Beaird. Until this research, we all assumed that was the name and that our family name was very unusual. The surprise was that our name was Beard, and then someone in our line changed the spelling at some point. That point seems to be just around 1900, too, not way back in the mists of time. Every pre 1900 record of our family, from censuses to land warrants, to Civil War pay records, were all "Beard". The estate records of William Beard's father in law, Enoch Bynum, will parts of the estate to the Beard children, not Beaird. The 1884 obituary of William Beard's daughter Mila said "Mila Beard" and her brother J. R. Beard was mentioned. John Riley Beard/Beaird was still listed as Beard even in the 1920 census, as were most of the other relatives. In 1930, his widow, Alice Everett, was listed "Beaird". My take on this is that some in our family added the extra letter to differentiate our family from a large family of unrelated Beards who had moved into Panola County after the late 1890s/1900s. The important thing to remember is, we were Beards, before we were Beairds! Please NOTE that we will use "Beard" as the name until the records change to "Beaird". By this method, researchers will be able to take notice of exactly when their family began to use the "new" spelling.
William C. Beard was born in Bedford County, Tennessee in about 1826. He was a young boy when his family made the move down to Panola County, Mississippi. By 1845, he had land in his own name and was listed on the state census. About 1848, he married Elizabeth C. Bynum, who was the daughter of Enoch Bynum and his wife Elizabeth. The Bynum family lived close by the Beards in Panola County. Elizabeth was born in May 1827 in Tennessee, possibly in McNairy County, as her father was enumerated there with his brothers in the 1830 census. William and Elizabeth were listed on the 1850 census next door to his mother, possibly his step mother, Mary Beard, the recent widow of his father Hugh Beard. They had an eleven month old son, Willie. By 1860, they had lost Willie/William, but they were listed with two small children and a good amount of real estate. It is probable that they had other children who died before 1860, as there are almost ten years between the birth of Willie and the birth of John Riley. The living children were John Riley, who was four and Mila A., who was two. Mila was a common name in the Bynum family; she was nicknamed "Mollie". War came. William C. Beard enlisted by September 1863, in Company E, 18th Battalion of the Mississippi Cavalry and was listed as a private with this outfit throughout the spring. The records seem to indicate that he was transferred to the 14th Mississippi Light Artillery Battalion, Company B, later to be known as Yates' Regiment, under the command of James Yates. They joined other Mississippi troops in the Atlanta Campaign and the Siege of Atlanta in 1864. After the fall of that city, there are no further records of the unit. Elizabeth Bynum Beard died in about 1862 or 1863 in Mississippi. Her father Enoch Bynum died in 1867 and he named her two living children John Riley and Mila Beard as heirs to his estate. William Beard had to file court documents for guardianship rights in the will. William soon remarried to another lady who lived very nearby, Mary J. Pylant. She was the daughter of Ransome and Elizabeth Pylant and she was born about 1842 in Alabama. Her father was originally from Sumter County, South Carolina and moved his family to Lowndes County, Alabama between 1830 and 1840. William and Mary J. Pylant Beard raised John Riley and Mila and added another three sisters and two brothers to the Beard brood. In 1870 in Panola County, they still lived next door to her brother and sister, Thomas and Sarah Elizabeth Pylant. In 1880, the widowed Mary Pylant Beard, her five Beard children, and her brother and sister lived next door to the John Riley Beard home.
William C. Beard is listed on many land transactions in Panola County. He died after August 1876 and before the 1880 census, but a burial place is not found. It is thought by some descendants that he was buried on his land, but no markers or cemeteries have been discovered. In 1880, John Riley Beard lived on land next to the Pylants and it is believed that this may be the same land where his father died. They are listed next to a Duke family, in the Eureka community. Many years ago it was said that the Duke family in more modern days own this same land and that some of it became a gravel operation and obscured old family burial plots, but we have no proof of any of this. William Beard was probably buried next to his first wife Elizabeth when he died. Mary Pylant Beard died after 1880 and before 1900, probably in Panola County.
In later years, William's son John Riley Beard would change the spelling of his last name to Beaird. This researcher believes that he may have done this to differentiate his Beards from another family of Beards who had moved into the county and were no relation. If only he could have known what trouble this would cause his great grandchildren when they began family research! There are still some of our Beard family who did not change the spelling, so we have two spellings in our same clan.
William's children by his first wife Elizabeth Bynum were Willie/William, who died as a child, John Riley, and Mila, who died as a young unmarried woman. The children of William with his second wife Mary J. Pylant were Eliza Jane, Sarah Ellen "Sallie", James Monroe, Laura L., and Henry C.
Children by Elizabeth C. Bynum:
1. William J. "Willie" Beard was born in 1849 in Pope, Panola County, Mississippi and in 1850 was listed as a baby in his parents' home. He died before the 1860 census was taken.
1. John Riley Beard (his name spelled as he was born with it) was born 1 January 1856-1858 in Pope, Panola County, Mississippi. Note that his birth date on the 1900 census is given as April of 1856, and the censuses of 1860, 1870, and 1880 support that date, as his age is given as 4, 14, and 24, respectively. His obituary says 1 January 1858 and gravestone reads 1858. As a young boy, John would have missed a father who was gone to War, for he was old enough to know he was gone a long time. Then, his mother Elizabeth died when he was only four or five. One of his grandparents no doubt took care of John and his sister Mila while their father was away. We suspect it was Enoch Bynum, for he named these two children as heirs in his estate when they were still very young, in 1867. Once back, William remarried to Mary Pylant and John and Mila soon had half siblings. By 1870, when John was fourteen, he had three small half siblings in the home. About 1877 or 1878, John married Martha C. "Mattie" Lavender. She was the daughter of John Smith Lavender and his wife (and cousin) Julia Ann Frances Lavender. The Lavender family had come to South Carolina from County Antrim, Northern Ireland, and settled in Newberry County. There the Lavender men helped fight the Revolution. From South Carolina, they migrated west to Pickens County, Alabama and then some came up to Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, next to Panola County. John Riley Beard may have met Mattie Lavender through the Arendale family, as Mattie's brother Robert Lavender married Nancy Catherine Arendale in 1877, about the same time that John and Mattie married. Nancy Catherine Arendale's younger brother George Washington Arendale married the daughter of John Riley Beard, Cornelia, in 1908. However they met, the John Riley and Mattie set up housekeeping and were on the 1880 Panola County census with their son John William, age nine months. John Riley's sister Mollie lived with them. They were next door to the widowed Mary Pylant Beard and John Riley's five half siblings; Mary's Pylant brother and sister also lived with them. As the years rolled on, the Beards had two more sons, then four daughters. Still another son was born on 6 July 1898, and Mattie Lavender Beard died in the same month; we do not know if it was in childbirth or right after. The baby was named Matt Lavender Beaird in her honor. 
Mattie was buried at Center Hill Cemetery in Panola County.  In 1900, John Riley Beard was listed in Panola County as a 45 year old widower with his eight children all in his home. They ranged in age from 21 to 2. Also living with the family was Henry Beard, John's 23 year old half brother, who was single. On the 1910 census, John was 56 and still a widower. His children Tiny and Matt were still in the home, and Robert L. Anthony, age 21, was listed as a boarder. Robert was John Riley's nephew, the son of Sarah Elizabeth Beard who married William Richmond Anthony. Next door lived William and Lillie Pratt Beard, John Riley's eldest son and his wife. Not long after this census, John Riley married again, after raising most of his children. The last one left at home was Matt, at thirteen or fourteen. His new wife was Alice B. Chisholm Everett, born 8 July 1869 in probably Yazoo County, Mississippi.. She was the daughter of John Martin "Buff" and Mary J. Carradine Chisholm, planters in Yazoo County. Alice had grown up in Yazoo County and on Christmas Day 1887 she had married to Simeon Christopher "Chris" Everett, and they too lived in Yazoo County. She was a widow with seven children when she married John Beard. In 1920, Alice and four of her children were living with John Beard, age 65, in Panola County. John Riley Beard/Beaird died on 12 February 1922 at his home near Pope in Panola County. He was buried at the Chapel Hill Cemetery there. It is said that he would have been laid to rest at Center Hill with his first wife, but there was a terrible ice storm when he died and because of impassable roads, he was buried at nearby Chapel Hill Cemetery instead. Death notice From The Panolian of 16 February 1922, "John R. Beard, born 1 January 1858, died at age 63 on 12 February 1922 at his Pope home. Leaves wife and seven children, a brother and a sister." [James Monroe Beard and Eliza Beard Nixon].
