Zacharias Barth/Beard

 (ca1720 – 1794-7)

 

The original German name was Barth (meaning “beard”) and was translated by English county clerks into Beard (and several variations).  Zacharias Barth’s background before 1770 is a mystery, but he may have been in Fredrick County, Maryland before arriving in Virginia (see separate pages and the endnote).  Wherever he came from, Zacharias Beard was clearly one of the many German Lutherans who settled in the Shenandoah valley of Virginia in the mid-eighteenth century.  Though he may have been in the area earlier, the first certain record of him is dated 31 March 1770, when the newly-built Lutheran church in Strasburg paid him 16 shillings for some unspecified service.[1]  Although the church is thought to have existed as a congregation as early as the mid-1740s, the first church building was probably built about the time the financial records begin in 1770.[2]   Zacharias does not appear again in the limited records of this church, though most of his children do, and the question of whether he was a member of the church is unanswerable.

 

Zacharias Bard was probably already living on land adjoining Laurence Snapp, one of the elders of that church.  On 23 December 1771 Matthias Funk assigned a land warrant to “Zacharias Bard” for 180 acres in Frederick County, Virginia.[3]   The land was then granted to “Zacharias Bard of Frederick County” on 15 January 1772.[4]  The tract was located on the south bank of Tumbling Run[5] about two hundred yards from its intersection with the north branch of the Shenandoah River, and about a mile southwest of the town of Strasburg.  It was in the part of Frederick County which became Dunmore County later that year, and then Shenandoah County in 1777.  The grant was adjacent to land owned by Mathias Funk, Lawrence Snapp, and Alexander Stockslager.  Zacharias evidently remained on this land until his death in the late 1790s. 

 

Zacharias may have been in the area several years earlier, though he does not appear in any records that I have found.  His youngest son, Jacob Beard, stated in his 1833 Revolutionary War pension application that he had been born in "Shanadore" County on 29 August 1762 (which was still Frederick County then).[6]  In another document in the same file, he stated “I was born and raised in Shanadore County Virginia”.  

 

There are few records for Zacharias after the 1772 grant.  He does appear at all in the deed records, and the only abstracted Shenandoah court records I’ve seen contain but a single entry on 25 June 1772 ordering a road to be built “from Peter Black's to Martin Rowlers from thence to Zacky. Barb's to Trusk run...along bank of river to Alexander Strutzligar's to Lawrence Snapp's mill...”[7]

 

There is also a 1775 militia list for Alexander Machir’s company in Dunmore County on which virtually all of Zacharias Bard’s neighbors appear.[8]  His sons Martin and Christian Beard appear on that militia list, but not Zacharias.  That is our only real clue to his age, as he may have been over 60 and thus exempt from militia service.  His son Jacob was under 16 and also exempt.

 

He does, however, appear in the Shenandoah County personal property tax and land tax records.  The personal property tax, which included the capitation (poll) tax, exists in Shenandoah for each year from 1783 onward.  His name is consistently shown by the clerk on those lists as “Zachariah Beard”, and he is listed each year from 1783 through 1794.  The land tax records begin in 1787, and he is shown on each annual land tax list through 1797. 

 

A state census was taken in 1783, on which Zachariah Beard is shown with a household of eleven whites.  His sons are not separately listed in the census, but the property tax lists taken the same year shows Zachariah and sons Christian and Martin Beard listed consecutively, each with one poll and taxable livestock.  It appears that the entire family was counted as a single census household in 1783, suggesting that all three households were probably living on his grant.  

 

Two years later, the 1785 state census has “Zechariah Baird”, with 4 whites, presumably himself, his wife, and unmarried children Jacob and Elizabeth.  His sons Martin Baird (5 whites), and “Christle” Baird (3 whites) appear as separate heads of household.  All three are listed consecutively on the list of Samuel Porter, which included the area south of Tumbling Run, and which includes only 75 names.  The 1785 personal property tax for the same year, shows Zachariah and Jacob Beard in one household, and Martin and Christian Beard in separate ones. (The taxables that year were men over 21.)

