Time Travelers

The Beard family trio of Dan, wife Dana and daughter Allison figured it was time to head west on a 1,500 mile genealogy road trip. Their destination was Kimball, Nebraska.

Dan Beard described the adventure.

"We have visited Indiana twice on genealogy road trips, and after a COVID break for a year, now we are on our first trip back," he said. "We stopped in Iowa to visit my grandmother's family, then to Kimball to see my grandfather's family, then to Minnesota to visit my mother's family."

Dan Beard's grandfather was Charles Stannard Beard and his great grandfather was George Beard, both former owners of the Western Nebraska Observer. The newspaper business ran deep in the Beard clan as George's son and Charles' brother Andrew Broaddus (A.B.) Beard was also an owner of the Observer. Andrew Beard was a long-time Kimball resident involved in ranching, politics and real estate.

Kimball is not the place you would expect to run into a guy like Dan Beard searching for extended relatives – although Dan and his family fit right into Kimball and, for all practical purposes, appeared to be lifelong Kimballites.

The great-grandson of George Beard, Dan P. Beard, was born in Bellingham, Washington, where his father and brother continued the printing business started there after George's 12 years in Kimball in the late 1800s.

Dan and his wife, Dana, married in 1966 in Washington, then moved to the Washington, D.C., area, where he began his career in government.at the Library of Congress, then served on President Jimmy Carter's domestic policy staff in the White House.

After a stint as chief of staff for a senator, President Bill Clinton appointed the grandson of former Observer owner to be the Commissioner of the United States Bureau of Reclamation.

Dan's wife Dana was instrumental in searching for family records.

"I first became interested in family history in 1978 after seeing the TV show 'Roots'," she said. "I found some family photos and newspaper clippings with obituaries of my husband's Beard relatives. Living so close to Washington, D.C., I was able to do some research at the National Archives, where I found the Civil War records of George Beard, who moved his family to Kimball in the 1880s. Research has continued across many branches of the family over the past 40 years."

In the Kimball Public Library, Dan, his wife Dana, and Allison Beard found what they called "a treasure trove of family history." A file folder existed on the Beards and Bickels (cousins) in the Kimball library.

Also a wealth of knowledge came from the centennial version of the Western Nebraska Observer, which was printed in May 1985. Observer writer Steve Miller had researched former owners of the Observer. In the late 1800s, the Beards had purchased the Western Nebraska Observer and owned it for a few years. The present day Beards were thrilled that the Observer "was still in operation" 120 years after their relatives had owned it.

Allison explained that she had never meet her great-grandfather Charles S. Beard or her grandfather Stannard Beard.

"Being able to access the archive of the Western Nebraska Observer through the Kimball library has provided me with a wealth of information about my family's time in Kimball" (beginning in November 1885), she said. "But many of the things we discovered in the collection of the historical society/library were brand new to me, including a pre-Civil wWr portrait of George W. Beard! We also found very touching items like funeral programs and even a love note from Louis W. Bickel to his future wife, Jennie Beard!"

The Beard's genealogy road trip included hours of research at the Kimball library with the help of local historian Karen Bivens and then a journey to Carla Reader Kirby's "archives room" at her home.

The Beards and their newly found Reader third cousins spent all day Friday scouring through pictures, newspaper clippings, letters and other memorabilia.

"Carla's house provided us with so many new things we are still sorting through," Allison said "But the items that stood out the most to me were a photo of the Beard homestead structure (which was located near the airport), the youngest photo of my great grandfather Charles S. Beard (who was about 18 or 19 years old), and finally a 20-plus page first-person account written by Angie Beard of her experience in the July 1863 "Battle of Corydon" during the Civil War, which took place in her hometown in Indiana."

Although Dan never met his great-grandfather, his interest in Kimball came from his relationship with his grandfather.

"I got to know my grandfather quite well before he died in 1955," hes said "I remember him vividly. He loved to tell stories about his youth in Nebraska to my sister and I when he and my grandmother had dinner with us on Sunday."

In 1885, George and Angie Beard moved their family of six kids from Indiana to homestead in Antelopeville, soon known as Kimball.

Almost 50 years old, George had already had a lifetime of experiences. He had been a boatman on the Ohio River, then began a newspaper career and eventually ended up fighting and was wounded in the Civil War.

As a Civil War veteran, George would be able to deduct his military time off of the time that he was required to prove on the land claim in western Nebraska. He homesteaded where the current airport is located. They built a cabin and lived there for 18 months, thus gaining ownership of the land. Eventually, George would donate the land to the City of Kimball for the airport.

Although George resided in Kimball for only 12 years, he made an impact on the community. After being in the hotel and grocery business, George Beard and his son, Charles, purchased the Observer from his other son Andrew. Between the three Beards they would be the second and third owners of the Observer. George continued his active lifestyle with business ventures in eastern Nebraska, New Mexico, Colorado and eventually Washington state.

When Dan and Dana's daughter Allison became interested in the family geology, they began researching in earnest. Allison said, "I inherited a box of family genealogy information from my mother about 15 years ago. Sites like Ancestry.com have provided a really great way for me to gather new information as well as connect with distant family members like Carla (Reader Kirby).

"In fact, I first heard of Carla and her Beard/Bickel/Reader family collection because her cousins Barbara Jung and Georgana Poulos saw a photo that I had posted on Ancestry of their grandmother Iris Reader, her mother Jennie Bickel and grandmother Angie Beard, and they recommended that I visit Kimball one day for even more family history."

The Beards arrived in Kimball on June 9, and the first place they headed to was the Kimball Cemetery; Allison described the visit as "very emotional." Allison said that many of the Beards died elsewhere, but Kimball was their final resting place.

Allison described the cemetery visit,.

"It was also a very moving experience to stop by the cemetery and spend some quiet moments with the graves of our family members, particularly the graves of our patriarch George W. Beard and his wife, Angie," she said. "It was because of their pioneer spirit and search for a better life that we came to Nebraska and set up many more generations of our family for success. We met such wonderful people in Kimball (both family and new friends) and can't wait to return in the future."