Alice Everett Beaird lived with her recently married daughter Myrtle Everett Jackson in Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee on the 1930 census. Alice died on 18 June 1953 and was buried at Magnolia Cemetery in Batesville, Panola County, Mississippi.                      
The children of John Riley Beaird and Martha C. Lavender:
: 2. John William "Willie" Beaird was born 2 August 1878 in Panola County, Mississippi. He married on 2 December 1906 in Panola County to Lillie O. Pratt, the daughter of James Lee and Berta Pratt. She was born on 27 August 1888 in Panola County. In 1910, married three years, Will and Lillie lived in Panola County with their two year old daughter Eva. Next door was his father, John Riley Beard and on the other side was the family of George Arendale, who was married to Cornelia Beaird, sister of John Will Beaird. In 1920 Will and Lillie with their three children still lived near his father in Panola County. In 1930 Willie and Lillie lived in Sunflower County. John William Beaird died on 27 February 1954 in Panola County. Lillie Pratt Beaird died 31 March 1981 in the same. They are both laid to rest at Chapel Hill Cemetery in Pope, Panola County, Mississippi.
:: 3. Eva Mae Beaird, born 16 March 1908 in Panola County, Mississippi, grew up there and married Charles Reeves after 1930. He was born in Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee on 22 February 1909, the son of Charles Merrill and Stella Reeves. Charles died in April 1986 in Memphis; Eva Mae died 10 September 1994, also in Memphis.
:: 3. James Beaird was born on 10 October 1912 in Panola County, Mississippi. He served as a private in the United States Army during World War II. He married Marion Lombardo, who was born on 28 December 1924 in London, England. James died on 17 October 1983, last address in Water Valley, Yalobusha County, Mississippi. He was buried at Chapel Hill Cemetery in Panola County. Marion Lombardo Beaird died on 3 May 1993 in Panola County, Mississippi. She is also buried at Chapel Hill.
:: 3. Roberta Beaird was born about 1916 in Mississippi. She appeared on the 1920 census at age four but is not listed on the 1930 census.
: 7 in the same. They are at rest at Bethel Cemetery in Teasdale, Tallahatchie County.    
: More family pictures of Joseph Beaird and Roena Hall Beaird can be viewed on this page, courtesy of their granddaughter Charlotte.
:         
:: 3. Marie Beaird was born on 30 December 1915 in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi. She married on 8 January 1938 in DeSoto County, Mississippi to William Aubrey King. He was born on 22 October 1914 in Tallahatchie County, the son of Aubrey and Addie L. Milton King. William and Marie lived in Memphis and their three children were born there. He died on 27 July 2000 in Memphis and was buried at Mt Pisgah Cemetery, near Enid, Tallahatchie County, Mississippi. Marie died in Washington, Franklin County, Missouri on 3 September 2007. She is buried with her husband at Mt. Pisgah. They were parents of three sons.
:: 3. Gladys Corinne Beaird was born on 25 August 1917 in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi. She married William Roy Lewellen on 3 September 1938 in Tallahatchie County. He was the son of Leroy and Mary Jane Hollingsworth Lewellen, and he was born 18 December 1916 in Tallahatchie County, as well. The Lewellens lived in Tallahatchie County and had a total of five children. William Lewellen died on 5 June 2000 in Tallahatchie County. Gladys Beaird Lewellen died on 26 October 2002. They were both interred at Bethel Methodist Cemetery in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi.
:: 3. Lloyd Benjamin Benford Beaird was born on 26 October 1920 in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi. He was an Air Force Master Sergeant for twenty years and a World War II veteran. On 3 June 1977, Lloyd married Ethel Marie Owens Arendale. She was the daughter of James Frederick Owens and Mary Rosalee Nobles. Ethel was born on 30 September 1918 in Yell County, Arkansas. She was married a first time on 22 February 1936 to Wesley Arendale of Tallahatchie County, and had two daughters. Wesley was the son of Cornelia Beaird (the daughter of John Riley Beaird and Martha C. Lavender) and George Washington Arendale. Lloyd Beaird died on 8 April 1994 in Tallahatchie County and was buried at Bethel Cemetery, Tallahatchie County. Ethel Owens Arendale Beaird died 5 July 2006 in Charleston, Tallahatchie County, and was laid to rest at the same.
: 2. James "Jimmie" Beaird was born in September 1884 in Panola County, Mississippi, according to the 1900 census. He died in 1904 and on the headstone, his date of birth is 1887. This may be an error, as his sister Cornelia was born in May 1888, so he must have been born before September 1887. Jimmie is said to have left home after a conflict with his father. He contracted pneumonia and died as a teenager. He was buried next to his mother Mattie Lavender Beaird at Center Hill Cemetery in Panola County. She had passed away in 1898.
: 2. Cornelia Beaird was born on 1 May 1888 in Panola County. On 9 August 1908, she married George Washington Arendale, the son of William Hamilton Arendale and Martha Catherine French.  George was born 22 October 1888 in Charleston, Tallahatchie County, Mississippi. In 1910, married three years, George and Cornelia lived in Panola County with a daughter Mattie, named after Cornelia's mother. they were listed next door to her father John Riley Beaird and her brother John William Beaird. Also in their home was Robert Lavender, a twelve year old nephew of George Arendale and also a cousin to Cornelia Beaird, as both the Arendales and Beairds married into the Lavender families. This Robert was the son of George Arendale's sister, Nancy, who married Robert Lavender, son of John Smith Lavender and Julia Ann Lavender. In 1917, George filled out his draft card in Tallahatchie County. In 1920, they still lived in Tallahatchie County. George and Cornelia would have four children together before she died on 25 April 1920 in Tallahatchie County. She was buried at Friendship East Baptist Cemetery in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi. About 1930, George Arendale remarried, to Sallie Sturkey Pitman, the daughter of George and Sallie M. Davis Sturkie of Tallahatchie County. George died on 2 November 1937 in Tallahatchie County; he is laid to rest at Friendship East Baptist Cemetery in Tallahatchie County.
:: 3. Mattie R. Arendale was born about 1909 in Mississippi and died before 1918. She appeared as an infant of four months on the 1910 census. She died before her father filled out a draft card in 1918. No burial place is yet found.
:: 3. Riley Hamilton Arendale was born 16 June 1911 in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi. He married a step sister, Loy Christeen Pittman, between 1930 and 1933, probably in Tallahatchie County. She was the daughter of an unknown Pittman and her mother Sallie Sturkie Pittman, born on 3 August 1916 in Tallahatchie County. (George Washington Arendale's second wife Sallie Sturkie Pittman and he married about the same time that Riley and Loy married.) Loy Pittman Arendale died on 10 Octobe 1990 in Mississippi; Riley died 14 March 1991 in Mississippi. They are both at rest at Friendship East Baptist Cemetery in Tallahatchie County. They had two children.
:: 3. Wesley Harry Arendale was born 31 October 1914 in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi. He was married in February 1936 to Ethel Marie Owens, the daughter of James Frederick Owens and Mary Rosalee Nobles. Ethel was born in Yell County, Arkansas 30 September 1918. Wesley Arendale died 13 May 1975 in Tallahatchie County. His widow, Ethel Owens Arendale, married Lloyd Benford Beaird, a cousin to Wesley. She died 5 July 2006 in Charleston, Tallahatchie County, Mississippi. Both are buried at Bethel Cemetery in Tallahatchie County. They had two daughters.