 

There are no other censuses available until 1810.  (The 1787 “census” is compiled from the personal property tax lists, and the 1790 and 1800 censuses were destroyed.)  

 

Zacharias was probably born around 1720, give or take a few years.  His children appear to have been born between roughly 1748 and 1762 and, with the exception of Jacob, had apparently left home by the late 1780s.  It appears that Zacharias and Jacob made an arrangement to keep Jacob at home to care for his parents.  Through 1787, Zacharias paid the tax for his son Jacob.  Beginning in 1788, Jacob was the head of household for both himself and his father.  Elizabeth Beard married Henry Bittenhelser in 1788, and her husband was also taxable in the household in 1788 and 1789, with Jacob listed as the head of household for both his father and brother-in-law.  Zachariah and Jacob continued to be listed as a single household through 1794, though Jacob himself was married by then.  Thereafter, Zachariah is not found in the property tax lists though he continued to be listed as the taxpayer for the 180 acres through 1797. 

 

Zacharias died sometime between mid-1794, when he last appeared on the property tax lists, and mid-1797.  His continued appearance on the land tax records argues that he was still alive as late as the spring of 1797, although the fact that his death was never reported to the authorities may account for this.[9]  He is not listed on the personal property tax lists after 1794, so it seems likely he died sometime between mid-1794 and mid-1795.  We know (see below) that his wife was alive in 1795, so it could be that the heirs waited until her death to dispose of his land.  Or perhaps it took a few years for Jacob Beard to raise the money to buy out the other heirs.

 

There is no form of probate for him mentioned in either the court or probate records.  This was not unusual for intestates who died with very small estates and no debts, and there was no legal requirement to report such a death.  The family could avoid both the fees and the involvement of the court by simply agreeing among themselves over a distribution of the personal property.  The land was a different story – the law gave equal ownership to all his children, so that a buyer required a deed from all the heirs to obtain a clear title to the land.  

 

On 25 July 1797 his heirs conveyed their interests in the 1772 patent to the son Jacob Beard.  The deed says “Zacharias Bard died intestate leaving no will”  and identifies the children: “...Zacharias Bard at the time of his decease leaving issue of his body Martin Bard, Christian Bard, and Jacob Bard, Eve Harr the wife of Simon Harr late deceased who leaving issue David Harr, Margaret the wife of Christopher Hemp and Catherine the wife of Frederick Bosserman...Martin Bard and Elizabeth of Shenandoah...Christian Bard and Magdalene of Augusta County, Christopher Hemp and Margaret of Augusta County...Frederick Bosserman and Catherine of Shenandoah...” all of whom conveyed their interests in the 180 acres to Jacob Bard and his wife Mary for a total of 100 pounds.[10]

 

Jacob and Mary Beard sold the land two years later, on 4 April 1799, to Mary’s mother, Esther Keller Stockslager Reese.[11]   This deed repeats the list of heirs.

 

Zacharias Beard must have had a trade of some kind, for his land could not have provided an income.  The land he had patented was not particularly attractive as a farm, being quite hilly and filled with gullies – and even today remains unused.  In later years, in fact, it was rented out by Esther Reese at a small fraction of the rent charged for her smaller farm next door on better land.  As a farm, the land could barely have supported the large family that lived on it.  The only clue we have to his occupation, and a fragile one at that, is that we know his son Jacob was a tanner.

 

His wife is also a mystery, but her name was almost certainly “Christina”.  The records of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church mention a “Christina Bard” three times.  On 4 June 1770 she was witness to the baptism of a child of James Murdock, who obtained a warrant for land adjoining Zacharias Bard in 1771.  More significantly, she was godmother for the baptism of Sarah, Christian Beard’s daughter, on 25 September 1784.[12]  She was also a communicant in 1795, listed next to Martin Beard in one of the few surviving records of the annual communions.  However, the most compelling evidence is what appears to be a permission note attached to the marriage bond for the marriage of Elizabeth Beard to Henry Bittenhelser.  The note is signed (by their marks) by “Zacha. Beard”, Christina Beard, and Elizabeth Beard.  The communion record indicates that Christina was alive as late as 1795, but she was surely dead by the time of the 1797 deed since her dower interest is not mentioned.

