John Beard, son of Samuel and Rebecca
In 1802, the following notation is found in the Adair County court records: "Appointed patrollers, John Beard, son of Hugh and John Beard, son of Samuel, assistants. . ."
Because of this record, we are certain that Samuel and Rebecca had a son named John. John must have died before 1850, when his sister Margaret Beard, the wife of Hugh S. Beard, listed all her siblings for evidence in a court case. She listed living siblings and when a sibling was deceased, details were given about the heirs and marriage of that sibling. Therefore, her brother John must have died without issue. If he was living or if he had living heirs, he would have been included in the legal documents in order to clear title for Margaret's son. By law, this was required, and the family was going to a good amount of expense, time, and trouble to get the title clear.
There have been reports that John, the son of Samuel, left Kentucky and went west and founded a family; however, after a great amount of research and after the finding of this definitive court document, we have come to the conclusions above.
http://thebeardfamilyhistory.wikia.com/wiki/John_Beard,_son_of_Samuel_and_Rebecca
