Blanche, Thank you very much for your report on the Beards. This is probably an avenue I need to research for my wife's side. THis info will definitely come in handy one way or another. Thanks again for your efforts and help. John <SNIP> > John, > > Evidently the Beards were in the confection and bakery business. > Mr. Scott first mentions one, Capt. Henry Beard, in his description > of businesses in Columbia in the early 1820's, which changed hands > in the years following. This is what he writes "Crossing Lady > Street,we find on the North a boarding house by James Cammer, from > Charleston, which afterwards passed into the hands of George > Shiell, and still later was kept as a confectionery and cigar store > by Capt. Henry Beard." > > The second Beard he mentions is Thomas Beard. "Off of Main Street > there were no stores that I remember. On the South side of Camden > Street, Thomas Beard,the ancestor of the large and respectable > family that bear his name, had a baker shop. He attained a great > age, and in his last years became quite deaf and partially insane, > but, being harmless, was allowed to go at large." > > In Oct. 1862 the Central Association for Relief of South Carolina > Soldiers was formed in Columbia. They supplied the wants of the > troops, within their means. Scott mention a few of the ones who > worked with this group, including John Beard. "The Rev Mr. Martin > and Mr.Leiding superintended the packing and shipping department > with the assistance, occasionally of John Beard." They took charge > of the goods that were going with the trains to their respective > destinations. > > Mr Scott, when he wrote this book,in 1884, had a remarkable memory > for detail and evidently a great love of history. > > Blanche