:: 3. Inez Arendale was born about 1920 in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi. She died in 1998. No burial place is known.
: 2. Lona Pearl Beaird, called Pearl, was born on 6 September 1889 in Panola County, Mississippi. On 12 December 1909, she married R. B. Havens in probably Panola County. R. B. was the eldest son of George W. Havens and wife Martha Rebecca "Mattie" Dees of Tallahatchie County, Mississippi. Three Beaird sisters, Pearl and her two younger sisters Dixie and Tiny, married three Havens brothers in 1909-1910. R.. B. Havens stated that he was farming for Jim Criswell in Enid, Mississippi on his 1917 draft card. R. B. and Pearl lived in Tallahatchie County and had one daughter, Beatrice. He died on 11 November 1952 in Mississippi; Pearl passed away 15 October 1975, when living in Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee. They are both buried at Bethel Cemetery in Teasdale, Tallahatchie County, Mississippi. They only had one child:
:: 3. Beatrice Havens was born 2 December 1919 in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi. She died on 21 February 2010 in Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee. She was interred at Bethel Cemetery in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi.
: 2. Dixie Beaird was born 8 March 1893 in Panola County, Mississippi. She married at sixteen, on 8 May 1909 in Panola County to Lelia Elee Havens. No wonder he was called "L. E." all his life. He was born on 3 October 1886 in Tallahatchie County to George and Mattie Dees Havens. In 1910, "Lelia" and Dixie Havens lived in Panola County. In 1917 on his draft card, "Lelia Elee" Havens said that he farmed wet of Pope, Mississippi in Panola County and that he was born west of Enid. He died 15 December 1964 in Mississippi and is buried at Bethel Cemetery at Teasdale in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi. Dixie Beaird Havens died 22 February 1980 and is laid to rest beside him at Bethel. They had two little girls who both died in youth.
:: 3. Lillian Mayford Havens was born in 1914 in Panola County, Mississippi and died in 1921. She was buried at Bethel Cemetery in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi.
:: 3. Opal E. Havens was born in 1923 in Mississippi and died in 1924. She was buried at Bethel Cemetery in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi.
: 2. Tiny Beaird was born on 19 June 1895 in Panola County, Mississippi. In about 1910, when she was just fourteen, Tiny married Theodore Manley "Fielden" Havens, another son of George and Mattie Havens. He was born on 12 June 1891 in Charleston, Tallahatchie County, Mississippi. His nieces and nephews called him "Uncle Fee", so it is possible that he went by the name of Fielder or the nickname Fee. On his World War I draft card, filed in Panola County, Mississippi, he listed his name as Theodore Manley Havens, a farmer of 25, born near Pope, Mississippi. He was married and lived at Enid. In 1920, they lived in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi just two homes away from Joe Percy Beaird and his wife Roena, the older brother of Tiny. In 1930, Tiny and Theodore Havens lived at Clarksdale, Coahoma County, Mississippi where he was an auto mechanic. They were listed as roomers in the home of James Hughes, a policeman, and his wife Allie. Tiny and Theodore Havens divorced, apparently before the World War II draft. On that draft, he lived in Helena, Phillips County, Arkansas, worked for Sanders Auto Supply, and had a wife, Alice Wallace Havens. He died on 22 June 1967, probably in Bolivar County, Mississippi, and is buried at the New Cleveland Cemetery in that county with his second wife, Alice. Tiny Beaird Havens remarried to Albert Austin Wright. He was born on 26 January 1881 in Arkansas, the son of Frederick Foster Wright and wife Samantha Roberts. On his World War I draft card filed in Yazoo County, Mississippi, Albert stated that he lived in Moorehead, Sunflower County, and was the Memphis director of the Y & M V Railroad. Albert and Tiny Wright lived in Tutwiler. He died 23 December 1942 and was buried at Rosemound Cemetery in Tutwiler, Tallahatchie County. Tiny died in September 1971 and was laid to rest next to him.
: NOTE: The Havens family: The grandfather of the three Havens men who married Beaird sisters was Turner Havens. He and his brother Miles Havens were listed on the roster of the 14th Battalion, Mississippi Light Artillery, the same unit in which the Beaird sisters' grandfather William C. Beard fought during the Civil War.
: 2.  Matt Lavender Beaird was born in Panola County, Mississippi on 6 July 1898. His mother Martha "Mattie" Lavender died either at or right after his birth and the child was named for her.  He grew up as a youngest child, raised by his elder siblings and then an uncle, James, the half brother of his dad, John Riley.  Matt married on 14 February 1915 in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi to Bessie B. Farris.  They were both young teenagers and the marriage ended very soon, but we do not know how.  Bessie was the daughter of Henry William Farris and wife Sarah Isabelle Arendale.  The Beaird family had many Arendale family connections.  One is, the younger brother of Sarah Isabelle, George Washington Arendale, who married Cornelia Beaird, the elder sister of Matt Beaird, in 1908. Bessie Farris was born in March 1899 in Tallahatchie County.  We do not know of a remarriage or death. On his draft card of 14 September 1918, Matt was listed as a single man of twenty years who lived in Panola County and worked on a farm near Pope, Panola County.  His employer was his father, J. R. Beard.  He was described as tall, slender, brown eyes and black hair.  On 7 November 1919, Matt married a second time.  The bride was Mary Eudora Murphy. "Dora" was the daughter of John Roland Murphy and Mary Edna Spivey.  She was born 18 December 1903 in Mississippi, making her not quite sixteen when she married.  Her young age was no doubt the reason she and Matt eloped. The family story is that her father was very strict and he would not let her court.  She and Matt knew each other and hatched a plan that they would meet up at a church social and run away from there and get married.  At the social, there was planned a raffle of box suppers; the young ladies would each bring a box which they had prepared and the young men would bid for the supper and the company of the lady while it was served.  Matt had to persevere, as some friends of his caught wind of the plan and "ran up the bid" on him.  They left and were married in Caile, Sunflower County.  They lived in Sunflower County on the 1920 census, with no children yet.  By 1930, listed in Isola, Humphreys County, they had four children at home.  Matt was listed as a draymen, public hauling, but his children remember him doing many jobs.  Eventually he opened a grocery store on the main street of town, but this was the Depression and times were not good for businessmen nor customers, and Matt ran into trouble extending too much credit to starving families.  The family struggled just as everyone did, but when a baby son was seriously burned in a fireplace accident in October 1937 and died a few days later, Matt fell into depression.  He died on 15 February 1938 in Mississippi and was mourned by all as the 39 year old father of seven living children, the youngest a daughter born just that month.  He is buried at Caile Cemetery in Inverness, Sunflower County, Mississippi.  Mary Eudora Beaird managed to feed and raise her flock of children by working and raising a garden in these hard times.  The townspeople gave the family a milk cow after Matt's death, and many family stories concern the children running all over town at various times chasing the cow, who had a habit of escaping the property and wandering.  In her later years, Dora Beaird lived with her youngest daughter and son in law in Pascagoula, Mississippi and then Valencia, California.  She died in California on 27 November 1982 and was laid to rest beside Matt and other family and friends at Caile Cemetery in Sunflower County.
more family photos of the Matt Lavender Beaird family at this page .
:3. Mattie Allene Beaird was born 3 October 1920 in Isola, Humphreys County, Mississippi. As the eldest daughter, she helped raise her siblings, especially after the death of her father in 1938. She married Luther David Snyder 10 September 1938 in Mississippi. He was the son of James Arthur Snyder and Agnes V. Berry of Webster County, Mississippi. Luther was born 15 March 1919 in Magnolia, Webster County, Mississippi. He and Allene had two young children when he enlisted for service at Camp Shelby, Mississippi on 12 November 1943. He was working in automobile service at the time, living in Humphreys County, Mississippi. Luther was a private with the United States Army in the European campaign, especially in the heavy fighting done in Italy. After the war, they Snyders added four more children to the family and moved to New Orleans, Louisiana in the 1950s. They later lived in Metairie, Jefferson Parish, and then at Covington, St Tammany Parish, Louisiana. Luther died on 13 January 1986 and was buried at Garden of Memories Cemetery in Jefferson Parish. Just three months later, while visiting her sister in California, Allene died on 22 April 1986. She was laid to rest next to Luther at Garden of Memories. They had six children.
