A Handful of Beards

 My thoughts have been with the Beard and Bearden families of late. I've gone through years of newspapers, and still they hide. Finding little stories or bits about social life helps to flesh them out. These families are escaping me. 

I wrote last about Charlie Beard. His wife was Nancy Elizabeth Bearden, born March 12, 1865 in Bennettsville Alabama. She was the 10th child of Roland Bearden and Lucinda White. She died in 1944. My grandmother, Bizzie Lee Beard Brock, told me she had spent a great deal of time with Nancy after the death of her mother, Beatrice Brown Beard, my biggest brick wall. She did not tell me much about Nancy on a personal level. 

My grandmother was the only child of Charles Pinkney Beard and Beatrice Brown. Beatrice died in 1911 when my grandmother was barely 2 years old. In the 1910 census in Etowah County, Alabama, Beatrice was 18, my grandmother was listed as Lee B and 9 months old. In the 1920 census, same place, Pink is married to Myrtle Fanchier. The census lists my grandmother as Busylee. I have always, even as a child, wondered where on earth that name came from. Is it really Bizzie Lee? I know she was called Bizzie Lee by everyone. Where did it come from?

My father was Bizzie Lee's oldest child. He said to me long after her death, that losing his father was bad, but when he lost her something inside him broke. I should be happy they can be together now, but I miss them both so much. I know what dad meant by something inside being broke. Losing him was that for me. Time does not dull the pain of loss.

Well, now I want to go cry. This post got away from me. 

Oh yes, just in case, Beatrice Brown was born May 29, 1890. I only know her father was R. F. Brown.  She died October 1, 1911.  

Beatrice Brown and Charles Beard, (22 August 1907), Alabama Marriage: 318; FamilySearch, , Alabama.

1910 US Census, 1910 US Census, (Cox, Etowah County, Alabama); Page: 12 Dwelling 37 Family 37, T624, no. 13, HeritageQuest.

"Alabama Deaths, 1908-1974," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JK3C-LX5 : 27 November 2014), Charlie Beard in entry for Nancy Elizabeth Beard, 28 Sep 1944; citing reference cn 19204, Department of Health, Montgomery; FHL microfilm 1,908,788.

Charles P. Beard - Myrtle Haynie marriage, (12 June 1914), Book S - Alabama Marriages: 504; FamilySearch, , Alabama., 504.

1920 U.S. Census, 1920 U.S. Census, (Cox, Etowah County, Alabama); Page: 80 Dwelling 302 Family 305, T625, T625, NARA, Heritage Quest.

Charles Henry Beard

 Charlie is my second great-grandfather. He was born in George to John A. and Malinda Cook Beard in 1852. He was the 4th of 10 children. This is who I have been working on at the moment. I have several mysteries to solve where he is concerned. 

I have not yet found a marriage record for him and first wife, Jane. They had 3 children, Francis M., also known as Frank, who I am still chasing, James A., which turns out I had him with the family but had not known who he really was. He is James Andrew, my mysterious "Drew". I know much more about him now. Last, but not least, Malinda who is a mystery too. 

 Charlie is 26 in the 1880 census and married to Jane with 3 children. He's a farmer, I think, born in Georgia. The census said his occupation was stacking wood? It looks like stacking anyway. Hard to believe that could be an occupation. I will have to look into that. I imaged that perhaps Jane was home when the census taker showed up and she said her husband was out stacking wood. He made the assumption that was his job. LOL Maybe it was a real job back then.

Does it say stacking wood?

Jane was suddenly gone and he married Nancy Elizabeth Bearden, my second great-grandmother, on April 16, 1884. 

In the 1900 census I learned that census takers did not need to know how to spell. He was listed as Barde, C. H., Nancy as Nannie, and my great-grandfather was Chutly. His actual name was Charles Pinkney, mostly known as Pink. I went down the entire census page. The census taker could not spell. Really. Anyway, he is renting a farm. He could read and write, which I can prove. Charlie is 48. 

This is my instance of proof of writing on the marriage record of his daughter Lucinda. It is written in pencil.

Charlie died at age 50 in Turkeytown, Etowah County, Alabama on June 28, 1902. I was able to find the notice of his death in the The Gadsden Times-News.

Transcription:

Charlie Beard Dead.

Last Sunday afternoon at his home in Turkeytown beat, Charlie Beard passed away to the great beyond, leaving a bereaved wife and some six or seven little children. Mr. Beard had been ill about ten days and the disease would not yield to treatment. He was a splendid farmer and a hard worker and always made a good living. We extend our sympathies to the bereaved ones.