 

The children, according to the above deeds, were the following.  The sons invariably appear in the records with the surname spelled “Beard”. 

 

1.      Eve Beard (1746? - c1790)   Her birth date is just a guess, but she may have been the Eva Rosinna Barth baptized on 31 October 1746 (see the endnote below.)  The 1797 deed identifies her as a deceased child of Zacharias Bard: “Eve Harr the wife of Simon Harr late deceased who leaving issue David Harr”.[13]  Her marriage to Harr was her second.  Eve had first married Frederick Printzler.[14]   A deed dated 8 June 1780 from Frederick Segchrist (Secrist) to Simon Harr identifies Segschrist as the heir of Frederick Printzler who died intestate leaving no issue but a daughter who herself died at the age of three,  and identifies Eve Harr, wife of Simon Harr, as the “widow and relick of the said Frederick Printzlar.” [15]    Simon Harr, a widower himself, posted a bond for his marriage to Eve Prinzler on 2 July 1774 and the return, dated 5 July 1774, spells her name “Brouzler”.  Simon Harr (3 July 1734 - 1797) had apparently arrived in the area about 1755, was a schoolteacher in Strasburg, and an unordained Lutheran minister during the latter part of his life.  He posted bond in Shenandoah County in October 1784[16] and the July 1785 court empowered him to solemnize marriages.[17]  Wayland lists 368 marriages he performed between 1781 and 1796.[18]  His first wife was Elizabeth, as a St. Paul's Lutheran Church record states Simon Harr and his wife Elizabeth were godparents in March 1770, and a deed of the same era gives her name as Elizabeth as well.  Eve Beard Harr, his second wife, died sometime before 1 November 1791 when Simon Harr posted a bond for his third marriage, to a widow named Margaret Bear (apparently no relation).  Simon and Eve lived in Strasburg, although he bought two town lots in Winchester in 1778, which he and his wife Eve sold the following year.  He was listed in the 1783 and 1785 censuses of Shenandoah  County, and in the annual tax lists.  He died intestate sometime in 1797; the administrator appointed on 11 April 1797 and the estate appraised on 27 April 1797.  It appears he was related to Hans Jacob Harr, a Palentine immigrant who arrived in Philadelphia in 1749 on the ship Chesterfield;  items in Simon Harr's inventory appear to be those purchased in Winchester by Jacob Harr, according to a bill of sale dated 1 November 1757.  A bronze plaque on the front of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Strasburg states the church was founded in 1747 by German settlers and that the congregation's first school was conducted by Simon Harr beginning in 1778.  However, other records indicate he was conducting a  school as early as about 1760.  He had at least one son by each of the three wives.

1.1.       David Harr (c1778 – c1863)  He was apparently still a minor at he time of the 1797 deed.  He left the area for Washington County before 1810, and appears in censuses from 1830 through 1860 in neighboring Sullivan County, Tennessee.  The 1850 and 1860 Sullivan County censuses show him as age 69 and 82, respectively, in the household of his son Adam Harr.