:: 3. Zelda Lillian Beaird was born on 18 September 1923 in Isola, Humphreys County, Mississippi. She married Royal Clarence "Smitty" Smith in 1944. Royal was the son of Ernest Pinkney and Stella Jane Bunton Smith of North Carolina. He was born 7 September 1917 in Alexander County, North Carolina. On 10 June 1942 he enlisted for service in World War II at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Royal, Zelda, and their four year old son Rickey were all killed when their car was hit by a train on 16 October 1949. The North Carolina death certificates give place as Steele, Rowan County, North Carolina. Their last residence was Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. They are all buried together at the Old Church Cemetery of Fairview Baptist Cemetery in Hiddenite, Alexander County, North Carolina, the Smith family burial ground.
:: 3. Son Beaird is living.
:: 3. Daughter Beaird is living.
:: 3. Matt Lavender "Bud" Beaird, Jr. was born on 25 December 1930 in Isola, Humphreys County, Mississippi. When he was twenty, Bud was drafted for service in the Korean War. He served with the Second Cavalry Division there and was seriously wounded by a missile during action 9 January 1951 in the North Korean Sector. On 16 September 1951, he was returned to the front. After his return, he worked as a foreman for the railroad and lived in Isola, Mississippi. Bud married twice but never had children of his own; he was beloved by all his many nieces and nephews. He died 20 September 2010 and was laid to rest at Caile Cemetery in Sunflower County, Mississippi.
:: 3. Daughter Beaird is living.
:: 3. William Harold Beaird was born in August 1935 in Isola, Humphreys County, Mississippi. "Buddy" died on 16 October 1937 after an accident at a neighbor's home several days before in which he was seriously burned. He was buried at Caile Cemetery in Sunflower County, Mississippi.
:: 3. Daughter Beaird is living.
1. Mila A. "Mollie" Beard was born in Pope, Panola County, Mississippi about 1858-1860. On the 1860 census she is 2, on the 1870 she is 12, and on the 1880 she is 18! Her obituary says that she died 2 May 1884 and that she was 24 years old. Mila seems to have been named after her mother's aunt, Mila A. Bynum. She was an heir in the estate of her maternal grandfather Enoch Bynum, along with her brother John Riley. In 1880, she was listed in the home of her brother John R. Beard and his wife Mattie Lavender. Next door were her widowed stepmother Mary Pylant Beard and all Mila's half siblings. Obituary notice, The Panolian of 9 May 1884: "Miss Mollie Beard, aged 24, death date 2 May 1884 in the Ptocowa area [named on modern maps as Tocowa] Leaves a brother, John Beard."
Children of William C. Beard and second wife, Mary J. Pylant:
1. Eliza Jane Beaird was born on 28 February 1864 in Panola County, Mississippi. On 5 March 1882, she married Henry Levi Nixon in Panola County. He was born 11 November 1859 in Choctaw County, Alabama, the son of William and Gabrella J. Parr Nixon, who were married on 2 September 1856 in Barbour County, Alabama. The first census on which they appear as a married couple is in 1900 in Eureka Springs, Panola County, married eighteen years with six of their seven children living. In 1910, they lived in Batesville, Panola County, and Eliza Jane was listed as "Janie". They had seven children living at home. Their two oldest boys were listed as carpenters. In 1920 in Panola County, Henry and Eliza Jane had six children over sixteen living at home. What dinners she must have prepared. Nine years later, on 27 October 1929, Eliza Jane Beaird Nixon died in Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee. She was laid to rest at Chapel Hill Methodist Cemetery in Panola County. Henry Nixon appeared as a seventy year old widower in the DeSoto County, Mississippi home of his son Van on the 1930 census. He died on 20 February 1940 in Jackson, Hinds County, Mississippi and was buried with Eliza Jane Beaird Nixon at Chapel Hill. Their children:
: 2. William Samuel Nixon was born on 28 November 1882 in Panola County, Mississippi. He died at the age of 28 on 22 June 1911, after a tragic accident when he was hit by a passenger train of the Illinois Central Railroad in Panola County. He was unmarried. He was buried at the family grounds at Chapel Hill Cemtery in Panola County.
: 2. Effie Lee Nixon was born on 20 June 1885 in Panola County, Mississippi. On 21 February 1910 in Grenada County, Mississippi, she married Francis Marion "Mike" Lamb, the son of William M. and Mary Dillard Lamb. Mike was born 15 December 1872 in Illinois; in 1880, he appeared as a six year old with his family in Equality, Gallatin County, Illinois. In 1900, Mike and his brother Charley were both mill hands in Memphis, Tennessee and boarded with a Kaiser family there. In the 1910 census in Tallahatchie County, Tennessee, Effie and Mike Lamb were boarders in the home of Tom Vartan, where they were newlyweds with no children. His occupation was "spoke grader". On his draft card in 1918, Mike lived on Jones Street in Memphis with his wife Effie Lamb and was a spoke turner at a wheel factory there. In 1920, Frank M. Lamb and wife Effie were in Memphis with three children and he was a spoke turner. Still in Memphis in 1930, living on Norman Street, Francis M. and Effie Lamb had five children. On 17 December 1936, another tragic accident happened in this family when Mike Lamb was killed when he exited a street car in Memphis and he was hit by an automobile. Effie Lee Nixon Lamb died in Memphis on 11 December 1964. We do not know a burial place for this couple yet. They had five children:
:: 3. William Marion Lamb was born in Panola County, Mississippi on 28 October 1911. On 5 September 1953, he married Mozelle E. Brown, the daughter of Oliver Twist and Mary S. Brown of Itawamba County, Mississippi. She was born 4 September 1918 in Mississippi. William died 20 December 1977 in Selmer, McNairy County, Tennessee. Mozelle Brown Lamb died there on 13 August 2006. Mozelle and William are both at rest at Pisgah Cemetery in Shiloh, Hardin County, Tennessee.
:: 3. Noble Sammie Lamb was born 16 September 1914 in Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee. He enlisted at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia on 11 October 1941 for service in World War II. He married 24 December 1949 in Memphis to Ruth Olene Wilson. No burial record has been found. They had two children.
:: 3. Mary Elizabeth Lamb was born on 25 April 1917 in Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee. She died 21 October 1993 in the same.
:: '3. 'Henry Leon Lamb was born on 4 January 1921 in Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee. On 23 May 1952, he married Wilma Jean Parrish in Memphis. She was born on 29 January 1924 in Martin, Weakley County, Tennessee, the daughter of Clem D. Parrish and Allie Gladys Jones of that county. Henry worked for a glass plant in Nashville. He died 5 January 1985 in Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee and is buried at Memorial Park Cemetery in Memphis. Wilma Parrish Lamb died on 9 January 1989 in Memphis.
:: 3. Janie Estell Lamb was born on 25 September 1923 in Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee. She died on 25 May 1996 in Memphis.
: 2. Ada Estelle Nixon was born 23 March 1888 in Panola County, Mississippi. She died 30 December 1922 in Panola County and is interred with family at Chapel Hill Cemetery in that county. Ada never married.
