This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: rdjtaj_1 Surnames: Classification: biography Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.california.counties.stanislaus/6549/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Bio ---- ELIHU B. BEARD. - Whenever the historian shall turn his attention to the story of Stanislaus County he will find the name of Beard among those far-seeing men who came from Eastern homes to carve out a place for their posterity in the new and untried West. This pioneer citizen of this county was born in Indiana and there grew up and made his home until the discovery of gold in California was her- alded throughout the whole country. In 1849 he joined a wagon train that crossed the plains to the new Eldorado and in March of 1850 he arrived at the end of his journey through a new and unsettled stretch of desert and mountains. In 1852 he came to what is now Stanislaus County and settled on land near Waterford site and in time he became a well-known and prosperous stockman and rancher and did his part to build up the locality he had selected as his home. He was the first man to try summer fallowing, as early as 1852. He acquired some several thousand acres of land and went through the trials and disappointments incident to the pioneer times when there were no markets for the products of the ranches and no means of transporting what they did have to markets except by teams. On retiring from the ranch, in 1873, Mr. Beard moved into Modesto and thereafter became closely identified with the progress of the new town. He was the first county assessor, and by virtue of his office the first county superintendent of schools, and was county surveyor in 1852. Prior to moving to town he had served eight years as county assessor, from 1854 to 1862, and he was later elected to the state assembly and served two terms, and there he gave faithful service. In 1856 Mr. Beard was married to Miss Annie Kennan, a native of Missouri and the daughter of Thomas Kennan, a Kentuckian, who settled in Boone County, Mo. He had intended coming to California but died before he could put his plans into effect. Nothing daunted, his widow, Nancy (Cave) Kennan, set out for this state in 1854 with her family of children and joined her son, Thomas Kennan, on the Tuolumne River. Into the family of Elihu and Annie Beard were born seven children, four of whom grew to maturity, and of these Thomas K. is the only one living. Mr. Beard and his wife were active members of the Christian Church. He died on May 7, 1901, and Mrs. Beard passed awav in 1912, aged eighty-three years, both leaving behind them enviable records as upbuilders of our great commonwealth. ================= 1921 Biography and History of Stanislaus County, California With by GEORGE H. TINKHAM -- http://www.archive.org/stream/historyofstanisl00tink/historyofstanisl00tink_djvu.txt ================= Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.