2.      Martin Beard (1750/51 - 1814/15)   He may have been the same Johann Martin, son of Zacharias, born 7 January 1751 and baptized 3 March 1751 in Frederick County, Maryland.  He was surely the Martin Barth, age 20, confirmed at St. Paul’s Church on 28 October 1771.[19]  He and Christian Beard, along with Christopher Hemp, Simon Harr, and Alexander “Stutzlegar” were listed in the 1775 militia roster of Alexander Machir's company.[20]  He appears several times in the St. Paul’s records[21] but seldom in the county records.  He was a purchaser at the 1778 estate sale of neighbor Alexander Stockslager[22] but does not again appear until the 1797 deed.  However, he appears on the Shenandoah tax lists from the first list in 1783 through at least 1802.[23]  He is the same Martin Beard who moved to Washington County, Virginia, by 1805 when he appears on its tax list.  (Later records show that this Martin Beard’s son Christian was clearly the one baptized at St. Paul’s in 1795.)  In 1807 he bought land in Washington County just north of the Tennessee-North Carolina border, in what is now eastern Washington County.[24]  The 1810 census shows him in the same vicinity.[25]    His will was dated 13 January 1812 and was proved 21 February 1815 in Washington County.  It named his wife Elizabeth, sons John and Jacob, minor son Christian, and daughters Catherine, Elizabeth, Christiana, Susanna, Eve, Rebecca, and Abigail.[26]  (Note that five, perhaps six, of these daughters were married at the time of the will but their married names are not mentioned.)  His wife was named Elizabeth according to two 1795 St. Paul’s records[27], the 1797 deed, and the will.  She is thought by descendants to have been Elizabeth Hemp, sister of the Christopher Hemp who married Margaret Beard.  She was still alive when the 1820 census was taken, with the two younger sons and two daughters in the household.  The St. Paul’s baptismal records mention only two children:  a son, Christian, born 7 January 1795 and a daughter, Appolonia, born in November 1798.[28] 

2.1.       John Beard (16 August 1785 - 11 September 1855)  He left Washington County after 1833, when he and his brother Jacob sold their inherited land.  According to a son’s biography, he moved to Clinton County, Indiana in 1834.[29]   He is in the 1850 census of Clinton County, Indiana age 64 with wife Elizabeth age 55.  In 1850, he applied from Clinton County for bounty land for his War of 1812 service from Washington County.  The application states that he “signed his name to his declaration in German as he writes nothing else.”  Five years later, in an application for a supplemental warrant, he signed “Johannes Beard”. His widow later Elizabeth applied for a pension, giving her maiden name as Elizabeth Miller and the marriage date as 30 September 1813 in Sullivan County, Tennessee. 

2.2.       Jacob Beard  (2 January 1791 – 2 March 1864)  He apparently moved to Clinton County with his brother and married there in 1843 to Julia Ann Davis.  He moved to Richland County, Wisconsin in time to be counted in the 1850 census.  Descendants evidently have seen a gravestone for him there with birth and death dates. 

2.3.       Christian Beard (7 January 1795 –c1847)  He married Margaret Almarood and is thought to have died in Hancock County, Illinois at Nauvoo before 1850.    

2.4.       Catherine Beard  

2.5.       Elizabeth Beard  (c1780? - ?) Elizabeth, identified as the daughter of Martin Beard, married Elijah Green in Shenandoah by bond dated 18 July 1801.[30]  Although there is an Elijah Green in the 1810-1830 censuses of Washington County, it appears Elizabeth was widowed early; an Elizabeth Green is in the 1810 census next door to Martin Beard, with four children.  If this is her, two children were under 10 and two were 10-16, suggesting an earlier wife for Elijah Green.

2.6.       Christiana Beard  (c1782? - ?) She was probably the “Christina” Beard who married David Drawnbarger in Shenandoah by bond dated 7 August 1802.[31]

2.7.       Susanna Beard  (c1787 - 1882) She is thought to have been the wife of Henry Whiteman.

2.8.       Eve Beard (8 May 1789 - 8 March 1856)  According to descendants, she married Henry Michael Shaffer, moved to Nauvoo and then Utah, and is buried at Ogden, Weber County, Utah.[32]  

2.9.       Rebecca Beard (12 November 1792 - 18 November 1849)  She married Joseph Harr, a grandson of Simon Harr.  They probably married about 1810, and both are thought to have died in Sullivan County, Tennessee.[33]

2.10.   Abigail Beard  She may have been the same person as Appalonia.  An Appalona Beard married Jacob Whiteman in Clinton County, Indiana in 1835, and is in the 1850 census as “Aby” Whiteman, age 45. 