: 2. John Edward Nixon was born in Panola County, Mississippi on 6 July 1890. He registered for the draft in that county and served in World War I. On his draft card, he stated that he was 26 on 19 July 1890 and single, had no dependents, and was a carpenter in Batesville. Once back home after the war, John married Gola Estelle Anthony Fowler in Panola County on 22 May 1923. She was the daughter of James Archie Anthony and Rosa Lee Leatherwood, born in June 1897 in Panola County. Gola had been married a first time, to George William Fowler of Panola County, and had a daughter named Rubye Beatrice Fowler. On the 1930 census, John and Gola had two more children and John was working as a carpenter. The family eventually moved to Virginia after 1940, and John Nixon died there in Charlottesville, Fluvanna County, on 23 September 1959. He was brought back to Panola County, Mississippi for burial at the family plot in Chapel Hill Cemetery. Gola died on 19 July 1978 in Charlottesville and was buried at Chapel Hill Cemetery in Panola County, Mississippi with John.
:: 3. Living Son Nixon 
:: 3. Miles Archie Nixon was born on 24 September 1927 at Friars Point, Coahoma County, Mississippi. He served in the Korean War. He married June Childress on 12 May 1956 in Buckingham County, Virginia. She was born 21 October 1928 in that county. Miles Archie Nixon died on 12 June 1979 in New Canton, Buckingham County, Virginia and was buried at Mt Zion Baptist Church Cemetery in Buckingham County. June Childress Nixon died on 22 January 2003 in the same.
:: 3. Living Son Nixon
:: 3. Wilma Ruth Nixon was born 5 February 1940 in Pope, Panola County, Mississippi and died on 18 May 1940, just three months old. She is buried at Chapel Hill Cemetery in Panola County, Mississippi.
: 2. Henry Craten Nixon was born in Panola County, Mississippi on 6 February 1893. His draft card for World War I was filed in Panola County, and he stated that he was 24 years old, single, and farmed with his father in Batesville. "Crate" served in that war. In 1930, he was listed as a 35 year old single man living as a boarder in the home of Jesse and Maggie Bramlett in Memphis, Tennessee, working as a millwright for an oil mill there; his brother Everette was also a boarder in this home. On 19 June 1951, Crate died at Mountain Home, Washington County, Tennessee, where his Beard ancestors had lived and died in the late 1700s. Crate is buried at Chapel Hill Cemetery in Panola County, Mississippi.
: 2. Calvin Van Buren Nixon was born in Panola County, Mississippi on 9 June 1896. His draft registration in 1917 stated that he was 25 years old, single, living in Batesville, and farming with his father, H. L. Nixon. On 5 May 1922, he married Rosa Wilma Anthony in Panola County. She was the daughter of James Archie Anthony and Rosa Lee Leatherwood, and the younger sister of gola Estelle Anthony, who married Van's elder brother John Edward Nixon. Rosa was born in Panola County on 18 October 1904. In 1930, Van and Wilma Nixon and their two children were listed in DeSoto County, Mississippi. His father, Henry Levi Nixon, was a seventy year old widower who lived with them. Van Buren Nixon died on 6 June 1961 in Denbigh, Newport News, Virginia. He was brought back to the old Mississippi home for burial at Chapel Hill Cemetery in Panola County. Rosa Wilma Anthony Nixon died 24 February 1981 in Williamsburg, James City County, Virginia; she was buried at Chapel Hill beside her husband Van.
:: 3. Kathryn Geoffrey Nixon, called "Kat" by her family, was born in Panola County, Mississippi on 24 April 1923. She married Paul Freeman Kardell on 5 February 1944 in Kinston, Lenoir County, North Carolina. He was born 24 June 1922 in Massachusetts and was the son of Carl S. and Ellen Kardell, who were natives of Sweden. Kathryn died 4 August 1950 in Buckingham County, Virginia and is buried at Chapel Hill Cemetery in Panola County, Mississippi. Paul Kardell died 18 December 1988 in Massachusetts.
:: 3. Janie Rose Nixon was born 3 May 1928 in Love, DeSoto County, Mississippi. She died in Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee on 9 September 1936 at the age of eight. Janie was buried at Chapel Hill Cemetery in Panola County, Mississippi.
:: 3. Living Son Nixon
::
: 2. Lealan Shafter Nixon, a son, was born on 24 July 1898 in Panola County, Mississippi. He died before his second birthday, on 11 May 1900 in Panola County and was buried at Chapel Hill.
: 2. Everette Geoffrey Nixon was born in Panola County, Mississippi on 31 January 1901. On 17 October 1930, he married Winnie Edith Guillory in Marion, Arkansas. She was born 9 August 1905 in Baton Rouge, East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana to Lewis and Ada Guillory, who lived in Baton Rouge Parish and then in Bowie, Chicot County, Arkansas by 1910. In 1930, Winnie Guillory lived in Memphis, Tennessee with her widowed mother. Winnie wa a typist at a mail order store and 24 years old. Shortly after this census, she married. She and Everette had two children born in Memphis. He died in Memphis 6 April 1979. Winnie died there as well, on 4 October 1997. They are both buried at Memorial Park Cemetery in Memphis.
:: 3. Living Daughter Nixon
:: 3. Living Son Nixon
: 2. Vera Mae Nixon was born on Christmas Eve of 1903 in Panola County, Mississippi. On 31 August 1927, she married Charles Alvin Riddle in Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee. Charles was born in Blum, Cleburn County, Texas 14 March 1903, the son of Asa Carlen Riddle and wife, Eliza Emily Land. His family moved from Texas to Arkansas; in 1920 they lived in Winslow, Washington County, Arkansas. Alvin had a twin brother Elvin Layton Riddle. In 1930, Alvin and Vera were on the census in Memphis, Tennessee as a young couple with no children. He was an electrical engineer for a chemical company and Vera worked at a clerical job in a mail order house. She died on 19 December 1978 in Winslow, Washington County, Arkansas. Charles died in Fayetteville, Washington County, Arkansas on 4 May 1988. They are both laid to rest at Brentwood Cemetery in Washington County, Arkansas.
:: 3. Living Daughter Nixon
1. Sarah Elizabeth Beaird, born 13 October 1865 in Panola County, Mississippi, married on 15 December 1885 in Panola County to William Richmond Anthony. William was born on 6 January 1858 in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi to Richard Harold and Lucinda Blake Anthony. In 1900 in Panola County, William and Sallie Anthony had seven children. In 1910, they were still in Panola County, and they reported eight of nine children still living. Their eldest son James lived next household. William Anthony died on 12 January 1916 in Isola, Humphreys County, Mississippi. He was buried at Chapel Hill Cemetery in Panola County. By time of the census in 1920, Sallie and her family had moved to Oklahoma, where they were listed in Mountain Park, Kiowa County. Sallie and her four youngest children lived next home to her eldest son James Henry Anthony and his family. James had moved to Oklahoma by time for the draft in 1917. Sarah Beaird Anthony died on 30 October 1921, probably in Mississippi. She was laid to rest at Chapel Hill beside William. Sarah and William's younger children were all marrying back in Mississippi during the 1920s.
: 2. James Henry Anthony was born 11 October 1886 in Panola County, Mississippi. He grew up there and on 9 September 1907, he married Lillie Pauline Hubbard Smith. She was born in April 1887 in Mississippi, the daughter of James Madison and Mary F. Hubbard of Panola County. Lillie had been first married to a Smith and had a two year old son, Ewell. In 1910, married three years, they lived betwee hisi parents and her father and stepmother. James's son Grafton and stepson Ewell were listed with them. By the time he registered for the World War I draft in Panola County, James Henry was farming in Kiowa County, Oklahoma with his wife and three children. Three years later, his father had died and his mother Sallie Anthony was listed as a widow living next door to him, with her four youngest children in her home. Sallie died the next year, and in 1930, James Henry Anthony and Lillie lived in Parmer County, Texas with their four children. At some point, the family returned to Kiowa County, Oklahoma. Lillie died there in 1958. James Henry Anthony died there 26 January 1962. They are both buried at Mountain Park Cemetery in Kiowa County, Oklahoma.
:: 3. William Grafton Anthony was born in Panola County, Mississippi on 25 June 1908. He died on 20 October 1995 at Snyder, Kiowa County, Oklahoma and is buried at Mountain Park Cemetery in Kiowa County, Oklahoma.