1880 US Census, 1880 Census, (R 9, Blue Pond Beat, Cherokee, Alabama, United States); , HeritageQuest.

Charley Beard and Nancy Bearden, (16 April 1884), Alabama Marriages, 1816-1957: FamilySearch, Alabama.

1900 US Census, 1900 US Census, (Hollis Precinct, Etowah, 

Alabama, United States); , HeritageQuest.

"Alabama County Marriages, 1809-1950," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:29NF-JRG : 19 February 2021), Yancy Baker and Lucinda Beard, 03 Mar 1909; citing Marshall, Alabama, United States, County Probate Courts, Alabama; FHL microfilm 2,266,556.

The Gadsden Times-News, Gadsden, Alabama, Friday, July 4, 1902

Page 2. Newspapers.com

Happy Fall

 The leaves all changed and are almost gone now. I was here but I blinked and it's over. It was beautiful for a day.

I had to get a new computer. It has Windows 11 on it, and I find I like it very much. I love the look of it, very clean yet familiar. Nice rounded corners. So far so good. I just have to name him. Still thinking on that.

Firefox is a pain. Not working at all well. I had to remove Chrome. I don't know for sure, but I think it lost it's mind. And, it was up to date. I may try again later, but right now I am too mad at it. I have been using Edge. I've become a big Edge fan now! It is so fast and light, very pleasing to the eye, and it takes all my chrome add-ons! Firefox continues to pop up a little window asking if I want to switch my default to it. It’s just too needy and clingy to take serious. LOL It's very slow compared to Edge. 

I've been working to learn RootsMagic 8. I'm surprised by the software, as I have found that I hate the thing. I've loved RootsMagic up through version 7.  I don't understand version 8. Seems to me it would have been better to keep improving on what works really well. 7 is friendly, 8 is not. What I can do in 7 with 2 clicks, I need at least 4 clicks in 8. I have to stop and look for too many things in 8 while I am working. Some things I'm still looking for and I'm beginning to think they're not there. I wish I had written everything out as I tried to find them, but I did not. It is definitely no ready for prime time. It was being sold at least 2 years ago, and just came out in October? I bought my copy at RootsTech 2021.  I've had no trouble coming up with a name for 8, by the way. I'd probably go to blogger jail if I told you, so it will remain a secret. At any rate, my question now is, how long will 7 be supported? I believe it is important to stay up to date if you want your work to live beyond you. So, what to do? I have Legacy, but it is not the answer as it too has a name I can’t say. I know FamilyTreeMaker, but it is crazy expensive. I'm so sad. I love RootsMagic 7 so much.

Trying to get caught up on Wikitree. I love this site. I had not added anything new for a long time. Now, I try to get there once a week and add a little. How many people check Wikitree? Everyone should. I need my work to be out there and current  since I removed my personal family site from RootsWeb. I believe they (Ancestry) are slowly getting rid of it, so I took the step of taking it down. It was in need of a major update. I could look at other places. I don’t know where most of us family history keepers keep sites now. 

Very busy couple of weeks. 

Photo by <a href="https://freeimages.com/photographer/awottawa-49436">Alistair Williamson</a> from <a href="https://freeimages.com">FreeImages</a>

Being Driven to Share Data!

 

I am the County Coordinator for 2 counties in the ALGenWeb, DeKalb and Etowah. I had originally planned to just clean them up and babysit them. For some reason I can't seem to do that. Now, I am over-whelmed with material I want to get online, but I am one person, so it will take a while. When I gave up the counties in Indiana, I had planned not to get involved again. When talking to the Alabama SC, I somehow ended up with two counties. Both are counties that have my family in them. My dad was born and raised in Collinsville in DeKalb County. My great-grandparents, Patrick and Addie Brock lived in the Sand Mountain area of Marshall County. (That one I do not have, but it does has a very good coordinator.) 

The problem I am running into is that both counties are quiet. No traffic. I put several obits on DeKalb yesterday, and I'm hoping that I can determine whether there is any activity, I added a search engine to make it easier to search what I am putting on the site, and also a little counter. It is very quiet so far.

Most of the GenWeb is still online. Many counties have a lot of wonderful data on them. Does no one ever check them for free data? Much of the online data there is not found free anywhere else. Also, it is a good place to find data that is not run of the mill, birth, death or marriage. Great place to flesh out the ancestors.

Every state that is online has many counties needing a coordinator. The GenWeb has not gone away. Add a link to it and check regularly for data. Donate Data! Adopt! Please! It is still relevant. 

DeKalb  ALGenWeb

Etowah ALGenWeb