Edward E. Beard. A prominent citizen and financier of Lebanon, Tennessee, and one of the leading and older members of the Wilson county bar, Edward E. Beard bears further distinction as a scion of two of Tennessee's worthy pioneer families. He has devoted over forty years to law with that success that has won him rank among the best legal talent of the state, and as president of the American National Bank of Lebanon and in other financial relations he is well known in the business circles of this section of Tennessee, where he is recognized as a shrewd and forceful business man. He has been a member of the Tennessee state legislature, and as a warm and earnest advocate of the church, of liberal education and of general public advancement he has rendered valuable services in these different directions.

Edward E. Beard was born at Princeton, Kentucky, August 27, 1850, his parents being Rev. Richard and Cynthia E. (Castleman) Beard, both of whom were natives of Tennessee, the former born in Sumner county and the latter in Davidson county. The Beard family originated in this state with John Beard, the grandfather of Edward E., who was a North Carolinian by birth and migrated to Tennessee in an early day, settling in Sumner county, where he spent a number of years as a school teacher. He finally moved to Arkansas and passed away in that state. The Castlemans were of Virginia stock, the founder of the family in Tennessee being Andrew Castleman. the father of Mrs. Beard, who came to Tennessee from the Old Dominion with General James Robertson, of pioneer fame in this state, and became a well-to-do farmer and the owner of 640 acres of land near Nashville. He was one of the well-known men of Tennessee in his day. Rev. Richard Beard, the father of our subject, received his earlier educational discipline in Tennessee and was a schoolmate of J. C. Jones, the great Whig governor of this state. He was well educated and took up the profession of teaching, with which line of endeavor he was thereafter prominently identified for over fifty years. After teaching in West Tennessee for a time he went to Princeton, Kentucky, to add collegiate training to his qualifications, and was graduated from Cumberland College there. Later he became president of that institution, and from there he came to Lebanon, Tennessee, to become an instructor in the theological department of Cumberland University. He was also a minister of the Cumberland Presbyterian church for a number of years and was one of the foremost leaders in the work of this denomination in Tennessee, his learning and ability, superior mind and unbending integrity making him an effective power in the direction of church work and of advancing and uplifting society. He was first a Whig and then later a Democrat in his political allegiance. Death closed his useful career in 1880. Rev. Richard and Cynthia E. (Castleman) Beard reared six children, of which family Edward E. was the youngest in birth and is one of three yet living. Both in the arts and in law Edward received the excellent educational advantages of Cumberland University and was graduated from the literary department of that institution in 1870 and from the law department in 1871. He began the practice of law at Lebanon. Fitted by natural gifts and education for the profession of his choice, he soon displayed marked aptitude and ability in this direction, rose rapidly at the bar and early acquired a large and lucrative practice. Each succeeding year has but strengthened his legal reputation and he is admitted to practice before all the courts. He is no less able as a business man than as a lawyer, and as president of the American National Bank at Lebanon that institution has the services of a very wise and capable directive head. For twenty-five years he has also been treasurer and a trustee of Cumberland University. In political views he is a Democrat and in 1885 gave public service as the representative of Wilson county in the state legislature, the duties of which honorable office he discharged with ability and with fidelity to his constituents. Fraternally he is identified with the Knights of Pythias and is a past chancellor commander of his lodge.

In 1876, in a house built by Andrew Jackson and near his old home, The Hermitage, Mr. Beard was joined in marriage to Miss Sarah Livingston, a daughter of James Livingston, who was a prosperous merchant of Nashville. To this happy union were born three daughters: Mary E., now Mrs. Thomas Pierce, of St. Louis, Missouri; Emma, who became the wife of B. R. McKinnie, a wholesale merchant at Nashville, Tennessee; and Edna, who is now Mrs. Wever Harris, and also resides in Nashville.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Beard are active members of the Presbyterian church and Mr. Beard served as a member of the committee that in 1906 effected the union of the Cumberland Presbyterian branch and the mother church. Mr. Beard's life has been a useful and worthy one. Not alone in his profession and business relations has he proved himself one of the world's useful workers, but his upright, intelligent, conservative and consistent course as a citizen, both in public and in private life, has made him worthy of recognition as one of the representative men of Tennessee.

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