:: 3. James Archie Anthony was born 1 April 1911 in Panola County, Mississippi. He died 4 December 1990 in Oklahoma and is buried at Mountain Park Cemetery in Kiowa County, Oklahoma.
:: 3. Grover Lee Anthony was born in Mississippi or Oklahoma in 1917. He died in 1962 in Oklahoma and is buried amongst family at Mountain Park Cemetery in Kiowa County.
:: 3. Jamie Pauline Anthony was born on 28 February 1922 in Oklahoma. She married George Wulfman "Pete" Eads, who was born 13 August 1917 in Texas and died 20 March 1964. Jamie died 12 April 1999 in Dumas, Moore County, Texas and is buried with her husband at Dumas Cemetery in Moore County, Texas. They had at least two children, one son was Jimmie Dale Eads who died on 28 March 2010 and was interred at Dumas Cemetery in Moore County.
: 2. Robert Lee "Bob" Anthony was born in Panola County, Mississippi 25 September 1888, the second child of William Richmond and Sarah Elizaabeth Anthony. In 1920, at 21 years of age, Robert L. Anthony was listed living in the home of his uncle, John Riley Beaird, a widower with two children still at home. Robert married a year later, on 1 July 1911. The bride was Gladys M. Young. She was born 19 February 1893 in Yalobusha County, Mississippi, the daughter of John W. and Rena D. Young. By the time of his draft card in Panola County in 1917, Bob Anthony had a wife and children and was a self employed farmer east of Pope, Panola County, Mississippi. In 1920, the family was listed in Panola County with four children. The mother of Gladys, Rena Young, lived next door with a grown son. By 1930, Robert and Gladys had moved to Quitman County, Mississippi and were listed in that census with eight children still at home. It is possible, from information from this census, that Robert Anthony was married a first time, for a short while. He stated that he was 41 and married at 18, while wife Gladys was 37 and married at 17. There is a reported first wife named Bessie, but we have no proof. Robert Lee Anthony ided on 27 October 1953 in Crenshaw, Panola County, Mississippi and was buried at Chapel Hill Cemetery there. His wife Gladys Young Anthony lies there as well, date of death 5 January 1974 in Grenada County, Mississippi.
:: 3. Asa Lee Anthony was born 1 November 1912 in Panola County, Mississippi. He married Maggie S. Unknown. He died on 28 October 1992 in Panola County and was buried at Chapel Hill Cemetery there. Maggie, born 26 February 1909 in Mississippi, died on 11 August 1994 in Mississippi and lies beside him at Chapel Hill Cemetery.
:: 3. Eunice Vastie Anthony was born about 1915 in Mississippi. We do not know further information.
:: 3. John William Anthony was born about 1916 in Mississippi. We do not know further information.
:: 3. Georgia Corinne Anthony was born about 1918 in Mississippi. We do not know further information.
:: 3. Alvis Bennett Anthony was born 22 September 1920 in Mississippi. He entered the service for World War II on 16 September 1943 at Gulfport Army Air Force Base in Gulfport, Mississippi. He was married at the time of enlistment, to Sadie Catherine Snider. She was born on 12 September 1925 in Mississippi, the daughter of Arthur Lister Snider and Rachel Lister. Alvis and Sadie lived at Water Valley. Alvis died on 10 May 2002 probably in Water Valley, Yalobusha County, Mississippi, and was buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in Water Valley. Sadie passed away 25 August 2006 and is beside her husband at Oak Hill Cemetery. They had at least seven children.
:: 3. Melvin Anthony was born 7 March 1923 in Mississippi. He served as a private in the United States Army during World War II, enlisting on 20 February 1943 at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. At this time he was living in Lawrence, Arkansas. He died 6 April 1967 and is buried at Chapel Hill Cemetery in Panola County, Mississippi.
:: 3. L. B. Anthony, a daughter, was born about 1924 in Mississippi. She was listed as age six on the 1930 census; no further information is known.
:: 3. Hazel Juanita Anthony, no further information is known.
: 2. Emma Elector Anthony, the first daughter of William and Sarah Ellen Beaird Anthony, was born 6 August 1890 in Panola County, Mississippi. She grew up there and was married on Christmas Eve of 1905 to Edward Isaac Smith. He was twenty and she was fifteen. Edward was born in October 1884; he seems to be the son of John David and Mattie Lewis Smith of Panola County. Ed and Emma set up housekeeping in Panola County and in 1910, they had two sons. By 1920, they had five children home and in 1930, still in Panola County, their five youngest were still at home. Edward Isaac Smith died 4 April 1961 and was buried at Chapel Hill Cemetery in Panola County. Emma Anthony Smith is buried there with him, passing away on 19 May 1970. They were parents of eight children.
:: 3. Frank Wade "Tut" Smith was born in Panola County, Mississippi 4 December 1906. He is buried at Chapel Hill Cemetery with a World War II notation on the gravestone. Frank Smith died on 31 March 1970.
:: 3. Dewey Noel Smith was born about 1910 in Panola County. In 1930, we find a record of a Dewey Smith, age seventeen, living with the Wiley Smith family in Panola County, listed as a nephew. No further records are known.
:: 3. Johnnie Sally Smith was born about 1912 in Panola County, Mississippi.
:: 3. Eursie Mae Smith was born 4 May 1914 in Panola County, Mississippi. She married Alonzo Jefferson Nelson after 1930. He was born in 1910 in Panola County, the son of Benjamin Franklin Nelson and Esther File. It is interesting that this Nelson family descends from Garland Garfield Nelson and wife Nancy Elizabeth Ward' we have long researched Nancy Ward and believe her to be a member of the Ward family who married into our Beard family. Two granddaughters of our Samuel Beard married Ward men in the e1830s; we believe this Nancy to be the sister of these two. We have no records for Alonzo, but Eursie Mae Nelson died 8 May 2006 in Pope, Panola County, Mississippi.
:: 3. Edward Vassar Smith was born on 5 May 1919 in Panola County, Mississippi. He married Ida C. James. She was born 23 October 1921 in Panola County. Edward died in August 1962 in Mississippi; Ida died 16 July 2010 in Mississippi.
:: 3. Living Daughter Smith
:: 3. Living Son Smith
:: 3. Ellis Dale Smith was born 5 January 1927 in Panola County, Mississippi. He married Ramona Harrison and they lived at Pope in Panola County. He died 23 January 2007 and the obituary that appeared in The Panolian provided information that he had served in World War II, that he worked for U & I Sugar Company for thirty years as a foreman and crane operator, belonged to the Pope Baptist Church. Dale was buried at Chapel Hill Cemetery in Panola County.
: 2. Hattie Eugenia Anthony was born in Panola County, Mississippi 17 February 1891. On 8 March 1910 she married Seab Rowan/Roan Williford in that county. He was born 4 February 1887 in Mooresville, Rowan County, North Carolina. His parents were George Rowan and Mary Williford. The Williford family came to Panola County from North Carolina about 1890-1893. Seab's sister Verna L. Williford married the younger brother of Sarah Ellen Beaird Anthony, Henry Beaird. (He would be the uncle of Hattie.) By the time he filled out his draft card in 1917, Seab was a carpenter for the Illinois Central Railroad Company, Mississippi Division, and had a wife and three children. He filed the card as "Seab Rowan Williford"; on the 1900 census, his name was written Seburn (Seabourne?) By the 1930 census in Panola County, he was a house carpenter with six children. He died 25 September 1959 in Panola County and is buried at Chapel Hill Cemetery. Hattie Anthony Williford died 31 October 1967 in Panola County. She lies beside her husband at Chapel Hill.
:: 3. Ann Lorraine Williford was born about 1912 in Panola County, Mississippi.
