My Genealogy Hound

CAPT. RICHARD BEARD, attorney at law, notary public, and general insurance agent at Murfreesboro, Tenn., was born near Canton, Miss., February 28, 1842, son of Rev. Richard Beard and Cynthia (Castleman) Beard, natives, respectively, of Virginia and Tennessee. The father was born in 1799, and was educated for the ministry in the Cumberland College at Princeton, Ky. He began his professional career as president of his alma mater, and filled the theological chair of Cumberland University from 1854 until his death in 1881 or 1882. The immediate subject of this sketch was reared in Princeton, Ky., and Lebanon, Tenn., securing a good education in the latter place, and graduating from its college in 1858. He then spent another year studying English literature, and during 1860 entered the legal department with the view to making the practice of law his profession. In the spring of 1861 he enlisted in Company H. Seventh Regiment Tennessee Infantry, and served until after the battle of Seven Pines in 1862, when he was severely wounded, and was afterward appointed second lieutenant in the Fifth Confederate Regiment, and after the battle of Perryville, Ky., was promoted to first lieutenant. At the battle of Murfreesboro he was appointed adjutant, and after Chickamauga was raised to the rank of captain, being also wounded in this engagement. He was an eye witness to the death of Maj. Gen. McPherson, commander of the Federal Army of the Tennessee, and refutes the charges made by the Federals that McPherson was murdered, and since the war wrote an article on the same, which has been published throughout the country, North and South. In 1864 Capt. Beard was captured and kept a prisoner at Johnson’s Island, Lake Erie, until the close of the war. He then returned home, and in the spring of 1866 graduated in law and came immediately to Murfreesboro, where he has built up a good practice. During the fall of 1860 and years of 1870-71 he owned and edited the Murfreesboro Monitor, a weekly paper devoted to the interests of Democracy. He finally disposed of his paper advantageously. He is a Democrat, a Mason and Knight Templar. February 15, 1870, he wedded Marie L. Dromgoole, who has home him four children: Sallie, William E., Richard, and Marie L. He and wife are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.