Beard family cabinet card and snapshot photos, 1881/1926

Containers:

Box 1, Folder 2

Scope and content:

The photos in this folder are as follows:

A circa 1895 cabinet card photo of Cora Beard and Mary Beard Copper.

An April 7, 1881 cabinet card photo of Emma Laughlin Beard, by Blakemore, Stuanton, Virginia.

A circa 1907 cabinet card photo of Emma Beard, by J. L McCown, Lexington, Virginia.

A 1919 snapshot photo of Emma Beard at their home "Riverdell" at East Lexington, Virginia.

A 1926 post card photo of Emma Beard.

A circa 1895 cabinet card photo of Harry Beard, Sr., by Miley, Lexington, Virginia.

A circa 1900 cabinet card photo of Harry Beard, Sr. and Goss Eten, by Maxwell, Spokane, Washington.

An 1881 cabinet card photo Jacob Beard, by Blakemore, Staunton, Virginia.

A circa 1897 cabinet card photo of Jacob William Beard Sr., by Miley, Lexington, Virginia.

A circa 1890 cabinet card photo of Mary Alice Beard and her cousin Laura Wright, by J. L. McCown, Lexington, Virginia.

A circa 1902 cabinet card photo of Nannie Beard, by A. W. Maxwell, Buena Vista, Virginia.

Biographical / historical:

Cora Virginia Beard (1875–1909) was a prominent public school teacher and principal from the northern area of Rockbridge County, Virginia. She served as a dedicated educator in Rockbridge County for over a decade. By 1901, she was named the principal of the public school in Brownsburg, Virginia, a historic village in northwestern Rockbridge County. She was the daughter of Hugh Snyder Beard (1835–1915) and Mildred Silling Beard. Her family home was located near Raphine, Virginia. She frequently worked and traveled alongside her sister, Eglantine Beard, who was also a local schoolteacher. On July 11, 1909, Miss Beard passed away at age 34 at the University Hospital in Charlottesville, Virginia, after a sudden illness. She had traveled there three weeks prior with her sister to attend the Summer School at the University of Virginia to further her teaching credentials.

Miss Emma Laughlin was a resident of Lexington, Virginia. She was born in 1855 to Hugh Laughlin (1823–1885) and Frances Lockridge (1828–1908). Hugh Laughlin was a prominent grocer and merchant working in Lexington, Virginia. When Emma was two years old, her parents relocated to a property widely known in local history as the Beard farm, situated just above Furr's Mill. She was raised as an only child. She became the second wife of Jacob Beard (1843–1918), a native of Lexington, Virginia. His first wife was Helen Eliza Holden. Through her marriage on April 7, 1881, she became the stepmother to Jacob's daughter from his previous marriage, Mary Beard Copper. Following Jacob's death, Emma continued to live in East Lexington as a widow. Mrs. Emma Laughlin Beard passed awayin September 1928.

Goss Easten was the son of John and his second wife Mary, of Lexington, Virginia, born in 1878 and passed away in California, 1965.

Harry Beard, Sr. was a prominent resident of Lexington and Buena Vista, Virginia areas. He was born to Charles Beard and Annie Smith Beard in 1885. He married Bertha Garner Beard and they had a daughter, Edith Mae Beard. The "Harry Beard Farm," a house and 30 acre property was located just east of Lexington, Virginia, on the old Jordan Road, traveling up the mountain above Buena Vista toward the Blue Ridge Parkway. Harry died in 1960.

Jacob Beard (1843–1918) was a lifelong resident of East Lexington in Rockbridge County, Virginia. He was born around 1843 to John and Betsey Beard, worked as a clerk, and lived in the Lexington District for roughly 30 years. He was married to Emma Laughlin Beard (née Holden). Jacob passed away on May 14, 1918.

Jacob William Beard Sr. (1897–1973) was the son of John W. Beard and Virginia "Anney" Humphries. He married Ella Lucretia Pelot (1898–1939). Their children were Marjorie Jean Beard Peck and Jacob William "Bill" Beard Jr.

Laura Wright was a young woman living in the northern/western rural districts of Rockbridge County, Virginia, near Rockbridge Baths and Fairfield at the turn of the 20th century.

Mary Beard Copper, was born December 26, 1874 to Jacob Beard and Helen Elizabeth Holden Beard, but was brought up by her father's second wife, Emma Laughlin Beard. In 1903 she married Thomas James Copper, Sr. of "Riverside" at South River, Rockbridge County, Virginia, where they lived. Mary died a widow in Waynesboro, Virginia on May 19, 1963. Her only surviving child was Katherine Copper McConnell of Charlottesville, Virginia.

Mary Alice Beard (1875–1952) was born in Rockbridge County, Virginia to James Powell Beard and Martha Jane (Cadd) Beard. Her mother's maiden name "Cadd" is frequently the origin of the "C" middle initial found in municipal records before Mary married. She grew up in the area and later married Charles C. Paterson around 1896 in Buena Vista, Virginia. She passed away in Richmond in 1952.

Nancy Jane "Nannie" Copper Beard (1840–1908) of Rockbridge County, Virginia was the youngest daughter of Darius Copper (1797–1867) and Mary "Polly" (Ruley) Copper. Her father, Darius, was a well known local property owner in the South River district of Rockbridge County. She grew up in a large household alongside prominent local brothers including Thomas Jefferson Copper, George W. Copper, Benjamin Franklin Copper, and John D. Copper. Nannie married Thomas A. Beard (1840–1878) on December 16, 1869, in Rockbridge County. "Nannie" Copper Beard passed away in 1908 and was buried in the Neriah Baptist Church Cemetery.

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