:: 3. Mary Elizabeth Williford was born in Panola County, Mississippi on 14 November 1913. She lived in Batesville and never married. From her obituary in The Panolian: Mary Elizabeth Williford, 89, of Batesville, died July 15, 2003 at Beverley Health Care. Burial will be at Chapel Hill Cemetery. . . She was a homemaker and member of Chapel Hill Church.
:: 3. William Clarence Williford was born 25 July 1915 in Panola County. He married Tommie L. Newman before 1940. She was born 30 March 1918 in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, the daughter of Oscar Vernon and Jessie Martin Newman. William seems to have worked in the Panama Canal Zone, and his family traveled back and forth from there to Mississippi as did William's younger brother James and sister Lorraine. He and Tommie had at least four children, at least two born in Panama. William died 25 December 1980; Tommie Williford passed away on 9 September 2000. They lived on the Mississippi Gulf Coast at the time of their deaths, and both are buried at Chapel Hill Cemetery back in Panola County.
:: 3. Virginia Mildred Williford was born about 1918 in Panola County, Mississippi.
:: 3. James Stanley Williford was born 1 July 1919 in Panola County, Mississippi. As a young man, he traveled to the Canal Zone in Panama, possibly to visit with his brother's family. James Stanley Williford enlisted for service on 3 March 1945 at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. He was a private in the United States Army during World War II. He lived in Water Valley, Yalobusha County, Mississippi. James died 24 June 2000 in Water Valley. He is buried at Forrest Park Memorial Cemetery in Panola County, Mississippi.
:: 3. Jack Anthony Williford was born 20 February 1924 in Panola County, Mississippi. He enlisted in the United States Navy and served during World War II. Jack married an unknown Burns and they had four children. In civilian life, he was a carpenter and lived in Panola County. He died there on 3 May 2004 and was buried at Chapel Hill Cemetery in Panola County.
: 2. William Clarence Anthony was born in Panola County, Mississippi on 27 June 1894. He died in 1906, just twelve years old, and he was buried with many family members at Chapel Hill Cemetery in Panola County.
: 2. Lois Harold Anthony, a son, was born in Panola County, Mississippi on 25 October 1898. On 11 May 1916, he married Elsie Owens Flowers in Panola County. She was the daughter of Abraham Calvin and Rosella Florence Martindale Flowers of Panola County. She had been previously married in June 1909 to Seth Thomas Hardy of Panola County; she was a widow with two hardy children at the time of her marriage to Lois. Lois registered for the draft for World War I in Panola County, and he and Elsie made their home their all their married lives, farming and raising a family. She died there on 6 May 1970 and Lois passed away on 7 June 1971. They are both at rest at Chapel Hill Cemetery in Panola County.
:: 3. Marie Catherine Anthony was born in Panola County, Mississippi on 4 May 1918. On 8 August 1935, she married Howard Lee Nelson of Panola County. He was born 21 July 1915 to Thomas Jefferson and Catherine "Kate" Nelson. On the 1930 census, when Howard was fifteen, Earnest Beaird, age twenty, was listed in the Nelson household as a lodger. This was the son of Henry C. Beaird, younger brother of Sarah Elizabeth Beaird Anthony. Marie Anthony Nelson died 3 May 1969 and Howard Lee Nelson died 14 September 1983. They are both buried at Chapel Hill Cemetery in Panola County, Mississippi.
:: 3. Hayden E. Anthony was born on 18 December 1920 in Panola County. He enlisted for service in the United States Army in September 1942 at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. He was married to Marilyn Louise Walters, daughter of Milton O. and Lenora Elizabeth Cooper Walters. She was born in Panola County on 17 March 1931. Hayden worked as a meat cutter in Grenada, Grenada County, Mississippi for many years. He was a member of Chapel Hill Methodist, a Shriner, and a Mason in the Panola Lodge. Marilyn Walters Anthony died 13 February 2002 in Panola County; Hayden Anthony died 23 August 2005 in Oxford, Lafayette County, Mississippi, where he resided in the Mississippi State Veterans Home. They are both at rest at Chapel Hill Cemetery in Panola County.
:: 3. Juanita Alean Anthony was born on 19 January 1923 in Panola County, Mississippi. She married an Ellis. Juanita died on 8 August 1966 in Oxford, Lafayette County, Mississippi and was buried at Chapel Hill Cemetery in Panola County.
:: 3. Daughter Anthony is living
:: 3. Daughter Anthony is living.
: 2. Euice Clayton Anthony was born 27 February 1900 in Panola County, Mississippi. On 18 November 1922, he married Ruby E. Rowsey, the daughter of James Wesley Rowsey and wife Lela A. Magee of Panola County. Ruby was born 23 June 1902 in Mississippi. In 1930, Euice and Ruby lived in Panola amidst many Rowsey families, with no children. Euice Clayton Anthony died 30 October 1964 and was laid to rest at Chapel Hill Cemetery in Panola County. Ruby Rowsey Anthony died in Union County, Mississippi 7 February 1992 and is also buried there.
:: 3. James Harold Anthony was born on 20 September 1934 in Pope, Panola County, Mississippi. He married Elizabeth Hinton. From his obituary in The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal: He was a retired construction worker and a well respected member of Friendship Baptist Church, where he recently celebrated his 35th year as an active deacon. He enjoyed his garden, his camper, and his grandchildren. James died on 21 June 2007 in Union County, Mississippi. He was buried at Friendship Baptist Church Cemetery in Union County.
::
: 2. Emmett Virgil Anthony was born in Panola County, Mississippi on 1 July 1903. He married Jessie Ruth Leatherwood on 20 June 1926 in Panola County. She was the daughter of Oscar Fitzalan and Lula Oliphant Leatherwood, born 17 October 1906 in Panola County. Jessie's aunt, Araminta Rosa Lee Leatherwood, married James Archie Anthony in 1884. Emmett and Jessie made their home in Panola County and by 1930 they were listed with a son of four months. Emmett died in Panola County on 28 April 1968 and lies at Chapel Hill Cemetery there. Jessie Leatherwood Anthony died in Panola County on 4 November 1998 and is also at Chapel Hill.
: 2. Ila Dewdrop Anthony was born in Panola County, Mississippi on 10 March 1906. She married on 3 July 1926 in Panola County to William Bryant Smith. He was born on 17 May 1900 in Mississippi, the son of Charles Allen Smith and Mary Anne Pickett of Panola County. He died 21 June 1975; Ila Anthony Smith died 17 March 1981; both are at rest at Chapel Hill Cemetery in Panola County.
: 2. Ouida Best Anthony was born 1 December 1911 in Panola County. She married Edward Cline. Ouida died 29 May 1974 in Hendry County, Florida.
1. James Monroe "Jim" Beard was born on 15 May 1870 in Panola County, Mississippi. He married on 27 June 1895 in Panola County to Rebecca A. Donald. "Becky" was born 21 September 1879 in Alabama; she was just fifteen when married. She was the daughter of William M. and Julia Ann Donald, both natives of Alabama. In 1900, married five years, Jim and Rebecca "Beard" lived in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, listed on the same census page as her parents and siblings. They had no children yet, but by 1910, listed in Sunflower County, Mississippi, they had three sons and a daughter, all under ten. In 1911, they had a child who died in 1912. Still in Sunflower County in 1920, they had five children at home. Agnes Childress, listed as a two year old cousin, lived with them. Next door was Rebecca's brother Joe Donald, listed with his parents in his home. In 1930, there were in Sunflower County with three children at home. James Monroe Beaird died on 16 January 1935 in Sunflower County. He was buried at Caile Cemetery there. Rebecca Donald Beaird died on 6 September 1950 in the same and was laid to rest next to James at Caile. On official records, all their children were listed Beaird; their parents were listed Beard through 1900, then Beaird.
