The earliest records I can find for my family line is of an Edward
Beard (b. 1716) who came to Virginia in the first half of the 1700's and
came to settle in the Beverly Manor area near Staunton, Virginia
(Augusta County). It is believed that Edward Beard came to
America from Ireland or Scotland. In order to better understand
why he immigrated to America, it is helpful to look at the historical
situation that brought him and other Scotch-Irish to America.
The Land of Ulster Made Available
In 1608, the King of England, James I, defeated a rebellion in northern
Ireland and declared the battle torn land the property of the crown.
The King invited the English and Scottish to colonize this land.
Not many English moved to these lands as the life of the English
was typically better off than what they would find in northern Ireland.
The king actually liked the idea of this land becoming inhabited
by Scots as a cushion between the Irish and the good men of English
descent. Encouraged, some say goaded, by persecution from the
Stuart Kings, many Scottish enthusiastically moved to this northern area
of Ireland known as Ulster which did offer easily obtained land on
which to farm. These many settlers of Ulster came to be known as the
Scotch-Irish. These Scotch-Irish considered themselves "Scotch" as
did the native born Irish and in fact, they did not adopt the customs of
the Roman Catholic Irish, but rather transferred their lifestyles,
customs, and religion from Scotland.
Persecution of Presbyterians
The English church at the time was Episcopalian and the Scottish
settlers were Presbyterian. The Presbyterians believed in
allegiance to God only and to God directly. Charles I, who was
King from 1625-1649, persecuted these Presbyterians who maintained their
independence and refused to convert to Episcopalianism. The
native Irish who were Roman Catholic, also were opposed to these influx
of "outsiders" and in 1641 they massacred many of these Scotch-Irish
until Scotland ,who had maintained an interest in their sons and
daughters who had moved west to Ireland, sent 10,000 troops to retake
the area. Charles II, who was King from 1660-1685, continued the
persecution of the Presbyterians. When the Roman Catholic James
II, who succeeded his brother Charles II, was dethroned in the Glorious
Revolution of 1688 and succeeded by the protestant William of Orange the
Presbyterian persecutions were no longer a problem. These Scotch
Presbyterians endured many hardships and persecutions, but they held
stubornly to their protestant ways and they never ceased to fight for
their rights and their beliefs including the belief in a government by
democracy as was the very structure of their church.
Economic persecution was occuring as well. Various English laws such
as the Woolen Act of 1699 which forbade Ireland from exporting any
woolen goods to any country, Ireland was becaming a country under
economic oppression by the English Parliament resulting in a desperate
country to live in and with seemingly little future.
Move to America
The Scots who came to live in Ulster were a courageous and stubborn
people who embraced their opportunites. They had heard that in America
there were hundreds of acres of land available that were not quite so
close to the English rule and in which religious liberty was somewhat
more allowed. With this knowledge, many of the Presbyterians came
to america, not in groups or as organizations, but as free thinking
democracy loving individuals who eventually came to strongly influence
the formation of the United States government structure. When
studying the history of these Scotch-Irish Presbyterian settlers of
America, one can see the roots of the civil and religious liberty we now
enjoy in the United States including the separation of church and
state, and elected representatives in the government with no single
person having sole authority.
In 1732 and later, the Scotch-Irish who came to America via Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, were not welcomed by the original Pennsylvania settlers who did not take too kindly to this new group of foreigners which included mostly Germans and the Scotch-Irish. For this reason, many moved to the rugged prairie land in the Beverly Manor area with the Scotch-Irish settling what is presently known as the Virginia county of Augusta. These strong people tamed this barren land (note that the land was not forested as a result of the native indians routinely burning the land to hunt buffalo) into farm land, built churches, schools and fought in the American Revolution against the King of England.
Edward and Mary Beard
I believe that Edward and Mary Beard came to America to find new hope
free from the English oppression that they endured in Ireland.
Land and property was probably sold off, tickets bought for a ship
transportation to Philadelphia, and land purchased from the William
Beverly Manor claim in Virginia. It is likely that they came to
American on one of James Patton’s, a native of Ireland, ship’s travels
back and forth across the Atlantic ocean which would bring tobacco,
furs and other cargoes to Britain and bring passengers from Ireland to
America. His and other ships would come to bring thousands of
Scotch-Irish to America in the first half of the 18th century.
Was Edward Beard from Ireland or Scotland? It is likely that he was from both. He probably was born in Ireland although his father and/or grandfather may have been born in Scotland. In tradition, they were Scottish, but Edward Beard and Mary Bell were probably born in Ireland.