3.      Margaret Beard  (c1751?- bef1820?)   Her birth year is just a guess, based largely on the apparent birth dates of her youngest children.  She is named in the 1797 deed as the wife of Christopher Hemp of Augusta County.  Their marriage bond, which gives her name as “Bard”, is dated 2 January 1773 in Shenandoah County.[34]  Margaret was apparently of age, indicating she was born 1751 or earlier.  Church records show she and her husband were communicants on 9 April 1775 [35] and Christopher Hemp’s name also appears on the same 1775 militia list as his brothers-in-law.  They moved to Augusta County by 1783.  Christopher Hemp is on the 1790 and 1800 tax lists of Augusta County as a single poll, and is on the 1810 census with six children, and another one next door.[36]  They seem to have lived in Staunton.  He does not appear in the 1820 or later censuses, so it appears both he and his wife were dead by then.  Four Hemps appear in Augusta census records each year from 1820 to 1850:  Jacob (c1784), John (c1789), Peter (c1792), and Christian (c1799), or Christopher, in 1850.  This is a very unusual name, these being the only Hemps anywhere in the Virginia censuses, so these four are probably their sons (though it seems odd that all were born so long after the 1773 marriage).  One of the elder children was a daughter, Margaret Hemp, who married in Augusta County in 1795.[37]  The eldest female in the 1810 census was apparently the Catherine Hemp who married Jeremiah Grant on 31 August 1813 in Augusta County.

4.      Catherine Beard (c1758/9 - ?)  She is undoubtedly the Catharina “Bartin” (the German feminine form of “Bart”) who was listed as “going on 18 years” when confirmed on 22 September 1776 at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church.[38]  The 1797 deed identifies her as the wife of Frederick Bosserman (Bauserman), but I could find no marriage bond nor any mention of the marriage among the Shenandoah records.  Since she was apparently not in her father’s household in 1785, she must have been married by then.  Frederick Bosserman Sr., his father, is listed in the 1783 and 1785 Shenandoah census on the same list as the Beards with 7 whites and 5 whites, respectively.  Frederick Bosserman Jr. is separately listed on the property tax lists beginning in 1783, and may have been married to Catherine by then.  He and his wife Catherine sold land in 1797 that appears to have been adjacent to Zacharias Beard.   They appear only once in the St. Paul’s church records, when Frederick Bosserman “and wife Catharina” were baptismal sponsors in 1808.[39]  The first available census of Shenandoah County, in 1810, shows Frederick Bosserman and wife, both over 45, with four children still at home.[40]  The 1820 census shows Frederick Bauserman (now “Senior”) and his wife with no children remaining at home.  According to descendants, and Shenandoah records, their children were: Catherine, Mary, Henry, Frederick, Sarah, Elizabeth, Christina, and Samuel Bosserman.

5.      Elizabeth Beard (1757/8 - c1793)  She was not mentioned as a heir because she had apparently predeceased her father and had died without heirs of her own.  She appears consecutively with Catherine among the St. Paul’s Lutheran confirmations of 22 September 1776, her age given as “going on 19 years”.[41]   She was probably one of the persons in Zacharias Beard’s 1785 household, and married Henry Bittenhelzer (Pittenhelser) in Shenandoah County on 5 April 1788.[42]  The marriage bond, dated 3 April 1788, identifies her as the sister of Jacob Beard, who was the bondsman, and the marriage was performed by Simon Harr.  (Note that she would have been 30 at the marriage.)  A note attached to the bond appears to be a permission signed by Elizabeth and her parents.   Henry Bittenhelzer was listed as a taxable in the same household as Jacob and Zacharias Beard in the 1788 and 1789 tax lists, and later purchased land adjoining Zacharias Beard’s tract from Frederick and Catherine Bosserman (his sister-in-law) in 1797.  Elizabeth must have died shortly after the marriage, as Henry Bittenhelzer married again on 6 August 1793.[43]  Elizabeth evidently had no children, as there are no children mentioned as heirs in the 1797 deed.