: 2. Joseph Monroe Beaird was born in Mississippi, probably in Tallahatchie or Sunflower County, about 1901. He married Mary B. Spell in 1922. Mary was born in September 1896 in Yazoo County, Mississippi, the daughter and youngest child of William J. and Mollie E. Spell of Free Run, Yazoo County, Mississippi. On the 1930 census, Joseph and Mary Beaird lived in Humphreys County, Mississippi with three young sons. Joseph died too young, on 16 January 1935. He was buried at Caile Cemetery in Sunflower County.We do not have a death date or burial record for Mary Spell Beard yet.
:: 3. Joseph Monroe Beaird Jr. was born on 30 December 1922 in Sunflower or Humphreys County, Mississippi. Joe Monroe never married. He served in the United States Navy in World War II and after, in Bowie, Arkansas, he was a heavy equipment operator. Joe died on 23 December 1977 in Bowie, Chicot County, Arkansas and was buried back home in Mississippi at Caile Cemetery in Sunflower County.
:: 3. James Wiley Beaird was born on 8 August 1924 in Isola, Humphreys County, Mississippi. He served in the United States Navy during World War II. In 1946, he married Mavine Leach. She was born on 2 August 1928 in Newton County, Mississippi, the daughter of Clarence Enox and Ottie Lee Hedrick Leach. James and Mavine lived in Isola and then in Texarkana, Bowie County, Texas. James died there on 15 September 1988; Mavine died there several months later, on 23 November 1988. They are buried at Genoa Church of Christ Cemetery in Bowie, Chicot County, Arkansas. They had three sons and a daughter.
:: 3. William S. Beaird was born on 1 September 1926 in Isola, Humphreys County, Mississippi. He served in the armed forces during World War II. William was called "Tater" by his family. He died at age 29, on 11 April 1956, and is buried at Caile Cemetery in Sunflower County, Mississippi.
: 2. Ethel E. Beaird was born on 19 November 1902 in Mississippi. She married an unknown Hughes before 1927. They had three children, the last born in 1931. We cannot find Ethel Hughes or the family on the 1930 census. In 1936, Ethel married James Lester Huffstickler. He was born 22 August 1914 in LeFlore County, Mississippi, the son of John Henry Huffstickler and wife Alice Worsham. They had two daughters. Ethel died on 7 July 1986 in Isola, Humphreys County, Mississippi and James died 10 May 1988 in same. They are both at rest at Caile Cemetery in Sunflower County, Mississippi.
:: 3. Son Beaird is living.
:: 3. Ileana Hughes was born 7 October 1930 in Isola, Humphreys County, Mississippi. She married Raymond "Mutt" Logan and they lived at Inverness, Mississippi. Mutt Logan died on 17 April 1988. According to her obituary, Ileana Hughes Logan died in Ruleville on 10 April 2009. She was a retired secretary for Super Value, Lewis Grocer Division, a member of Inverness United Methodist Church. She was a member of the Inverness Election Commission until her retirement in 2008. She and her husband had three children. The Logans are both buried at Hickory Grove Cemetery in Inverness.
:: 3. Son Beaird is living.
: 2. James V. Beaird was born on 29 July 1904 in Mississipppi. At Camp Shelby, Mississippi on 22 August 1942, he joined the military forces for service in World War II. James never married. He passed away on 8 June 1970, last residence Belzoni, Humphreys County, Mississippi. James was laid to rest among family at Caile Cemetery in Sunflower County, Mississippi.
: 2. Frank Wiley Beaird was born 15 October 1906 in Sunflower County, Mississippi. He died on 26 June 1964, place unknown, probably Mississippi. Frank was buried at Caile Cemetery in Sunflower County.
: 2. Ursie Lee Beaird was born on 10 March 1911 in Mississippi. He died as a baby on 5 November 1912 in probably Sunflower County, Mississippi. He was buried at Caile Cemetery in Sunflower County.
: 2. Mildred R. Beaird was born about 1919 in Mississippi.
1. Laura L. Beard was born in Panola County, Mississippi on 12 August 1872. Laura married Arthur Lewis in Panola County on 14 December 1895. Arthur was the son of Edward and Sarah Lewis, and he was born in Mississippi in May 1873. In 1900, married five years, Arthur and Laura lived in Panola County with their six month old son, Ernest. This son died the next year, and in 1910 Laura reported that neither of two children were living. She and Arthur lived in Panola County. Laura died on 17 August 1911 in Panola County and was laid to rest at Antioch Cemetery there. There are two infants graves near hers, as well as her baby son Ernest. She may have died in childbirth. Arthur seems to have remarried; on the 1920 census in Panola County he is married to Belle Selby, whose sister lives with them. No further records and no burial has been found for him.
: 2. Ernest B. Lewis was born 8 December 1899 in Panola County, Mississippi and died there on 23 June 1901, just a year and a half. He was buried at Antioch Cemetery in Panola County. Two other infants named Lewis are buried next to Ernest and his mother Laura.
1. Henry C. Beard was born 23 May 1877 in Panola County, Mississippi. Henry was a baby of three years when his father died. In 1909, he married Pearl J. Nance, the daughter of Robert N. and Mary J. Nance. She was born in February 1892 in Mississippi. On the 1910 census in Sunflower County, Mississippi, Henry and Pearl were married, with a four month old son named Ernest. They lived just next door to her parents. Pearl probably died right after this census, but no burial place has been found. About 1912, Henry married Verna "Bernie" Williford. She was born 28 November 1881 in North Carolina, probably in Rowan County, where her parents lived in 1880. Verna was the daughter of George Rowan and Mary A. Williford. Her brother Seab Rowan Williford married Hattie Lougenia Anthony, the daughter of William Anthony and Sarah Ellen Beard. Her sister Lillie Williford married a descendant of James Beard and his daughter Sarah Elizabeth Beard Faucett. The Willifords had many Beard connections in Panola County! In 1920, Henry had moved back up to Panola County and he and "Bernie" lived in Panola County, Mississippi with his son Earnest, age ten, and his three children with Verna Williford. Next door was Henry's sister, Eliza Jane Nixon with husband Henry L. Nixon and family. Henry Beaird died in 1921 in Panola County, and was buried at Chapel Hill Cemetery there. In 1930, still in Panola County, Vernie L. Beaird was listed as a widow with three children, Mary, Curtis, and Lera. Her stepson Ernest was listed as a lodger in the same county. Verna died on 15 January 1958 in Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee and was laid to rest beside Henry at Chapel Hill Cemetery in Panola County. The child of Henry Beaird and Pearl Nance Beaird was:
: 2. Earnest Beaird was born 7 January 1910 in Sunflower County, Mississippi. On the 1930 census, he was a lodger in the home of Thomas and Catherine Nelson in Panola County, Mississippi. Earnest died in September 1958 and was laid to rest at Chapel Hill Cemetery in Panola County.
: The children of Henry Beaird and second wife Verna Williford:
: 2. Mary M. Beaird was born on 29 November 1912 in Mississippi. Before 1936, she married Thomas O'Bannon, Jr., who was born 30 December 1909 in Mississippi, the son of Thomas L. O'Bannon Sr. and his wife Mollie M. Thomas died 26 January 1981 in Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee. Mary Beaird O'Bannon died 3 May 2000. They are both at rest at Chapel Hill Cemetery in Panola County, Mississippi.
: 2. Curtis E. Beaird, born on 29 January 1915 in Mississippi, entered the U. S. Army for service during World War II on 16 July 1940 at Ft. McClellan, Alabama. Curtis died on 27 July 1969 in Mississippi and is buried at Chapel Hill Cemetery in Panola County, Mississippi.
: 2. Jessie Beaird was born on 2 March 1918 in Mississippi and died as a baby on 26 June 1921. He is buried at Chapel Hill Cemetery in Panola County.
: 2. Lera Lester Beaird was born on 3 June 1920 in Mississippi. She was married three times and we do not know the order, but the husbands were Otis Griffen Goodson, who was the son of Claude and Rebecca Goodson; Floyd Edward Davis, and an unknown Newton. Lera had at least seven children. She died on 2 November 2005 in Oxford, Lafayette County, Mississippi. No burial place is known yet.
: