JOHNSON H. BEARD, Webster County, was born in North Carolina, July 15, 1834, to Louis and Rachael P. (Troy) Beard, natives of North Carolina, and of German and Scotch-Irish descent. Louis Beard was educated and married in his native State, where he learned the saddler's trade, which he followed for a number of years, and then learned the tanning business, and for some time conducted a tannery. In 1847 he removed to Mississippi, where he died in January, 1863, in his seventy-fourth year. Both the grandfathers of our subject were soldiers in the war of 1812, and his grandfather Beard also of the Florida war. Johnson H. Beard, at the age of fifteen, commenced to learn the carpenter's trade, serving an apprenticeship of six years with his brother, Alexander Z. Beard. He followed his trade in Mississippi until 1872, when he removed to Kansas, where he remained nearly two years; in January, 1874, he came to Providence, Webster Co., Ky., where he has ever since been employed at his trade. In January, 1888, he was appointed postmaster, which office he still holds. In the fall of 1863, he enlisted in the Confederate service, and served in the quartermaster's department until the close of the war. He was married in November, 1861, to Miss Sarah F. Sanders, a native of Mississippi. Six children have blessed their union, of whom two sons and three daughters are living. Mr. Beard was for two years police judge at Providence, and for the past three years has held the office of deputy county clerk. He and wife, and eldest daughter, are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. He is also a member of the Masonic fraternity, having advanced to the R. A. degree. He is an earnest advocate of the temperance cause, and in politics a Democrat.
Source: J. H. Battle, W. H. Perrin, & G. C. Kniffin. Kentucky. A History of the State. Louisville, KY, Chicago, IL: Battey, 1885. Page 1025.