 

6.      Christian Beard (ca1755? - 1834)  Our only real clue to his age is the 1830 census, in which he is listed as 80-90.  While this may be overstated, he was clearly over 16 when he was listed in the 1775 militia and was almost certainly over 21 when he appeared as a baptismal sponsor in 1777.[44]  He married Mary Grim in Shenandoah County on 28 January 1783, with the marriage performed by Simon Harr.  The bond, dated 25 January, identifies her as the daughter of John and Catherine Grim.[45]  He is missing from the Shenandoah tax lists after 1787, and was living in Augusta County when its 1790 tax list was taken. The 1797 and 1799 deeds give his wife’s name as “Magdalene” – whether she was “Mary Magdalene” or a second wife is unclear.  He appeared (as “Christ. Beard”) on the Augusta tax list of 1800 with a single poll, and is in the 1810, 1820 and 1830 Augusta census.[46]  His wife was evidently dead by 1820.  His will was dated 26 September 1832 and proved in Augusta County in August 1834.[47]  It names his sons Jacob, Philip, David, Jonathon, and Christian Beard Jr., and daughters Sally Ship (wife of James Ship),  Betsy Wade (wife of John Wade),  Drusilla Hudson (wife of John Hudson),  Polly Firebaugh (wife of Peter Firebaugh),  and Catherine Strouse (wife of Peter Strouse).  It also made bequests to his grandson Benjamin Franklin Hoilman, the son of Sally Ship, and to his granddaughter Angelina, the eldest child of Betsy Wade.  Christian was a Revolutionary soldier, serving in the Shenandoah militia in 1781.  His service was accepted by the D.A.R. in 1932[48] based on an entry by Burgess[49].  The DAR application gives his birth year as circa 1760, though he was clearly older than that.  Brief mention of the Christian Beard family is made in The Link Family Genealogy, Paxton Link (1951).

6.1.       Jacob Beard  (15 December 1784 – 29 December 1869)  He married Elizabeth Blair 18 October 1813 in Augusta County and had ten known children.  He remained in Augusta County.

6.2.       David Beard 

6.3.       Phillip Beard 

6.4.       Jonathan Beard 

6.5.       Christian Beard 

6.6.       Elizabeth Wade  She was married to John Wade.

6.7.       Sally Ship  She was evidently first married to a Hoilman, by whom she had a son mentioned in her father’s will, then to James Ship.

6.8.       Druscilla Hudson 

6.9.       Mary (Polly) Firebaugh  

6.10.   Catherine Strouse      

7.      Jacob Beard (29 August 1762 - 27 Mar 1839)   He married Mary Stockslager, daughter of Alexander Stockslager and Esther Keller, on 4 April 1792 (performed by Simon Harr).  They had five children.  Mary died about 1819 and Jacob married Rosanna Windle (1789-1867), a widow, on 3 September 1820 in Shenandoah County.  He had six more children by Rosanna.  Sometime around 1832 he and his second family moved to Clinton County, Ohio where Jacob died in 1839.  He was also a Revolutionary veteran.  (See separate page)

 

 

Zacharias Bard of Frederick County, Maryland

 

Zacharias Bard (or Barth or Beard) is a very unusual name.  Only three other contemporary persons of that name appear in the records, and the latter two may be the same person.  One - in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania – is easily proven to be a different person from ours, as is his son Zacharias Barth Jr.  A second appears (age 15) on the passenger list of a ship arriving in 1730 (see separate list of passengers).  The third Zacharias Bard appears in the records of the Monocacy Lutheran Church of Frederick County, Maryland.  Although no wife is named, the baptisms of three children are noted in the church records:

 

            Eva Rosina - baptized 31 October 1746; sponsors: Peter and Eva Rosina Schmidt.  [This child would typically have been known as “Rosina”, rather than “Eve”, but she is about the right age to be our Eve Beard.]

 

            Maria Catherina - born 24 December 1749, baptized 7 January 1750; sponsors: Martin Wetzel and wife.  [If this is our Zacharias Bard, this child must have died.  We have no record of a Maria and his daughter Catherine was born nearly ten years later.]

 

            Johann Martin - born 7 January 1751, baptized 3 March 1751;  sponsors: Martin Wetzel and wife.  [This child would have been known as “Martin”.  He is exactly the right age to be our Martin.  Note that he would have been 20 in late 1771 when our Martin Beard was age 20.]

 

 The first child was probably named for the sponsor (the godparent), as was Martin.  Note that Eva and Martin are reasonably close to the presumed birth dates of our Eve and Martin.